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Should have been a fireman...
—Carl Bentley

Carl Bentley is a supporting character in the original "JUMANJI" film and its novel adaptation, serving as comic relief.

Biography[]

Carl Bentley was an employee nicknamed "Soleman" of Sam Parrish's shoe company, and a close friend of his boss's son Alan Parrish, until he got fired from the Parrish Shoe Factory in 1969 for a machine being damaged by his prototype shoe that Alan accidentally left on a conveyor belt after he showed Alan his prototype shoe that he hoped to present. Due to the closure of Parrish Shoes and the loss of his job, Carl became a police officer since 1974 but sometimes wished he became a fire fighter instead.

In 1995, after Alan is freed from "JUMANJI" thanks to Peter rolling a five, Carl was in the middle of communicating with officer Lorraine on the radio and bumped into Alan while driving, (not knowing who he was yet) and asking the Shepherd kids Judy and Peter if this unknown man is related to him before a duo of Monkeys start fooling around with his police car, forcing him to go after the Monkeys that took his cruiser for a joyride.

Later, Carl found his empty but heavily smashed car wedged in a tree trunk and caught Lorraine on the radio in time to report that he intended to head back to the old Parrish Place and check out the stranger he saw earlier. While trying to investigate at the old Parrish place, he saw the recently arrived Van Pelt hunting Alan and tried to arrest him, but Van Pelt open fired on Carl and damaged his police car (in the novel, Carl reported this incident to Lorraine). After the quartet retrieved the "JUMANJI" game from the Pelican, they happened to pass by Carl, who concluded that every time they encountered each other something suspicious happened. At first Alan tried to resist his arrest, but willing let Carl take him in realizing that Van Pelt was nearby. This prompts Peter to finish the game himself by cheating, only to get turned into a monkey as the penalty for cheating.

On route to the Police Station, Carl tried asking Alan about the natural goings on in Brantford, still not having recognized Alan until he apologized for what he did to make Carl lose his job at Parrish Shoes and destroyed his career after Carl mentioned he could have something to turn this whole town around, which was his prototype shoes. Overcome by this sudden revelation, Carl came to a complete stop while Alan tried to explain the strange happenings around Brantford being brought on by "JUMANJI", despite the acknowledgement of how absurd it seemed. Against his better judgement, Carl un-cuffed Alan, only to be handcuffed to his own car as a way to keep Carl out of his business. Only as Alan attempted to leave Carl behind without his handcuff keys, he managed to overhear from Carl's radio about a reported hostage situation in the Sir Sav-A-Lot store (Alan knowing that Van Pelt deliberately allowed frightened citizens to call the cops on him as a way of setting a trap to try and lure Alan out). Alan then helped Carl drive to the store where Alan could stop Van Pelt and reunite with the kids and Sarah.

In Sir Sav-A-Lot, Carl used a hacksaw to cut off the cuffs and radioed Lorraine for backup at the old Parrish place, but he went unanswered due to Monkeys infiltrating the Police Station. Nora Shepherd (whose car had just been totalled and narrowly missing being tangled in a Pod's vine) then sought his attention for a lift back to the old Parrish place but Carl himself narrowly missed being entangled in the Pod's vines, finally losing his car to the Pod. Carl, yelling in vain for the Pod to keep his destroyed car, drew his pistol as the two were forced to continue on foot. As Carl and Nora reached the front door of the mansion and heard screaming inside (unaware that there is a flood inside the Parrish Mansion), Carl tried to open kick the front door down to get in, but ended up draining the flooded Mansion of the Monsoon waters and ended up sailing down the streets on the front doors, while being spooked by the passing Crocodiles.

After Alan finally won "JUMANJI" and time was reversed to 1969, he told his dad that it was he who caused the accident in the factory, and not Carl, allowing Sam to have Carl rehired and presumably approved his prototype shoes. 26 years later in a much more positive 1995, Carl still worked at the Parrish Shoe Factory as the president when Alan inherited his dad's business due to Sam's retirement and living in a retirement home elsewhere. Carl and his wife attended the town Christmas Party in the Parrish Mansion, playing his guitar while a grouping of guests sang "Hark the herald angels sing".

Deleted scene[]

A deleted scene from the film, which also made it into the film's novel, reveals that Alan has taken up his father's mantle as the CEO of Parrish Shoes, having made Carl the president to congratulate his years of service.

Trivia[]

  • Eddie Murphy, Bernie Mac and Sinbad were considered for the role of Carl Bentley before David Alan Grier was cast.
  • In the film's novel, crashing his car in Sir Sav-A-Lot is as far as Carl's role goes, as he was fed up of all the bizarre things going on and left Alan alone.
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