Based on a book by Chris Van Allsburg who wrote JUMANJI, ZATHURA takes the same premise of JUMANJI where children get transported into a dangerous adventure after they begin playing a mysterious board game.
Danny (Jonah Bobo, STRANGERS WITH CANDY) looks up to his older brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson, RV), who has little time or regard for his younger sibling. Having to run errands, their father (Tim Robbins, MYSTIC RIVER) puts their older sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart, PANIC ROOM) in charge one day, but she is too busy to keep a constant eye on the battling brothers. In retaliation for being hit in the head, Walter sends Danny down the dumbwaiter into the dark, eerie basement where the young boy finds an old board game called Zathura. Danny convinces Walter to play with him, which sends their house careening into space. Eventually helping them overcome malfunctioning robots and evil alien Zorgons is a lost astronaut (Dax Shepard, WITHOUT A PADDLE).
As one can expect, Danny and Walter have to learn to work together to get out of trouble. Though it is pretty much just JUMANJI in space, the film works better than the film version of JUMANI. It’s less silly, doesn’t have Robin Williams hamming it up and the visual effects are much better.
Additionally, the brother rivalry element works better than the brother-sister dynamic of JUMANJI. The adventure is geared toward boys and having boys at the center of the story works better. Shepard is quite charming as the wayward astronaut, who tries to bring the boys together. His secret is a kind of paradox that I’m not too sure works, but by that point we can forgive this minor diversion from logic. ZATHURA is an exciting and entertaining family film that has an old-fashioned charm that wins you over.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
