Jumanji starts in 1969 in New Hampshire in New England where a young boy named Alan Parish (Adam Hann-Byrdd) & his friend Sarah (Laura Bell Bundy) starts playing a strange board game called Jumaji that Alan found buried in the ground earlier, Jumanji turns out to be magical & Alan is sucked into the board game while Sarah runs off. Twenty six years later & it's 1995 & Alan's old house has been empty for years until now, until young brother & sister Judy (Kirsten Dunst) & Peter (Bradley Pierce) move in with their aunt Nora (Bebe Neuwirth), the two youngsters find the Jumanji game & start playing it themselves as all manner of creatures & climate events begin to appear as does Alan (Robin Williams) who has spent the last twenty six years trapped inside Jumanji & is now an adult. The only way to reverse the effects of Jumanji is to finish the game so with a now adult Sarah (Bonnie Hunt) the four players must battle whatever Jumanji throw's at them including Lions, Monsoon's, giant Spider's & a stampede...
Girected by former special effects man Joe Johnston this oddball fantasy adventure is actually pretty good but there are one or two things that ultimately drag it down to merely a very good film rather than a great film in my opinion. Based on the 1981 book by Chris Van Allsberg the film is apparently quite different & the two main character's here Alan & Sarah don't even appear in the book, Jumanji is a hard film to categorise as it mixes various ideas & themes like a bad childhood, finding redemption, standing up to your fears, fantasy, sci-fi, horror & comedy. At 100 odd minutes it moves along at a good pace, once it gets going the situation just keeps getting worse & worse as all the chaos & mayhem escalates beyond anyone's control with all sorts of animals running around & the theme of facing your fears is an ever present one. I am not sure there is another film quite like Jumanji & to find something so original & different in a mainstream film is unusual but the CGI effects scenes, the lack of character depth, the refusal to do anything with the plot other than destroy a house & an ultra happy ending which goes on forever that gives every character in the film the best most happy ending is pure Hollywood that was not needed & a slightly darker ending in keeping with the slightly darker tone of the film overall would have been much better. To be honest apart from great set-pieces & the basic concept there's really not that much to Jumanji at all, it's rather shallow & it's attempts at depth are pure heavy handed Hollywood cliché but it's fun & very entertaining while it lasts, just a shame about the last ten minutes really.
Jumanji was made just as the CGI computer graphic revolution was taking off back in the mid 90's but the effects do hold up rather well actually, from huge plants to an impressive stampede of Rhino's & Elephant's through a house to a huge Lion with the mischievous Monkey's probably the only real weak effect. As a fairly light hearted fantasy adventure with some darker overtones there's a few amusing moments including a bemused policeman who's car is slowly & systematically trashed & as a whole the film delights in needless destruction & mayhem which is no bad thing. There are some laughs & a few scares as well & I could definitely see Jumanji appealing to both older & younger audiences.
With a supposed budget of about $65,000,000 this had a very healthy amount spent on it with most going towards the effects I would have thought. Filmed in New Hampshire & British Columbia in Canada. Despite being known as a manic performer Robin Williams is pretty restrained here & his brand of psychical comedy isn't used much, Kirsten Dunst is one of the few child stars to go on & have a successful adult career while the acting generally is pretty good.
Jumanji is a unique fantasy adventure that I think would appeal to both children & adults, my only real problem is the sweeter than sweet happier than happy ending which is pure sentimental Hollywood at it's worst. With an ending more in keeping with the rest of the film Jumanji might have got a seven from but as it is it gets a six, good but not great. Followed by Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005) which was shot under the title Jumanji 2.
Girected by former special effects man Joe Johnston this oddball fantasy adventure is actually pretty good but there are one or two things that ultimately drag it down to merely a very good film rather than a great film in my opinion. Based on the 1981 book by Chris Van Allsberg the film is apparently quite different & the two main character's here Alan & Sarah don't even appear in the book, Jumanji is a hard film to categorise as it mixes various ideas & themes like a bad childhood, finding redemption, standing up to your fears, fantasy, sci-fi, horror & comedy. At 100 odd minutes it moves along at a good pace, once it gets going the situation just keeps getting worse & worse as all the chaos & mayhem escalates beyond anyone's control with all sorts of animals running around & the theme of facing your fears is an ever present one. I am not sure there is another film quite like Jumanji & to find something so original & different in a mainstream film is unusual but the CGI effects scenes, the lack of character depth, the refusal to do anything with the plot other than destroy a house & an ultra happy ending which goes on forever that gives every character in the film the best most happy ending is pure Hollywood that was not needed & a slightly darker ending in keeping with the slightly darker tone of the film overall would have been much better. To be honest apart from great set-pieces & the basic concept there's really not that much to Jumanji at all, it's rather shallow & it's attempts at depth are pure heavy handed Hollywood cliché but it's fun & very entertaining while it lasts, just a shame about the last ten minutes really.
Jumanji was made just as the CGI computer graphic revolution was taking off back in the mid 90's but the effects do hold up rather well actually, from huge plants to an impressive stampede of Rhino's & Elephant's through a house to a huge Lion with the mischievous Monkey's probably the only real weak effect. As a fairly light hearted fantasy adventure with some darker overtones there's a few amusing moments including a bemused policeman who's car is slowly & systematically trashed & as a whole the film delights in needless destruction & mayhem which is no bad thing. There are some laughs & a few scares as well & I could definitely see Jumanji appealing to both older & younger audiences.
With a supposed budget of about $65,000,000 this had a very healthy amount spent on it with most going towards the effects I would have thought. Filmed in New Hampshire & British Columbia in Canada. Despite being known as a manic performer Robin Williams is pretty restrained here & his brand of psychical comedy isn't used much, Kirsten Dunst is one of the few child stars to go on & have a successful adult career while the acting generally is pretty good.
Jumanji is a unique fantasy adventure that I think would appeal to both children & adults, my only real problem is the sweeter than sweet happier than happy ending which is pure sentimental Hollywood at it's worst. With an ending more in keeping with the rest of the film Jumanji might have got a seven from but as it is it gets a six, good but not great. Followed by Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005) which was shot under the title Jumanji 2.