Cheap Zathura (Special Edition) (DVD) (Jon Favreau) Price

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Customer Reviews of Zathura (Special Edition)

Time to play the game...
I hadn't even been conceived back in 1959. That was about when my mom was still in school. Nonetheless, I sat down during my teenage years every afternoon after school to watch the episodes of "The Twilight Zone" I'd taped the night before (via timer) off the sci-fi channel, because I loved the formula. That formula? Suspension of disbelieve = 1. <
>By this I mean that the audience will only really have to suspend their disbelief for one thing. One element. One plot point that dominates the episode later. One thing alone about the world you're about to be vaulted into is different or unnatural. <
>The same was true of Jumanji. Basically, there is a board game (presumably a cursed board game, as it weilds magic against the gamers,) that you must play to the end, or else its "interesting effects" will never go away. <
>Of course, Jumanji took those effects from a fictitious jungle environment, more dangerous than any jungle on earth, but Zathura is a slightly different kind of game. This one is a space exploration game, and starting the game vaults anyone who plays it, along with, presumably, everything in their immediate vicinity, into the spaceborne world of Zathura. The long and short is that two quarreling brothers start playing the game and find themselves and their house stranded in outer space. <
>Now, I've seen many good reviews for this movie, and I'm sorry mine must be so... harsh, but I didn't enjoy Zathura as much as I enjoyed Jumanji for one reason above all others. <
>That reason is that frankly, the scriptwriting stunk. <
>I'm not talking about the dialogue between the boys or the dialogue of their father or their sister, or some of the dialogue of the mysterious astronaut, who appears later on. Much of the dialogue was actually very realistic, which is more than can be said for most kids movies. Problems seem to have only arisen in dialogue when it pertains to the game and its effects, which occur more and more frequently as the movie progresses. <
>For one thing, the behavior of children when vaulted into outer space by a mad board game would be considerably different than what is shown in this movie. In Jumanji, the behaviors of the kids (and adults) playing the game was actually quite realistic. The girl who plays the game of Jumanji reacts realistically to the game's warning with an "un-oh. I didn't see this part." Then from then on, the kids realize that it is of the utmost importance that one of them finish the game if they want to be rid of the horrible dangers it's been visiting upon them. <
>In this movie, the very real, life-threatening dangers are put on the back burner in the children's minds, as their conflicts with one another take precidence. For instance, the whole scene where the older brother complains that the younger one "cheated" to move himself ahead a number of spaces, and not even the astronaut has the wherewithall to note that if cheating were possible, they should all try it, since who "wins" doesn't matter. What matters is that they don't all lose. <
>Children quarrel easily, and can be remarkably foolish and stubborn. This I freely admit, but if they are in mortal danger, they will stand up and harken to it first, before trying to find someone to blame. This was done in Jumanji, but not Zathura. I think the scriptwriters on this movie were either being pestered by their own quarreling children WHILE they wrote this script, or else had just come off reading "lord of the flies" and decided that all children are barbaric and less intelligent than squirrels; which at least have the basic animal instinct to react to danger until the danger is past. <
>Indeed, I have to say that since this is really only a problem when the game gets involved, I almost found myself wishing the game had never been in the movie, and that it had just been a movie about two brothers learning about each other while being left alone in a house with their irresponsible sister, which is a shame, since the game is kinda supposed to be what the whole movie is about, right? <
>Of course, this is the biggest problem with this movie (unrealistic dialogue,) but there are other shortcomings it has that Jumanji lacked. At least, these things are shortcomings in my mind. <
>First, I think the fact that the boys adventure takes place entirely in another world didn't really help things any. Realistically, they sort of had to do it that way, in order for it to be a space exploring game, but I kind of prefer the effect when there's some scenery to worry about beyond one house, a starfield and a few alien ships. I always liked the scenes in Jumanji where the stampeding animals ran through town and stomped all over that one car. They could have at least visited another planet or something and showed some scenery like that. <
>However, more importantly, the game (I know we're supposed to suspend our disbelief regarding the game, but this bothered me) seems to appear just before the younger brother finds it, and disappear just after they finish. It's apparently been lying in the basement of their house (an old house, admittedly, but it's not like someone tried to get rid of it, like they did Jumanji,) visible behind the stairs in that basement to anyone who turns around to walk up them. It would have made a whole lot more sense (at least to me,) if the game had been found by the younger brother in a crater in a local park or something; all that remained of a meteorite. Plus, I just thought that up on the spot. You could also do a lot of other origin stories that make even more sense. Aliens drop it off to get rid of it, it comes from the future due to a time warp, it was manufactured by a race of spacefaring immortals and lost by one of their children... the list goes on. The game has no origin, and it easily could. How much imagination does it really take? <
>However, and this bothered me a lot more, the game is left on the floor where anyone could get at it after they win. What, do they WANT somebody to come along and get lost in space after they've just barely escaped with their lives? It was another thing about their behavior that didn't add up. At least bury it in the backyard or something. <
>I've already commented on the lack of scenery, but let me do so once more. Even at the beginning and ending of the movie, where you get to see the yard and street connected to the house, the camera never dares to zoom into someone else's yard and the script never calls for the boys to go off the property for any reason, and it fades out just as they're about to leave the lot at the end of the movie. Disappointing. This isn't the Sims, for goodness sake. It's okay to show the neighborhood (unless the neighborhood pulled out of the movie at the last minute.) <
>But I think the worst thing, for me, wasn't the confined space of this movie (irony there... sorta...) but the fact that there really weren't any action sequences at all. Children fighting with giant, poison misquitos and spiders is an action sequence. Robin Williams fending off an african lion is an action sequence. These kids typically aren't called upon to do anything but run from one place to another, pick things up, carry them, put them down, break some furniture, and hold up cards. For those who are familiar with beer, let me say that this movie felt like Jumanji Lite; not as exciting to make it go down easier. <
>Indeed, Zathura goes down easy, and that's my issue. I know this movie clearly was intended for kids after having watched it, but I'm pretty sure Jumanji was too, and it was also enjoyable to adults. It took a stupid, unrealistic, silly and impossible piece of subject matter and did as much with it as was humanly possible at the time, achieving the delicate balance of stressing the character traits and life experiences of the characters it portrays, but not allowing those traits to take center stage, watermarking them over the mortal danger, or really even letting them distract the viewers from the centerpiece of the movie. <
>Long and short, Jumanji was better. The graphics and sound have improved over the last decade, but that's to be expected. Graphics and sound quality are pretty much all this film had on Jumanji. I won't say it's a downright bad film, because there are enjoyable elements to it, and a kid might like it more than I (an artist) do, but after having seen it once, I can't picture myself purchasing it.

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Similar to Jumanji....
Except it involves being in outer space rather than a jungle theme. Nice special effects in this movie, along with nice acting from the cast members. <
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>Some really funny scenes take place, however some scenes may be too scary for those five years old and under. The movie's/story's message seems to be one of working together to solve a problem and brotherly love.

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Excellent Sequel (of sorts) to Jumanji!
The film is in the style of Jumanji. Two warring pre-teen brothers and their teen sister are the stars. It centers on a game that takes you to different places and puts you in different situations that are "life and death"! With each roll of the die, you put your life at risk! The only way to get to safety is to finish the game! Excellent concept, excellent story! <
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