If you are on the fence about going to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, take this review as a go-ahead. Although, at times, it is cheesy and cliche, the actors and script make it a worthwhile two hours.

It is the stand-alone second installment in the Jumanji series that tells the story of four high school kids in detention who discover an old video game, called Jumanji. They end up inside the game having to beat it to save their lives and return back home. They go through a series of challenges including fighting off snakes, old school villains, and wild animals. One of the twists is that when the kids entered the game, they have to play as the adult avatars they selected to begin with, who are played by Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.

Before watching the movie, I was nervous, because I loved the original Jumanji, which came out in 1995. I was worried that it was more of a kids movie and that I wouldn’t be entertained.

But I was wrong. The strongest aspect of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was the definitely the comedy. I actually laughed aloud, as did the rest of the theater, whenever Kevin Hart or Jack Black spoke, especially since Black was supposed to be playing a conceited teenage girl in a man’s body.

The movie is a good mix between humor and action that never really slows down until towards the end.

I don’t think you can compare the original movie to this one. This movie was very modern and comedic while the original focused less on humor and more on the action aspect of the wild game, but the new movie did pay respects to the original very subtly.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle picked up from where the previous movie left off, with the first scene of the movie taking place in the same location as the last scene of the ’95 version. Additionally, When the gang meets Alex, played by Nick Jonas, he is in a tree house that says “Made by Alan Parrish,” Robin William’s character in the first movie, and Alex even gave Parish credit for building it. Not only that, but if you connect the dots, the jungle they were trapped in was the same place Alan was trapped in for about 20 years before he was released back into his own life to complete the game.

Overall, I think it’s an entertaining movie worth seeing in theaters if you want to laugh and smile the entire time. There is enough action and humor to satisfy people of all ages and it definitely does not matter if you have seen the 1995 version. However, if you are expecting anything like the original Jumanji, then you might want to skip this one.