Zathura [18]

In "Zathura," two squabbling brothers are propelled into deepest, darkest space while playing a mysterious game they discovered in the basement of their old house. On their fantastic journey they are joined by a stranded astronaut and must survive meteor showers, hostile lizard-like aliens, a rocket-propelled robot run amok and an intergalactic spaceship battle. Unless they finish the game and reach the planet Zathura, they are doomed to be trapped in outer space forever. "Zathura" is based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. Chris also wrote "The Polar Express" and "Jumanji".

This movie is a total re-hash of Jumanji. Although the setting has been changed to outer space. In Star Trek lore this theme is called "Superior beings test humanity". I wrote in my review of Jumanji that the board game is an extremely powerful magic item. A being would have to have extra spacial and temporal powers to achieve such effects. Why waste it on a board game. If you like Jumanji, you will like Zathura. It is interesting that such an obvious retelling would get made into a movie. But perhaps author Allsburg prefers this version to the Jumanji version. {BB}

Added: October 24th 2005
Reviewer: BB
29 Point Scale Score:    [18]

Related Movie Link (IMDB): IMDB - Zathura
Hits: 1987
Language: english