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Zathura
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Josh Hutcherson
Genre:
Science Fiction
Run Time: 113
min.
Release Date:
November 2005
On The Web:
Official Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Open up your imagination to the world of
Zathura. Kids and adults alike will revel in this great story about two
young brothers who find an old board-style game called Zathura that
literally launches them and their home into outer-space. Danny (Jonah
Bobo) and
Walter (Josh Hutcherson,
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA) are the brothers and when their father leaves them alone with
their teenage sister for a few minutes, worlds collide and their home
becomes a space-bound asteroid, but not because of any interstellar
cataclysm. It's all related to the game Zathura that the younger Danny
finds and begins playing.
Their father's beautiful arts and crafts style home is magically
transported to the nether reaches of space and as the boys play the game
— in an attempt to get back to Earth — more and more bizarre occurrences
happen. A meteor shower pummels the house. A defective robot tries to
kill the elder brother, Walter. Zorgons, weird, space-faring lizard-men,
track their home because of the warmth radiating off it. A stranded
spaceman joins the duo and has much more vested in the game than we
could ever imagine. Walter and Danny's sister goes into cryogenic sleep
for "five turns" only to awaken in the midst of this spaceflight
odyssey.
Can the boys make it home? Will they be able to finish the game? Can
they put aside their sibling rivalries and become loving brothers? Why
is the stranded astronaut helping them? What will Dad say when he gets
home and finds out there is no home?
There's been a lot of controversial talk amongst film-o-philes about
this movie and JUMANJI. There's no doubt that there's an incredibly
strong similarity between the two (a house being overrun by animals
versus space creatures; a family in crisis that's forced to come
together; a board game that recreates a fantasy; a happy ending that
gets fixed-up before adults arrive back in the picture; and so on).
Regardless of those striking comparisons, Zathura is a really fun film
to watch. The two brothers are believable, and when they fight it
reminded me of the great arguments I had with my brothers when I was
growing up.
The amazingly beautiful arts and crafts home. It was painful watching it
get destroyed piece by piece. Sitting on a gimbal, too, it was
surprising (watching the special features on the DVD) to learn that
director Jon Favreau (IRON
MAN) used minimal digital special effects and built
miniatures, etc. in order to get the desired effects for the film.
The ridiculous nature of the story allowed me to suspend disbelief and
just go with it. We all know that fire doesn't burn in outer-space (they
light a sofa on fire and kick it out the door), and that a person could
never survive fifteen years floating around in space in a spacesuit (the
astronaut), but so what.
I was also a tad surprised about the astronaut. I'd surmised quite a bit
about the movie as it continued (being able to guess pretty easily what
was going to happen next and why) but when the true nature of the
stranded astronaut came to light, I felt a bit choked-up (yeah, yeah, I
know).
So sit back and enjoy the film, and try not to get overly critical about
its obvious relation to JUMANJI.
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Image from Zathura
DVD cost: $9.11
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The Numbers Spun by Danny
& Walter (respectively) are as follows: (5, 9+Move ahead 2 spaces),
(4,8), (7,6+Move ahead 4 spaces), (6,8), (6,8), (8 - Move back 2 spaces,
9), (9 - Move back 1 space, 3 - Move back 3 spaces), (1 + Move ahead 9
spaces - Danny Wins the Game)
Movie Quote: "I'm
Fleet Admiral too! It's just a card, Bugnuts!"
Other Actors/Actresses
from Zathura
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