When trailers first came out for the new "Jumanji" movie, I remember feeling a bit skeptical, and also maybe a bit biased in my initial response. As I kid, I would watch the original Robin Williams version with my family. We would watch the kids become monkeys, watch Williams' character of Alan Parrish undergo crazy tasks as he just tried to finish the game that trapped him for twenty years. As soon as I saw "Jumanji" as a video game in the reboot/ continuation "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," I felt cheated.

It was a board game, which typically isn't too immersive an experience, that twisted reality, and instead, we get it reimagined into a virtual reality gone wrong? However, as I have grown to accept with book-to-film adaptations, things needed to adjust to their audience. And it was with this mentality that I am glad to have watched the new movie, and share my report that I was wrong in my judgment.

(I will forewarn spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the film yet at this point).

The film starts off with the tell-tale drums of the game playing while joggers are running along the beach. The board game is found and brought home to a teenager in the year 1996 (a year after the original film came out). There is a cursory look at the board, followed by an insult to the game before the kid turns his head towards his video game instead.

This is where we get a reason for the shift in gaming media: Kids don't want to play board games anymore, so what is a cursed game to do in order to get new victims? Adapt.

Overnight, the game transforms into a game cartridge and takes its first childhood in its new form. Jump ahead 20 years and we see the focal character, a geeky paranoid teen by the name of Spencer, playing video games in his room as he gets ready for school.

We then follow him and the other "players," Fridge, Martha, and Bethany through the events that lead this "Breakfast Club" style group to detention where they come across the new game cartridge. Then, the story unfolds, and we watch the game unfold.

The beauty of this film is that we get small nods to the original source material. This is done in a few ways. The first is through the roads they follow making up the board, better seen on the map when Bethany (now played by Jack Black per her avatar choice) is telling the group where to go.

Then when we meet Alex (played in the game by Nick Jonas), he takes them to a fort built by Alan Parish and explains how it was there before him, and he was just staying there. A couple of other nods include the reuse of some names as new characters in the film.

Now from there, the game's main premise is still the same, save "Jumanji" from the evil Hunter who seeks to destroy it, and that's it. We get different challenges, different types of puzzles, and new characters. In each challenge, however, we see which person each task is set out for.

The NPCs (non-player characters) will have dialogue for specific characters, as well as specific responses needed. In doing this, we get a limit to the storytelling and the dialogue, but it is explained by saying, that it is a game, and they are limited in what they can say.

We also get a life lesson (this will be funnier in a second, please bear with me) through the video game as well. Each character is allotted three lives and given the understanding that if they lose all three, it's game over, in the real world and out.

So when people are at their last life and start to feel the pressure, we are reminded that in the real world, all we have is the one life and it's what we make of it. We also get some of the skills in the game carrying over into the real world after they have saved "Jumanji," Alex, and even the friendship between Spencer and Fridge.

Overall, the movie was fun, exciting, and shows that even if we like who we are in games better, there are things we know from the real world that can help us, as well as lessons from games that we can apply to our day-to-day lives.

If you enjoyed the original piece from the late 90s, you'll enjoy how it has evolved into today's video game heavy world. I would give this movie a solid B for a grade, and recommend seeing it with your gaming party or your family.