Product: Jumanji [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 4.0
Memories......It still holds up.
For all my reviews visit my website [...]I am NOT reviewing the DVD. Just the movies unless otherwise stated.Please note that the rating above might not accurately reflect my thoughts, you will see a rating sentence at the end of the review.But seriously folks, (count how many times I've said that so I don't haft to,) watching this movie over again is like going through ultimate nostalgia non-stop, however increasing you're knowledge. It's like reviewing 7th grade in 8th grade. Which is practically what 8th Grade Math was like. If you haven't figured it out now I absolutely loved this movie when I was a kid. It has layers. Like an Onion only in half-opposite. It tells more from repeated viewings. Before, I cared more about the visuals and the music more than the plot and character development. I still did back then, pretty much acknowledging what I have now. But now, that acknowledgment is too the 10th power.Also, take somebodies face. Not literally, look at one. Look at it close up, you'll see freckles, hairs, pimples, etc. Now look at it far-away. Now you just see the eyes and nose and stuff, but no details. This applies both good and bad in re-watching Jumanji. It plays noticing the nit-picky stuff you didn't even have a clue about when you were young. And then it also lets you on the little inside jokes, and symbols in the film.I also remembered a line from Robin Williams (one of the most underrated actors along with Steve Carrel,) "Things you can't even imagine" when he was talking about being trapped in the African Jungle. At the time, I thought he meant literally something you can't imagine. Now I know, that theory applies only to the young ones. It's a phrase to represent how big something is. I also wanted to know what is was like to imagine something you can't imagine. Even mature adults have this kind of dumb feeling. What would happen if you sneeze with your eyes open? I've hear that your eyes literally pop-out, but I seriously doubt that because wouldn't you feel pain?So, there's my Jumanji story in a nutshell. Well, there's probably more that is beyond words besides "youth," but that's just me. So, how would the movie play out if a teen or adult watched it as a virgin (DON'T GET ANY IDEAS MR. TWISTER!)Well, ever watched The Goonies (1985)? Of course you have, it's gonna be the 25th Birthday! (Along if Jaws who's 35th Birthday comes soon. And Jumanji AND Apollo 13 who's 15th Birthday come this year.) And if you haven't your missing out on some of the best of the '80's. The Goonies and The Gremlins are usually called the two CCG's (in my book at least,) stands for Copy-Cat G's. The two movies starting with The G that spawned many copy cats. Gremlins is obvious, ranging from who knows what. Goonies, never really talked about. Their usually discredited for being way too "cheesy" but lets be honest, everybody who loves the Goonies watched it as a young one, as did I. It was Cheesy, you just didn't see that at the time. You were in your youth. Triple Y! Triple H! I say, this is one of the most underrated gems out their. Nobody talks about it! When I try to start a conversation about it people say "it was good" or "I didn't like it...it was just..." why do we not live in a world of movie reviewers? You'll notice this is the longest paragraph of the review so far.It's the perfect formula for an adventure movie starring kids. It's both a tad scary, adventurous and quite smart actually. The movie doesn't dumb down for inpatient audiences. They just wanna see "roll dice-challenge-roll dice" continued, Well, here's what it really is and makes for quite an impressive movie. "Plot and character developmentX3/finding the game, roll the dice, challenge, plot and character developementX2+Finding the game+Challenge/3, roll the dice+challenge/4 or X2, and it never loops." It always changes the formula and this is only minutes of the movie summarized in that equation. This is something that is extremely innovative, yet nobody else seems courageous enough to write it in their script, and it is disappointing me a lot.Plus, this is how CGI should be used. Only when necessary or extremely convenient. Most special effects are real, it's just a few things that are CGI. SparinglySo their you go. The Rating? 4/5