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Actor-turned-director Jon Favreau's (ELF) second film, ZATHURA, is the best Steven Spielberg film Steven Spielberg's not involved with. As you watch Favreau's space epic, you can't help but be reminded of Spielberg's E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL or the Spielberg-produced THE GOONIES. In the tradition of those films, ZATHURA's suitable for families, but will also please the rest of moviegoers as it's not sugarcoated for children and offers a plethora of a exciting action sequences which will thrill viewers of all ages. It also has effective humor, amazing special effects, and a perfect retro-science fiction feel.

ELF, the director's first film, is a new Christmas classic and ZATHURA joins a short list of space-set films for the ages. The film's based on the writings of celebrated children's author Chris Van Allsburg, whose publications also led to JUMANJI and THE POLAR EXPRESS. ZATHURA is connected to JUMANJI, but it's not a sequel, prequel, or spin-off. It uses the same concept of children playing a boardgame which leads to them being plunged into a fantastic world. JUMANJI involved a safari-theme, while ZATHURA switches to space. In this film, two brothers find the titular game and, after the game begins, their house is torn from the ground and shot into space where the brothers, with their aloof sister and a mysterious astronaut who meets them in deep space, contend with flaming meteorites, destructive aliens called Zorgons, and defective, murderous giant robots.

The reason ZATHURA's such a success is because it's a film which is for all ages. It doesn't dumb down for toddlers, but it's also not so graphic you can't bring children along for the ride. The humor, for example, in the script by David Koepp (WAR OF THE WORLDS) and John Kamp (THE BORROWERS) ranges from moments aimed to amuse children to moments which will put a smile on the face of mature adults. Even movie buffs have a few moments aimed at their sense of humor, such as when the sister (Kristen Stewart, PANIC ROOM) is questioned by her father (Tim Robbins, WAR OF THE WORLDS) about sex and she responds, with a rueful feel, "We never should've rented THIRTEEN," referencing the "R"-rated teens-gone-wild drama. It's a moment which will confuse almost all moviegoers, but those who're in on it will feel comforted Favreau and his scripters haven't forgotten them.

Of course, a fun script means nothing if you don't have a handsome cast and ZATHURA's is perfect, with a few standouts, including up-and-comer Josh Hutcherson (KICKING & SCREAMING) as the older brother, Walter Budwing, who has more charm and comedic talent than multiple adult actors. Dax Shepard (WITHOUT A PADDLE) is also great, honing his deadpan comedic timing to further perfection and filling the Robin Williams role of JUMANJI with a more subtle, but just as hilarious performance. And with less than ten minutes of screentime, Tim Robbins leaves a lasting impression and represents the safe feel of our loved ones as the father who is left behind on Earth.

Technical credits are top-notch, as ZATHURA features old-fashioned, retro effects. It's refreshing to see a movie which involves craftsmanship, a film which puts people in rubber suits, and a film which builds a giant robot, rather than using CGI to create the film's universe. Overall, ZATHURA's one of the year's best films. Hilarious, exciting, and moving, it's the perfect choice for those in search of an all-around, old-fashioned great movie with style and wit to spare.

And it's 3-0 in Allsburg's favor when it comes to film adaptations of his publications. THE POLAR EXPRESS is the best, but ZATHURA almost zooms past.

A-

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY off on Dax.

http://www.worldofkj.com/reviews/Loyal/Zathura.php

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Gunslinger said it best. Great review; I concur completely.

Joy

Dax was such an odd choice.

I think that it was a pretty fun character really, but it's just his performance was pretty off.

good movie and I agree Dax was the weak spot.

On a different note, I liked the girl when she was ranting.

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Can anyone even try to explain the story of the older Walt. 15 years ago he played the game and lost his brother. How could that have happened 15 years ago in the past?

He means 15 years ago in *his* past.

The Astronaut mentions that he's just come through a wormhole, which basically can throw you around in Time.

Originally, Walt wished Danny away, then Walt grew up in space. 15 years later, he finds a wormhole and goes through it in an attempt to go back in the timeline somewhere before the wish. He manages to and therefore is able to convince his past self not to make the wish. In the end, the Astronaut and his wished-back brother disappear because the original kids have veered into a new timeline created by the absence of the wish. So, the Astronaut no longer exists because Walt never gets lost in the game. Of course, time travel is very complicated and this should actually cause a paradox, but it's usually all right if we don't think about it too much.

Joy

Thanks, still trying to work this through.

so that means for 15 years the house kids were missing, I guess. The younger one disappeared. I guess the girl was killed or taken prisioner and somehow the older got a space suit and became a spaceman.

but then when did the spaceman become part of the game > save the spaceman?

and at the end, I guess they all returned in the present time at the end.

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it seems to make sense but there are still some wierd parts.

And so goes the effects of time travel...

I don't know if Dax is "terribly miscast". I was all like "Oh cool, Zach Braff is in this movie!" His performance seemed like it fit with the tone of the movie.

Overall, I liked it. It was a small family drama trying to be bigger while Jumanji was a large film trying to be personal. The fact that Zathura *sometimes* falls a little short and goes into schmaltz is passible.

A Bill Paxton would have sufficed.

Would have overshadowed the kids IMO.

In all honesty, I'm just trying to push my pro-Paxton agenda.

Doesnt that include some sort of death scene

This contains HEAVY SPOILERS. I know this is a Spoiler topic, but whatever...

In comparision to Jumanji this movie seemed to be much more about the game, rather than running around. These boys actually had a lot of focus and knew what they needed to do, rather than Robin William's crew which had to run around and deal with a lot of issues about how sad the town was because Alan went missing.

Although I did like it (and I would highly recommend it) there are things in the movie that bothered me...

1. Despite being one of the give-aways of Astronaut's identity, the "You are the Fleet Commander!" cards don't really seem to serve any purpose. Unless I missed it.

2. I *hate* the last few cards and how it's all "move ahead 9 spaces", it just seemed so contrived and easy.

3. This is really nit-picky but the sister's choice of pajama bottoms was a bit inapporpriate and a bit slutty for a movie like this. They seemed to focus on it a bit. I mean this girl is only 15. Kind of awkward and I'm sure it flew over the head of most people.

4. I didn't like how they used the Shooting Star card twice. I think they could have massaged the plot a bit and explained the second event involving the Star in another way.

5. The cheesiest moment of the film was the last moment with Dax and Walter. This would have been better served with camera tricks and editing rather than over the top cheesy special effects.

6. The movie loses a bit of steam during the Zorgon invasion. Do we buy that they just hung out in the basement the entire time?

And BTW, this movie has the best opening title sequence of any movie this year so far!

I came in halfway through it, but LOVED what I did see. I'd never let them know, but half the reason I told my friends that we should see the first half of this while we're waiting to hop theaters from Get Rich or Die Tryin' to Wallace and Gromit tomorrow is so I could see the first half of those credits.

All that aside, the film has still grown on me. 2005 has been a film year short on heart, and Zathura provides while mostly avoiding schmaltz thanks to it's clever script and endearing sense of imagination. My cynical younger nephew would have normally gone "But why didn't they get sucked into outer space instantly?" but here he was captivated and the logic of the situation never crossed his mind, just as it shouldn't.

I am 29 and saw this film with a friend of mine (who I've "mentored" for a few years) who is now 17 and we both enjoyed it. He was the one that brought up the logic problems . The logic leaps of space and time can be explained by saying that they are not really in space, they are really in this magic "game".

I agree with you, it *is* a good film and besides a few nitpicks it is incredibly solid. The kids weave in and out of stereotypes. One of the better moments is when Tim Robbins is on the bed with the younger brother and the younger brother asks if his imagination is "better". It shows Walter listening at the door, ripe for a conflict set up, but Favreau doesn't go there and has Robbins address the situation even handedly.

I like that term > magic game > which best explains some items > like how the spaceman is in the game > cause the spaceman wouldn't have been in the first game.

no big deal.... just a small minor part.

- on the age appropiate question, I was at a afternoon showing where there were alot of little kids - families with boys and girls about 5 to 10 and I was wondering if it was a big deal when the kid screamed your a dick?

and on the girl shorts - they had to want to show her off because she seemed to be posing alot in her scenes in a overly sexy way plus when she was frozen and being carried down the stairs.

I was thinking that was inappropriate until Tim Robbins comes up stairs and the first thing he says to the kid is "you shouldn't use that kind of language with your brother". I think that's a real scenario.

I didn't like the use of the word "beyotch!" (is that a word?) when he got the defective robot, but I suppose in reality those kids, if left alone would probably use a few more swear words than they did.

I don't have the energy to write a long review so I'll just say that Zathura was a very entertaining film with sharp writing and performances.

As for the issue of age appropriateness, this is PG (not G) and contains less innuendo than most CGI films and Kristen Stewart's clothing is something a girl might wear to bed, considering she was sleeping so it's not totally strange or anything. I supposed they could have had her wear pants but the film was written and directed by males for primarily a male audience (or so Sony says) so that likely explains it as well.

C+

An ok film I guess. I thought they portrayed the family bickering well. But there was nothing to make it stand out, and it seemed short and claustrophobic. Its nice to see I'm not the only one who was misleaded into thinking Zach Braff was in the film from the ads. The film also wasn't very funny, there was no Robin Williams to lighten things up. An ok watch for a Sunday afternoon, but yeah, nothing memorable.

Robin Williams didn't really lighten up Jumanji.

In fact, his character was rather depressed and angry!

Meh.

I wanted to like the film, but I don't know. Nothing stood out. I was generally uninterested and didn't care for anything in the film. I guess since I loved Jumanji so much, I had high hopes for this? But it isn't that good. C