A Modern Jumanji (Zathura: A New Adventure From the World of Jumanji (DVD))

Member Name: elizabethcullen

Product:	Zathura: A New Adventure From the World of Jumanji (DVD)
Date:	12/07/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cast, Good concept

Disadvantages: Predicatble, for kids

Zathura: A Space Time Adventure was an average film released in November 2005, grossing $29 million, so it wasn't huge but it didn't fail either, as I said - average. It is said to be a more modern version of jumanji, an outer space version of the jungle game that created a really successful film.

The basic premises of the film is: two brothers (Josh and Danny) find a board game called Zathura in their new house and decide to try it out, once you start it then you have to finish it. Along the way, they find out that playing this game is going to be a lot harder than they first expected, with a lot of twists and turns along the way. The game unleashes the feared Zorgorns, and catapults the house into space, where the two boys along with their sister end up fighting for survival with the help of an astronaut who has a mysterious identity.

Overall the acting was good and generally believable, the main cast were-
Jonah Bobo: Danny
Josh Hutcherson: Walter
Dax Shepard: Astronaut
Kristen Stewart: Lisa
Tim Robbins: Dad
While I hadn't actually heard of any of these actors, I did recognise both Josh Hutcherson, who I later discovered to have a major part in RV, another family film and Tim Robbins who I remembered seeing in The Shawshank Redemption. However, Kristen Stewart has now gone on to become very sucessful after her part in Twilight, and I'm not sure if thats maybe because she was noticed in this.

It was rated as a PG, and it doesn't have anything that bad in, the only thing is that it might be scary for really young children, hence why its a PG. There's no bad language and no sexual or drug references.

I'm not too sure how much my copy costs, since it was given to me as a present but it's available in all the big retailers (play.com, amazon, hmv, etc) and it's not more than £10.

One thing that I could find to fault the film on is the soundtrack, I can't remember it at all, which doesn't seem too good.

However, one really good thing about the film was the special effects, there were a lot of these used since it was in space and they all looked really good, nothng too high end but they were still excellent for a kids film. One example of these was the zorgons, the monsters who invaded and set things on fire.

Overall, I would recommend this film and it would probably be best for 5-12 year olds. If you like Jumanji, then you should like this.

Summary: A Modern Jumanji