Sony Music releases Jumanji: The Next Level (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with music by award-winning composer Henry Jackman. The gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, they discover that nothing is as they expect. The players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world’s most dangerous game...

Henry Jackman manages to improve on what was already a pretty impressive score. His work on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was enjoyable, and an integral part of the movie, and his work here on Jumanji: The Next Level is even more engaging.

Like the previous score, I spotted numerous nods to the work of Alan Silvestri, most notable his work on both Predator and the Back to the Future franchise. But I got more of a John Williams vibe this time around - which is probably why I enjoyed it a little bit more. While there are some revisited themes from the past movie, they are not overused or thrown in to fill up time.

Talking about the project, Jackman said: "Composing the score for Jumanji: The Next Level was as adventurous as the movie itself. It was a great privilege to return to the themes that worked in the previous movie, and to combine them with brand new musical ideas for the whole new world this film encompasses. The Director, Jake Kasdan, has a great feel for music; his encouragement and insight helped me enormously."

These 30 tracks (1 hr, 01 min, 27 sec) rattle along at a breakneck speed. It's engaging, memorable and, at times, beautifully melancholic.

9

Darren Rea