Zathura

By: Sunil Noronha
Monday, April 24, 2006
Zathura has played the Jumanji card. It is about a board game that takes the players to another world. It has the same writer as Jumanji too, Chris Van Allsburg. It is about two children Danny and Walter played by Jonah Bobo and Josh Hutcherson. Their father (played by Tim Robbins) has been separated from his ex-wife. In their life of angst and misery-one fine day, their father leaves them with their sister. In their day alone at home, they find a board game of the 50's called Zathura. Tempting as it is, Danny and his brother start playing the game, which leads them to a battle in space against the elements of the universe. Their house plays that role which is otherwise played by a spaceship, meandering past meteors, robots and extra terrestrials. Their adventure finds them an astronaut played by Dax Shepard who gets them back home on Earth by helping them win the game which is the only way out of it.

The movie is very much the expected kind. You know what happens before it does. The special effects are commendable. The story is one that has been heard over and over again. Director Jon Favreau delivers no surprise here. Just a thorough entertainer.