This time featuring two bickering brothers, Danny and Walter Budwing, the set pieces have changed from jungle-themed to outer space, but otherwise things are mostly the same, to the book’s slight detriment. When Allsburg decided to continue his story with Zathura, he mostly hewed closely to the template set in the original work. It creates a half dozen new main characters, involves flashbacks to the 19th century, daddy issues, the expansion of the original house setting from a split-level ranch to a massive mansion (how on earth does it make sense for Bebe Neuwirth’s character to purchase and move into this place with two orphaned kids in tow?), gun battles in the streets, daddy issues, riots, Cronenbergian body horror, improvised rocket-propelled weaponry, daddy issues, a time travel element, and serious daddy issues. Johnston’s film version, however, is a bit of a sprawling mess. And so on, through snakes and volcanoes and a memorable rhino stampede, all culminating in lessons learned, bonds shared and everything reverting back to square one at the end. “Monkeys steal food,” and instantly a pack of howlers are ransacking the fridge. “Lion attacks, move back two spaces,” reads Judy, and suddenly a Lion appears on the piano above Peter’s head. With each roll of the dice, the cards they read reveal themselves to have an effect on the world around them. With strong, black-and-white visuals, it tells the story of a brother and sister who find an interesting-looking board game in the park one day and decide to play it at home when their parents are out. Van Allsburg’s Jumanji book is incredibly simple. Besides Favreau’s obvious facility with camera placement, mise-en-scène, special effects and casting (more on this later), he does this by staying grounded, by trusting his source material and by not attempting to expand a simple story beyond the bonds of what it can comfortably handle. Zathura bests Jumanji (I haven’t seen either of the sequels) in nearly every way imaginable. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – a children’s movie with heart and scares and great special effects that could be enjoyed by kids and their parents alike for years to come. Straight off his smash hit, Elf (2003), director Jon Favreau stated in press materials that with his next film, his aim was to create a rollicking sci-fi adventure in the vein of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Which is a crying shame, because Zathura is a classic family adventure film that deserves much better than the poor critical reception and box office receipts it received at the time. But ask a random assemblage of nostalgic millennials who remember binge watching the original on VHS or any of the tens of millions worldwide who’ve recently flocked to the sequels if they’ve ever even heard of Zathura, and I bet you’ll get mostly blank looks. But where’s the love for Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)? Set in the same world as Jumanji, the movie is based on Allsburg’s own followup book from 2000 that moves the magic board game action from a jungle setting into outer space. Since its debut, Jumanji has managed to stay alive in the cultural conversation, spawning two Rock-starring sequels (combined worldwide gross: $1.75 billion) and even a recently announced theme park attraction and hotel. Directed by Joe Johnston ( Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer), the film was based on the Caldecott Award-winning children’s classic of the same name, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg in 1981. In 1995, Sony Pictures released Jumanji, starring Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt and Kirsten Dunst.
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