Jumanji Animated Series Season 1 Review
Jumani
: The Animated Series is
an adaptation of the popular children's
live-action film Jumani, directed by Joe Johnston and starring Robin
Williams,
Jonathan Hyde, Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce, and Bonnie Hunt. The
concept of
the film and the animated series revolves around two young children,
Judy and
Peter, who play a board game that comes to life and takes them on a
challenging
adventure of two worlds collided. In both the film and series the
children meet
the much older Alan Parrish, who had played the game as a child and who
became
trapped in the world of the game with no way out. To escape from the
game-world
and return to reality the game must be "beat" through its own rules.
Jumanji
was one of my favorite films during my childhood. It was one that I
could
revisit time and time again. I would always discover something new and
fascinating about it that would entice me to revisit the film again. It
was one
of those films I regularly wanted to see. I would want to put it on
rotation. I
loved the journey of the bizarre concept and the brilliant execution
from
director Joe Johnston; even though I had no idea who the director was
at the
time. I used to not even consider those elements in films when I was a
child.
Yet I was enthralled by the vision and scope and sense of creativity
which is
displayed in this and other films I cherish from my youth.
Something
about Jumanji
just perfectly clicked with my own sensibilities and sense of
imagination.
Jumanji had me amazed, flabbergasted,
and enthused. It was an entertaining
work of art that was extraordinary as a family adventure film. I was
surprised
and delighted someone had even made it. I would say that the
thing that drew me to the story
the most was the sense of adventure it presented. It was almost like an
old
serialized story. As the film progressed you would experience a new
segment of
the whole. Even as a feature-film, Jumanji managed to feel like a
serialized adventure. One scenes of Jumanji
would lead into the next but the unusual circumstances of the
adventure
would continue to have me perplexed as to what would happen next.
Nothing
felt dumbed down for youthful digestion - it
didn't make me feel like I was being talked down to as a child. Rather,
the
film seemed ambitious as an action-adventure feature and it deftly
combined the
adventure with a sense of comedy and human pathos.
You really grew to care about the children;
alongside the spellbinding character performed to perfection from the
genius
that is Robin Williams. I suppose in some ways, Williams bravura
performance
was the ultimate element to the film that kept things so undeniably
fascinating.
When
it came to adapting the film into an animated
television series, I'll admit to feeling more than a little skeptical
(even as
a child). I have grown up watching episodes of plenty of television
series born
creatively because of a theatrical film's massive success. Many of
these
endeavors turn out to be dull, droll, and uninventive: the opposite of
the
execution in adventure and creativity that spawned them. Some series
have done
well; others have not. Jumanji
:
The Animated Series (as it turns out) was one of the best animated
programs to
be created as a result of a film's success. It's not a wildly original
series (you can still tell that it's directly a relative to the feature
film) but there are a lot of things about the show that work to its
advantage. It's a show with a lot of good
qualities helping to benefit it.
It's
got wacky inventive animation (which stands out
as one of the better aspects of the show). It works in bringing the
entire
series an odd sensibility (one which is somewhat reminiscent of the
animation
on Beetlejuice's animated counterpart
yet still distinctive enough in its own right). The series has good
writing and
direction and the voice cast does a good job of representing these
characters. Ashley Johnson voices Peter,
Debi Derryberry
voices Judy, and Bill Fagerbakke voices Alan Parrish. This is
something which especially benefited
the show. Fegerbakkle does excellent work in this character role and
it's
something which makes the show much more enjoyable and entertaining to
watch.
Unlike
the theatrical film, the animated series
makes the Jumanji game take on a lot
of different elements even more because every episode has an
opportunity to do
so with the storyline. The animators and creative team behind the
animated
version have really done a great job making something which works in
unison
with the film, but that still stands on its own as a worthy and
entertaining
creation. This series is well worth adventuring into exploration for
fans of
the film.
The
DVD:
Video:
The
series is presented in its original 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio.
This
preserves the series in the proper broadcast ratio. The video quality
leaves a
lot to be desired though. To be fair about this, let me say that it
looks about
the same as I remember it looking when it aired on television. However,
that's not impressive. It looks dated
and not in a good way. The colors are often fairly muted, sharpness
isn't as
good as I would have hoped for, and the series suffers from obvious
compression
issues. Episodes
vary in video quality somewhat, which is odd, but must be the result of
Sony
using various sources for the materials presented on this DVD release.
Audio:
The
2.0 Dolby Digital isn't very good either and isn't
very engaging, active, or good-sounding with regards to clarity.
Everything is
audible and easy to understand but the sound has a slight muffled sound
quality.
The materials were probably not kept in good shape and this series is a
product
of the television landscape for animated programs at the time it was
made. Don't
go in expecting anything fancy and it does a decent job presenting the
audio overall. Like the video quality, episodes vary in
audio
quality to a degree. It must be the result of Sony using various
sources for the
materials presented on this DVD release.
Extras:
There
are
no supplemental materials on this made on Demand DVD release from Sony
Pictures.
Final
Thoughts:
I
absolutely recommend this set to serious Jumanji fans
as well as to those who
grew up watching this animated program and who enjoyed it during its
initial
run (or while it aired in syndication). This is an entertaining and
well-made
program based upon the successful theatrical film of the same name and
origin,
and those types of animated programs are rare to find. It's fun,
quirky, and
worth the time the series devotes to delving further into the
adventurous Jumanji board game come-to-life. This
isn't an amazing made-on-demand release though. This set has
below-average
PQ/AQ and
no supplements were included at all, but the show itself is worth
checking out.
Recommended.
Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema, and a student who aspires to make movies. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.
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