Zathura

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

Amazon.com

Zathura, a smart and stylish kid’s adventure, launches into action when Danny (Jonah Bobo) twists the key of a dusty science fiction game—a game that unleashes a localized meteor shower and wrenches Danny’s house into orbit around a distant ringed planet, bringing Danny’s brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson, Kicking and Screaming) and sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart, Panic Room) along. Soon a defective robot, a rangy astronaut (Dax Shepard, Without a Paddle), and an alien spaceship enter the picture. Only by completing the game can the kids return their house to its proper space-time coordinates, but the game board falls into the hands of some nasty, carnivorous lizards. Zathura has some obligatory emotional conflict and resolution between the two brothers, but that’s pretty much beside the point; what makes Zathura a delight is the wonderful design, the skillful escalation of disasters, and the adroit direction of Jon Favreau (Elf), who is quickly becoming the go-to guy for mass-market movies with wit and timing. Some situations may be too intense for younger kids; Favreau ratchets up the suspense at a few points. Based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji). Also featuring Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption). —Bret Fetzer

Barnes and Noble

“Some days you have to grow up all at once,” freshly divorced, overworked dad (Tim Robbins) tells his sons, Walter, ten, and Danny, six. This is going to be one of those days. Left to their own devices in their cavernous old house, the bickering siblings begin to play a vintage board game that offers more thrills and fantastic adventure than Chutes and Ladders. Before you can say Jumanji, the boys find their house transported to the outer rings of Saturn, where they face such perils as a meteor shower, a defective robot, and giant lizards. With this movie and Elf, director Jon Favreau has become Hollywood’s top PG guy for creating family films all ages can enjoy. Based on Chris Van Allsburg’s book, Zathura is a vast improvement over Jumanji, which covered similar terrain but was overpowered by the special effects. Zathura is grounded by the natural performances of its young stars: Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo as Walter and Danny, who are themselves adrift in the wake of their parents’ breakup; and Panic Room-survivor Kristen Stewart as Lisa, the boys’ disagreeable teenage sister, who is initially oblivious to their predicament. Dax Shepard shows up as a stranded astronaut who played the game long ago, with tragic results. What also distinguishes Zathura is a script that respects the audience’s intelligence and allows for genuine wit and emotion. Although Zathura’s not as visceral as Revenge of the Sith or The Goblet of Fire, the climactic encounter with the Zorgons may not be, in the words of the board game, “for the faint of heart.” As a game, one can’t imagine wanting to play Zathura more than once. The same cannot be said about the film. It is a winner. Donald Liebenson