This time, there is a light touch of poignance as well that makes the message about friendship more meaningful. As with the first film, the humor and excitement are nimbly balanced so it never gets too scary or silly, and the focus is more on friendship than romance. The fantasy of the avatars, with their assigned strengths and weaknesses, make it possible for the characters to become more honest with themselves and each other. Black and Awkwafina both have a chance to represent more than one of the human characters, making each one distinct and clever. Hart is especially good at toning down his usual peppery energy as the avatar for the slow-talking Milo, whose avatar's strength is languages but who retains his discursive style. Johnson/Bravestone as Spencer was something to aspire to, in a future that still seemed filled with infinite potential, but Johnson/Bravestone as Eddie is filled with the bucket list delight of someone who sees nothing but loss ahead.
He barely notices the surreal concept of being trapped inside a video game (he does not appear to be entirely sure what a video game is), and is much too busy swiveling hips that for the first time in years have a full range of motion.
But as the outer version of Spencer's cranky grandfather, he's clearly having more fun. Johnson was terrific as Spencer in the first film, a humorously exaggerated version of an adolescent discovering the power of adulthood. There's some brief schoolyard-style crude humor but thankfully it's never shrill or archly coy. The script does a good job of keeping the age, race and gender switches low-key. I won't give those away I'll just say that the most fun of this film comes when Johnson, Gillan, Hart, Black, and, a terrific new addition, Awkwafina, get to cycle through different character/players. Alex is back with his previous avatar, Seaplane ( Nick Jonas), but Bethany is a whole new character, and so, when they finally find him, is Spencer. This level's goal is to capture a jewel that Jurgan stole from gentle indigenous farmers.Įventually Bethany and the character they rescued in the first film, Alex ( Colin Hanks), show up in the game, too. There's also a new villain, a massive Hun-like conqueror named Jurgan the Brutal ( Rory McCann). There's danger from snakes, ostriches, and boobytraps. Following the first movie's jungle adventure, this sequel takes them through the desert and to a castle on an icy mountaintop, with hold-your-breath perilous travels by dune buggy, rope bridge, and zeppelin.
The production design by Bill Brzeski is stunning and thrillingly imaginative, while the stirring music from Henry Jackman suggests not just the best in video games but the most fondly remembered classic adventure films. Like all good video games, this level is more difficult than the last. A few of those lives get used up right away as Martha/Ruby tries to explain to the befuddled Eddie and Milo what is going on. Once again, each of the avatars has three bars on the wrist, one for each life the game allows. Milo is the weapons knapsack-carrying Mouse Finbar ( Kevin Hart), while Fridge is the former Bethany avatar, pudgy map-expert Dr.
The game is once again up to mischief, and this time, while Martha is again dance-fighting expert Ruby Roundhouse ( Karen Gillan), it is Eddie who shows up as Dr. When he does not return, Martha, Bethany ( Madison Iseman) and Fridge ( Ser'Darius Blain) re-enter the game to rescue him. And so, he goes back inside the game where the life and death challenges somehow seem more familiar and easier to handle than real life. Spencer misses the confidence he had as the video game avatar Dr. Eddie's estranged former business partner Milo ( Danny Glover) comes over to try to repair their relationship, but Eddie is not interested.
Spencer's grandfather Eddie ( Danny DeVito) is recuperating from hip surgery, so he is in the house, too, along with his stair lift, hospital bed, and CPAP machine. Maintaining his romance with Martha ( Morgan Turner) long-distance has been rocky and as he returns home for Christmas break he is not sure whether they are on or off. Spencer ( Alex Wolff) is now a freshman at NYU.