Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

"A reboot of a 1996 movie that was based on a book, with a plot that updates ‘boardgame’ to ‘video game’, then adds the title of a Guns n’ Roses song for good measure, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle feels more like an exercise in cross-promotion that a reason to go to the cinema. Surprisingly then, it’s a fairly pleasant little excursion, albeit as inconsequential as a puff of (campfire) smoke."

"The trailer for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle generated controversy when it premiered in June. Viewers fumed that the only female character out of four leads was a sexually objectified, Lara Croft-like hottie, in nonsensical jungle attire. The cast, including the actor who plays the skimpily dressed character in question, Karen Gillan, and her co-star Dwayne Johnson, assured fans there was good reason for this."

"The movie has amusingly broad performances; good, bloodless scares ... and self-empowering life lessons too bland to be specious. You could do far worse."

"It’s like watching the lamest Indiana Jones sequel ever imagined, minus Indiana Jones."

"The action’s passable and Gillan makes a decent fist of an underwritten character. Otherwise, this Jumanji makeover’s a losing game."

"Mostly great fun, with Jack Black outrageously entertaining as a teenage girl. But we need to talk about Karen. As Ruby Roundhouse, Gillan is stuck in less clothes than one of Rihanna's backing dancers."

"It’s a likeable film which borrows liberally from everything and everyone, and if it’s put together by numbers, well, then it is done capably enough."

"A rare, long-gestating follow-up that actually improves on the original."

"The film's main appeal is in watching familiar actors pretend to be ordinary kids grappling with their new selves."

"Insane amounts of fun and yet never feels like you need to switch off to enjoy it…"