Jumanji

For its time it was a pretty good children's cartoon. The artwork was edgy and the theme music was engaging, the creatures looked pretty scary/sinister and the rules based, cause and effect reality created by the Jumanji game gave the environment character and some of the malevolent characters a certain pathos. Professor Ibsen in the episode Master Builder was a direct reference to the Norwegian playwright Henrick Ibsen, who wrote a play called Master Builder and contains parallels to the character. Tim Curry is the voice to Slick.

Favorite episodes include Armageddon, where the rules of Jumanji begin to break down and Branford, a game version of the "real world" where Peter and Judy come from.

I really enjoyed the then-unusual artwork, now rather prevalent in animation-and the fact that the characters were usually in the land of JUMANJI itself, unlike the film which took place on Terra Firma.

This show was a mess. Whereas the book and movie took place in the real world, this show mostly plays out within Jumanji itself, which is a great concept brimming with potential. Unfortunately, little of note was done with it.

The writers do introduce us to a biologically diverse world with jungles, deserts, oceans and ruined temples, populated by giant, dangerous animals (Amusingly, everything has carnivorous teeth, even the insects.) and introduce new villains as well. Each show follows the same simple formula: Judy and Peter get sucked into the game (which happens every time they roll the dice), get chased by animals, defeat some villain, find an artifact, try and fail to free Alan, and solve a clue which conveniently solves their mundane real-world issue. Occasionally, an intriguing concept is introduced, such as where the animals come from, or what purpose Van Pelt serves, but the writers never do anything else with them. Don't even try to make sense of it among the countless plot holes. The ultimate insult is the final episode, a glorified clip show where no questions are answered.

The positives: decent animation and voice acting, and it has a cool instrumental intro sequence. But I really can't recommend this series. The movie achieved in around 90 minutes what this series couldn't in 40 episodes.

I just want to say that I liked the Robin Williams movie from 1995. It had a likable cast, solid acting, great action, terrific special effects, and some wonderful music from James Horner although the first few minutes were a tad bit slower and some of the scenes were apparently dark. So, when I saw this TV show adaptation of the movie as a kid, I was virtually impressed, although it may not be a classic since the third season had some weaker, yet very interesting episodes (although the final episode where Alan finally gets out of the jungle was great).

Seeing as how this was made by Klasky-Csupo, the company who made The Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys, I think they did a great job with this show. The story lines for this show are very creative, especially in the first two seasons and they had a charm to them just like the movie. The pathos from the Jumanji game gave some an atmospheric tone to the environment and it's presented so lively. The characters designs, although weird, are at least tolerable. The voice acting is also pretty good too. Debi Derryberry did great as Judy and Ashley Johnson did great as Peter as did Bill Fagerbakke as Alan Parish. Tim Curry also did great as Trader Slick and the other voice actors voiced some of the new characters pretty well. Even the theme song was engaging.

Overall, not a classic, but a great show nonetheless and definitely worth-watching to fans of the movie!

Loosely based on the movie of the same name, this series has Judy and Peter stumble onto the game and find Alan trapped inside. As the episodes went on, the trio ventured to various and creative places, as well as encountering some delightful supporting characters. This show had an interesting charm to it, similar to the movie.