Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

Absolutely Brilliant!

A Masterpiece!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Caught the film entirely by accident on TV one day and discovered it to be a good fun adventurous yarn similar in style to Jumanji.Effectively described as Jumanji in space, the basic premise is an all powerful all knowing board game that one has to play to the end in order to undo everything it does damage wise. In Zathura the game is discovered in the basement with no back story as to how it ended up there, whereas Jumanji had a back story and suggested its chain of events had been going on for well over a hundred years. However the books suggest Zathura was found in a park and it carries on from Jumanji, though the film presents this as an entirely standalone story.The two lead boys, here a young Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo, carry the film between them easily, naturally and effortlessly. Character wise, Hutcherson and Bobo appear to both bond and wind each other up as brothers do but this relationship and their bickering and arguing becomes a key focal point later in the movie.Effects wise, much of it works pretty well, though your suspension of disbelief will get shattered if you think too hard about what's going on in the plausibility stakes, especially once the kids open the front door while they're in space, but it's fair to say there is probably more to the powers of Zathura than is let on - possibly a forcefield of some sort that allows them to breathe and for gravity to apply? Wouldn't be unusual in the context of the film, after all Zathura can't be played to completion if its players can't breathe!Is it better than Jumanji? In some ways, yes. In others, no. Jumanji was financially successful at the box office (and later rebooted) but received crap reviews, whereas Zathura flopped at the box office but received better reviews and will probably not get rebooted.In summary, I liked this. More than I was probably expecting if truth be told. Very watchable, stands up to repeat viewing and has a genuinely likeable cast to tell its story. Very well recommended.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this movie when I first started watching it. I just knew it was a fantasy film with familiar content, and I was pleasantly surprised by it's quality. It's a kind of space "Jumanji" in which two brothers, with unresolved household disputes, will play a game that will prove to be a huge space adventure where anything can happen. I liked the way the film seeks to convey a moral of the story, focusing on the importance of brotherly love and the family. Jonah Bobo and Josh Hutcherson were very good at leading roles but the building of their characters was essential, allowing the public, especially the younger ones, to identify with one or the other. Kristen Stewart wasn't as effective as the self-centered, egocentric older sister, but she did provide a few moments of humor. Dax Sheppard was excellent and his performance gave this film its most emotional moments. Last but not least, the very good special effects that the film used, convincing yet discreet enough not to dominate the screen. Still a word to praise the good soundtrack, very competent in her role.In short: this film is excellent, although not very original and recycle the formula already used in another film. It will please easily at any age and is perfect for a family serenade with everyone in the room together watching and spending quality time together. After all, family is just that ... union.

Look, I had no idea this film existed until last year. I sat down expecting a fun sci-fi action movie. What I got was stupidity.The movie is centered around a board game called Zathura. When people play Zathura, however, the game comes to life, and the players have to survive. BUT this is a movie targeted at kids. So all sense of danger and common sense are thrown out of the game in favor of keeping the kids glued to the screen. The first thing in the game is that a card pops out of the board and says "Meteor Shower: Take Cover". Then small fireballs rain from above in literally every spot in the house... every spot but where our main characters are. It's so predictable what's going to happen it comes off as lazy. Why not throw in danger? Because that would scare the kids? Well, maybe they should be scared for once!After that, they try to leave the house, only to realize they are now in space. ... wait... there's the small matter of BREATHING IN SPACE in this movie. Seriously, the characters can all just breathe in space now. And I checked; these are humans. And the movie takes place in 2005, so... PLOT HOLE COUNT: 1Lots of boring stuff happens next, but the notable thing is when another character is introduced. This character is supposed to be a plot twist, but this next thing just spoiled it, albeit subtly. One character wishes for something, and the new character says he shouldn't have done that, because he was playing the game too, he had a brother too, and he was so fed up with him he wished him away. Then he was stuck in space forever. Now we know that this guy is the brother that just made the wish, only... the brother's wish was for a football. Wait, wouldn't that make the guy fade from existence? PLOT HOLE COUNT: 2Well there's a lot more I could cover, but none of it is good. Plot holes, paradoxes, heck, there's even a part in the beginning where one of the brothers asks his father to play Super Smash Bros, even though he's holding a set of PlayStation controllers.If you've got some time to kill and some kids to entertain, avoid this movie and put on a decent kids movie. Like The Lion King. Or Finding Nemo. Or literally any other movie other than this.

ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE is nothing more than an outer space version of JUMANJI, with aliens and space stuff replacing jungle creatures. It's a film singularly devoid of imagination, despite the outlandish premise, and I can honestly said I had more fun with an ultra-low budget film like THE DAY TIME ENDED (in which a family's home is attacked by stop motion aliens) than this mega budget offering.The director behind this fare is Jon Favreau, who makes a typically soulless production that focuses on special effects over decent scripting or performances (anyone who's seen the first two IRON MAN films will be familiar with his work). A couple of annoying kids (including the eminently hateable Josh Hutcherson) play a board game that makes their house travel into the depths of outer space, where they embark on the usual CGI augmented adventures, i.e. lots of stuff is destroyed or blown up.Kristen Stewart (TWILIGHT) is cast as the older sister and, somewhat bizarrely, as the film's eye candy, parading around in skimpy underwear throughout, even though she would have only been 14 when this was filmed. Say what you will about the sexualisation of young actresses in Hollywood...A tired Tim Robbins takes the role of 'token Hollywood actor', but the emphasis is on the CGI throughout. Most of it isn't bad at all, but the structure of the narrative is such that the film's action is severely limited in scope and much of the running time has to rest on the shoulders of the two young actors, who just don't cut the mustard.