Kids Movie Review: Zathura

This is a movie review of Zathura.

Plot Summary (courtesy of IMDB):

Danny and Walter are two brothers who barely get along even while driving their parents to distraction as their older sister tries to ignore them. Despite their squabbling, the brothers manage cooperate enough to play an old mechanical board game named Zathura. However, after their first move, they find that the game has apparently flung them, their sister and their entire house into outer space. Furthermore, the brothers surmise the only way to return home is to finish the game. However with almost every move, new dangers arise as the siblings find themselves learning to cooperate in ways they never expected as they realize what they mean to each other.

Run Time: 113 Minutes

Movie Review:

Zathura is the sort of sequel to the popular 1995 movie Jumanji starring Robin Williams. Like the first movie, this one is based off two kids who find a game hidden in their house and once they start playing it the world around them changes to reflect what the game says. Aside from the basic theme, however, the movie has nothing else to do with the first one. Robin Williams does not reappear in this movie and instead of a jungle theme this movie takes place in outer space.

This movie is quite good. The plot is well written and has many twists in it that keep you on the edge of your seat. There is a lot of action that will keep kids engrossed and the whole film moves at a quick pace. There are a lot of good comedic bits that are placed perfectly.

The director and his team really put a lot detail into making this film. They forgo CGI in many cases in favor of live action and models and it really pays off. There are very few spots in the film which have a fake feel and most of the film has a very believable quality. This movie does a great job of suspending disbelief to tell its story, even though it has to take some pretty large jumps in artistic license to do so.

Movie Review photo credit: wikipedia.org

Overall Movie Review Rating: I rate this movie as a Great See - 4.5 stars

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