Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely Fantastic

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this movie when I first started watching it. I just knew it was a fantasy film with familiar content, and I was pleasantly surprised by it's quality. It's a kind of space "Jumanji" in which two brothers, with unresolved household disputes, will play a game that will prove to be a huge space adventure where anything can happen. I liked the way the film seeks to convey a moral of the story, focusing on the importance of brotherly love and the family. Jonah Bobo and Josh Hutcherson were very good at leading roles but the building of their characters was essential, allowing the public, especially the younger ones, to identify with one or the other. Kristen Stewart wasn't as effective as the self-centered, egocentric older sister, but she did provide a few moments of humor. Dax Sheppard was excellent and his performance gave this film its most emotional moments. Last but not least, the very good special effects that the film used, convincing yet discreet enough not to dominate the screen. Still a word to praise the good soundtrack, very competent in her role.In short: this film is excellent, although not very original and recycle the formula already used in another film. It will please easily at any age and is perfect for a family serenade with everyone in the room together watching and spending quality time together. After all, family is just that ... union.

I do remember watching this, though it must have been back in the time when I wasn't reviewing all the films that I have watched, which meant that this was one of the films that fell into the cracks. I vaguely remember my brother hiring it from the video shop and me watching it with half an eye, and then thinking that maybe this film wasn't all that bad so deciding to actually go and watch it again from the beginning. Well, I did just that, and I did it again quite recently so that I can now add this to the one thousand odd reviews of films that I have written and posted to date.To put it simply, and quite a few other people have mentioned this as well, this film is basically Jumanji in space. In a sense the spectacle isn't as great as what I remember from Jumanji, and the main characters are basically a couple of young brothers, though the sister does make an appearance near the end. The film is about two brothers who are always getting on each other's nerves, and unfortunately their father has to disappear off the work. However, while trapped in the cellar, one of the brothers finds a game and starts playing and this catapulting them into a science-fiction universe full of heat seeking, and human eating, Zorgons.What annoyed me a bit about the film was how nasty the brother's were to each other, and how the younger brother seemed to be getting the rough end of the stick. It felt as if the older brother was the favourite (and behaved like it), and it was the younger one who kept on getting told off. In fact the older one could be incredibly vicious and nasty at times. As such, I felt that the fate that he suffered in the alternate reality was actually quite fitting (which you eventually work out in the end).The film itself is okay, however not incredibly exhilarating. It is basically a kid's film, and like Jumanji, to escape the game they have to go through right to the end. However, what is noticeable is that there aren't actually any major adults in the film, with the exception of the astronaut (whose identity becomes apparent as the film comes to a close). Oh, and all of the action takes place in the house, it is just that the game lifts the house out of suburbia and throws it into the middle of an inhabited universe. It's a fun movie, but one not to take too seriously, and they could have eased off on the kids a bit as well.

Look, I had no idea this film existed until last year. I sat down expecting a fun sci-fi action movie. What I got was stupidity.The movie is centered around a board game called Zathura. When people play Zathura, however, the game comes to life, and the players have to survive. BUT this is a movie targeted at kids. So all sense of danger and common sense are thrown out of the game in favor of keeping the kids glued to the screen. The first thing in the game is that a card pops out of the board and says "Meteor Shower: Take Cover". Then small fireballs rain from above in literally every spot in the house... every spot but where our main characters are. It's so predictable what's going to happen it comes off as lazy. Why not throw in danger? Because that would scare the kids? Well, maybe they should be scared for once!After that, they try to leave the house, only to realize they are now in space. ... wait... there's the small matter of BREATHING IN SPACE in this movie. Seriously, the characters can all just breathe in space now. And I checked; these are humans. And the movie takes place in 2005, so... PLOT HOLE COUNT: 1Lots of boring stuff happens next, but the notable thing is when another character is introduced. This character is supposed to be a plot twist, but this next thing just spoiled it, albeit subtly. One character wishes for something, and the new character says he shouldn't have done that, because he was playing the game too, he had a brother too, and he was so fed up with him he wished him away. Then he was stuck in space forever. Now we know that this guy is the brother that just made the wish, only... the brother's wish was for a football. Wait, wouldn't that make the guy fade from existence? PLOT HOLE COUNT: 2Well there's a lot more I could cover, but none of it is good. Plot holes, paradoxes, heck, there's even a part in the beginning where one of the brothers asks his father to play Super Smash Bros, even though he's holding a set of PlayStation controllers.If you've got some time to kill and some kids to entertain, avoid this movie and put on a decent kids movie. Like The Lion King. Or Finding Nemo. Or literally any other movie other than this.

Zathura: A Space Adventure is a 2005 action packed fantasy adventure about two brothers who don't see eye to eye. They constantly fight about everything and Walter thinks that his brother was a mistake. So when Walter's younger brother comes across a mysterious board game called Zathura: A Space Adventure he decides to play it. But when he does play it things get out of hand,between a meteor shower,a robot,a bunch of Zortagans(basically lizards from outer space) and a stranded astronaut(who is really Walter from the future,which is a twist in the movie). Stars The Shawshank Redemption's Tim Robbins as Walter and his younger brother(Jonah Bobo)'s father,Twlight's Kristen Stewart as Lisa,Jonah Bobo(who I think is in Diary Of A Whimpey Kid with Zachary Gordan)and Josh Hutcherson from Hunger Games and Epic. This film is surprisingly not that bad. If you loved Jumanji than you will love this movie.