Promotional Lines: An Adventure For Those Who
Seek To Find A Way To Leave Their World Behind." "Are
You Game?"
Director Joe Johnston's "Jumanji"
is a wild, "Twilight Zone" - type movie. It answers
the question of what would happen, if a board game had real,
far reaching consequences, where participants really "played
for keeps?" What if a child landed on an unlucky square,
and wound up being physically trapped within the board game,
and not released until 26 years later? What would happen to
the trapped child's family, and other people involved in the
child's life, because he wasn't there with them? How would this
alter the history of all concerned and involved? After the screenplay
went through a total of 7 rewrite drafts, a masterful film is
the result. "Jumanji is an emotionally powerful, imaginative
adventure, that combines breathtaking special effects, with
an enchanting mixture of comedy, magic and thrills."
The basic story involves a boy, Alan Parish
(Adam Hann-Byrd), in 1969, who discovers such an amazing, time-changing
board game. When he plays it with a girl that he really likes,
he lands on an unlucky square, and is sucked into the game board,
which totally scares the girl, Sarah Whittle (Laura Bundy) who
runs from the house, stopping their game. Trapped in the game's
horrid jungle for 26 years, Alan (Robin Williams) freed in 1995
when two young kids, Judy and Peter Shepard (Kristen Dunst and
Bradley Pierce) find the same horrific game. After the other
original 1969 player, Sara, who is now a woman (Bonnie Hunt),
is convinced to rejoin the game, all 4 participants continue
to play the game, with amazing consequences, and find themselves
having to use all the courage that they can muster, to try to
outwit the game's "powerful forces," in order to survive,
and perhaps fix history, so time will be changed back to what
was supposed to happen, before all was changed because of this
havoc-causing board game.
The film features strong direction, fast pacing,
a strong cast, clever writing, and incredible FX of rampaging
elephants, rhino, monkeys, man (and car) eating plants, monsoons,
and more, all which slowly turn the 4 story Georgian mansion
into the Jumanji jungle.
Favorite Scenes include: I really liked a scene
where the house is flooded by a monsoon, and Williams and the
kids must cope with raging waters AND a giant, hungry crocodile.
Also, the giant spider scene is realistically creepy, and the
rampage of the hunter chasing the participants all through the
k-mart type store is exciting.
Although primarily marketed to kids, some of
whom were scared by the realistic special effects, it offers
plenty of entertainment for adults, and older children, who
enjoy a suspenseful, thrilling adventure, that tests to the
limit it's characters courage and wits.
Directed by: Joe Johnston. Screenplay by: Jonathan
Hensleigh, Greg Taylor & Jim Strain - Based on the award
winning 1981 children's book, by Chris Van Allsburg, who helped
develop the story's ideas.
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