JUMANJI: The Next Level(2019)

Pooper:
The players defeat Jurgen and save the day again. Milo (who is dying in real life) decides to remain in Jumanji permanently. The main characters reaffirm their friendship. Eddie finds a new job and embraces life anew.

Long Ending:
The heroes from the prior film – Spencer (Alex Wolff), Martha (Morgan Turner), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) and Bethany (Madison Iseman) – are all returning home from college for winter break. Although Martha, Fridge and Bethany are excited to reunite, Spencer feels he is in a rut and isn’t looking forward to the reunion. He and Martha are “on a break” from their relationship (at Spencer’s insistence).

Spencer’s bitter grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito) is staying with him and his mom for the holidays. Eddie’s former friend Milo (Danny Glover) is back in town and wants to make amends with Eddie. The two used to be inseparable and owned a business together, but they had a falling out many years ago and haven’t talked since. The night before Spencer is supposed to meet up with his friends, he takes out the Jumanji video game cartridge that he secretly rebuilt after it was destroyed in the prior film. A familiar green light envelops him.

After Spencer doesn’t meet them for brunch, Martha, Fridge and Bethany go to his house. They find Eddie and Milo there. The three find the Jumanji game activated and deduce that Spencer must have rebuilt it and is now stuck in the game. They decide to play in order to help him. The green light flashes and sucks in Martha and Fridge, but not Bethany. Instead, it also sucks in Eddie and Milo. Bethany takes the video game to Alex’s (Colin Hanks) house to get his help in getting it to work properly so she too can enter the game.

When they arrive, Martha finds herself back in the body of heroic adventurer Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan). Much to Fridge’s displeasure, he has been placed in the body of portly cartographer Sheldon Oberon (Jack Black). They are shocked to realize the game didn’t take Bethany and, further, that Milo is in the body of zoologist Mouse Finbar (Kevin Hart) and Eddie in the body uber-hero Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). They soon learn from Nigel (Rhys Darby) that there is a different quest from the last time they played. To escape Jumanji, they must retrieve a mystical stone that is in the possession of evil warlord Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCaan).

The four set off, but are not very effective as adventurers. Although Milo and Eddie love their new bodies, they are not good at video games. Milo often rambles on about uninteresting stories and fails to give his fellow players vital information in a timely way (although he does learn that Mouse now has the ability to talk to animals). Eddie is easily confused and overconfident, leading them to get into unnecessary fights. Eddie’s brashness result in each of the characters losing lives unnecessarily. They eventually find Spencer in the body of a new character, a cat thief named Ming (Awkwafina).

Milo and Eddie finally hash things out. Eddie is resentful that Milo retired and forced them to sell their restaurant. Eddie feels worthless without a job. Milo apologizes, but explains that there is more to life than work and he enjoyed the years he had relaxing with his now-departed wife. Eddie also realizes that Milo is dying and mourns the time lost on their petty feud.

Bethany and Alex restore the game to full functionality and enter it. Alex is again the pilot named Seaplane McDonough (Nick Jonas), while Bethany is a horse named Cyclone. The reunited friends eventually locate a mystical pool that allows them to switch bodies. Milo becomes Cyclone, Eddie becomes Ming, Spencer becomes Bravestone, Fridge becomes Mouse, and Bethany becomes Oberon. With their ideal characters selected, the heroes split up and make their way to Jurgen’s fortress. During their exploits, Spencer and Martha rekindle their romance after talking out the issues impacting their relationship.

The heroes infiltrate Jurgen’s vault but learn he is keeping the stone around his neck. They have no choice but to attack him directly. Jurgen tries to flee on a blimp, but Spencer manages to board the blimp before takeoff. Meanwhile, Milo discovers Cyclone is a pegasus and flies Eddie up to the battle. Spencer knocks the stone off the blimp and Eddie catches it, yelling out the word “Jumanji” to end the game. All the players are transported to the ending screen where they can go back to the real world. However, Milo informs them that he won’t be returning. Instead, he wishes to live in Jumanji as Cyclone rather than die in the real world. The rest bid him a fond farewell before exiting the game.

In the real world, the four friends strengthen their ties. Martha and Spencer decide to try dating once again. Spencer teaches Eddie to play video games. Eddie stops by his old restaurant and the elderly owner (cameo by Bebe Neuwirth) offers him a new job (and the pair also flirt after Eddie breaks out a seductive move learned while he was Dr. Bravestone).

In a mid-credit scene, an HVAC repairman sees the Jumanji video game in Spencer’s basement and begins examining it. The camera then cuts to a Jumanji ostrich running down the street in the real world.