Jumanji

Find a comfortable chair, lay out the board, grab the dice, and get ready to play. But remember: once you start this game, you can't stop. If it takes you over twenty years to finish, finish you must.

"Jumanji" is loosely based on the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book by Chris Van Allsburg. The basic premise stays the same: a sister and brother find a strange game based on a jungle safari adventure. When they begin playing it, they find they cannot stop, for the characters and events of the game come to life and start filling their house with monkeys, lions, explorers and other strange things. Only finishing the game will make it all go away.

In the hands of Hollywood, more story is added. Now we have a game spanning 26 years, when one of the two children playing the game in 1969 gets sucked into the game itself. He's trapped there until a fresh pair of children in 1995 find the game and begin playing. The right number is rolled, and out Alan comes...as Robin Williams! Finding the grown girl to complete the group, the four must complete the game before their town is destroyed by the stampeding rhinos, killer pod vines and crazed Great White Hunter.

Robin has some good moments in this film, though he isn't allowed to riff as much as in other vehicles. He's supported by an excellent cast, including a young Kirsten Dunst as the sister of the new pair of children; Jonathan Hyde as both the 1969 father and Van Pelt, the Great White Hunter from the game; and Bebe Neuwirth as the modern children's aunt. The effects are, not surprisingly, ILM-excellent -- necessary in a film of this type. The script was co-written by Van Allsburg to insure the atmosphere of the film and book mesh, but he did not fall into the "This is MY baby" syndrome, and received good help from his two co-writers (for details, see the main page). Highly recommended for old and young alike.

I just used to love "Jumanji" as a kid. This was what was Oscar worthy to me, because I loved the special effects and Robin Williams. Even though I think I over did it with the Oscar worthy thoughts, still to this day I enjoy "Jumanji". It's a great family film that will make you feel good and have fun with.

Robin Williams plays Alan, a boy who when he was little and had a horrible fight with his father plays a game with his friend, Sarah, and the game happens to be cursed causing Alan to get sucked into the game until someone else plays it. Sarah freaking out by just what happened runs home and no one believes her leaving Alan behind for decades in the game. When a new family moves in, Judy and Peter and their Aunt Nora, they find the game and start playing and release Alan who has just survived decades in a jungle. When they realize that they must finish the game to make the horrible curses it brings go away, they find Sarah who is now the town loony, and must play it 'til they finish. But can they do that with all the spiders, elephants, lions, tsunami, vines, stampedes, and an angry hunter? You'll just have to wait and see.

This is a great movie for the family and I'd highly recommend it for a good watch. It's just a fun fill adventure with great effects and some fun performances by Robin and Bonnie and a very young Kirsten Dunst. So sit back, grab the popcorn, and enjoy "Jumanji"! 8/10

You know the drill: young Alan Parrish gets sucked into a board game called Jumanji, returns when a brother and sister are playing 26 years later, and has to battle the animals that wreak havoc on the town. It all seems pretty simple, but they play some neat tricks with it in the movie. As the adult Alan, Robin Williams is more subdued than usual, but still makes the character admirable. With good support from Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bebe Neuwirth, Jonathan Hyde and Patricia Clarkson, this is a pretty interesting movie. I will admit that the monkeys looked pretty fake, but we can't dwell on that in this movie; the point is to enjoy oneself while watching it.

Oh and one more thing: from "Jumanji", I learned the difference between alligators and crocodiles.

The hauntingly beautiful illustrations of the children's book are animated in this unique adventure for the entire family. Artistic at each turn this movie is probably not meant for those who have spent more time watching Star Wars than at the library. At least one reviewer could not understand why the computer images were not as "realistic" as in other computer generated animated films. That would be like asking why Roger Rabbit does not look like a real rabbit. They are not supposed to be real. The characters of Jumanji have literally popped out of the children's illustrations full of life and imagination. Similar to Roger Rabbit it meshes two different worlds together. Have fun. Read the book. Watch the movie. Play the game.

In Bradford, New Hampshire, in 1969, the bullied boy Alan Parrish overhears drumbeats and finds a boarding game called "Jumanji" that was buried one hundred years ago by two boys in the real estate of Alan's father Sam Parrish (Jonathan Hyde). Alan plays the game with his sweetheart Sarah Whittle and vanishes while Sarah flees from bats that have arrived in his mansion.

In the present days, in 1995, Nora Shepherd (Bebe Neuwirth) moves to the abandoned house that belonged to Sam Parrish with her orphan niece Judy Shepherd (Kirsten Dunst) and nephew Peter Shepherd (Bradley Pierce) that lost their parents in a car accident in Canada. They hear the drumbeats, find the Jumanji and decide to play the boarding game. They bring giant mosquitoes, monkeys, a lion and Alan Parrish (Robin Williams) back home twenty-six years older. Soon they discover that they need to finish the game to restore everything the way they were. But the game is too dangerous and brings different threats to them and to Bradford while they play.

"Jumanji" is a delightful adventure and family entertainment from the 90's. The story is original and the special effects are still great after twenty years. It is so good to see Robin Williams again and curious to recall Kirsten Dunst still a girl. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Jumanji"