Product: Jumanji [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 5.0
Sorry, Zathura; you just can't beat your maker.
In a nutshell, the movie is about a predated, enchanted board game (as proven through the prologue where the previous players frantically dispatch of it almost a hundred years before our stories actually starts) placed into the hands of Alan Perish, a thirteen year old growing up in New England in 1969. At first, to Alan and his friend Sarah, it seems ordinary, but with a roll of the dice, things change to the very worst. The game play itself, including bats, monkeys, lions and other deadly elements actually become real, animated... and lethal. Twenty-six years later, another pair of children get their hands on it, reactivating its dormant magic. Alan and Sarah return, and the four of them vow to put an end to all the irreparable harm this game has caused for the, the town and their very lives.I remember when I was the second grade, (almost twelve years ago) when my mother was having her book club at our house and my father took my sister and I out to the movies. Honestly, I had no idea what Jumanji was (I saw like, a thirty second advertisement for the merchandised board game and maybe five seconds worth of the actual film) and had no idea what I was getting into.Everyone in this section is dead right when they say this movie is dark on a massive scale. Sorry, but a happy family film doesn't contain the concepts of murder, mayhem and intensified chaos. Honestly, when I was at my local Metropolitan Theater when it first came out, I almost couldn't take it. I wanted to either hide underneath my foldout seat or even resort to the classic juvenile excuse told during the rising action or climax of a film of this nature, also known as, "I have to go to the bathroom!" Regardless of that, though, I just couldn't stop watching. Maybe it was the mystery of how in the world the characters were going to get out of this catastrophic situation. It could have been the special effects were revolutionary. After all, in the mid-nineties, creating one hundred computer-generated special effects was almost on heard of (Independence Day was mostly stop-motion animation and Jurassic Park basically relied on actual animatronics, both with very few CGI involved) and looked so real. But... the fact remained that this film was to be my obsession for about one quarter of my elementary schooled life.This week (in the middle of my third year of college) I found my old VHS tape of this particular film while in pursuit of another (my major is film studies and production) and decided, meh... what the heck. A little nostalgia never hurt, right?Instead of just watching it for pure enjoyment, I could now analyze it in a more critical and more understanding way. I thought it wasn't going to do much for me, but (dated family film, not much chance of finding any true thematic qualities) but nevertheless, that didn't appear to be the case. Unlike the other popular live-action family films within ten years of this film coming out (the Indian in the Cupboard, Homeward Bound, Honey I Shrunk the Kids), this one seemed to have deeper meaning in how events shape the lives of our youth. When Alan returns home, he see's the beautiful town he had once called his home (a more obvious example would be the statute of his family patron, once a shining beacon in the middle of a beautiful and lush green park, now pretty much a rusted graffiti tagged eyesore, centered on top of what has become something akin to scorched earth) now residing as a dying city reeking bankruptcy and homeless civilians. This clearly demonstrates what happens when one avoids responsibility, and how it affects not only you, but also the people directly involved with your life. And the fact that the game continues to cause additional mayhem and destruction demonstrates how continuously fleeing responsibility can only get worse and worse.And for those who noticed--no... it's not coincidence that the protagonist's father, is the same actor as the homicidal hunter Van Pelt (who appears to be nothing short of an evil entity seemingly taken from Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game"--wow... the irony!). The hunter is actually a living, breathing metaphor of how difficult it can be to face and overcome the harshest facts of life--aka, dealing with the strained relationship of Alan and his father. This sort of plays on the same technique the original play of Peter Pan demonstrated when Captain Hook was the same actor as Wendy, John and Michael's father.And if in the event you're juggling between Jumanji and that "other" movie about an enchanted board game, "trust me"--leave Zathura on the shelf or in the bargain bin, where it belongs. For unlike its predecessor, Zathura (which I only watched because it debuted on my prepaid additional cable sometime back) has the flash, the action and special effects that made Jumanji what it was--but unlike the original, its main purpose seems to be to only entertain and has absolutely no thematic qualities to speak of. Furthermore, any morale that you see in it is pretty much shoved down your throat and leaves no room for any real progress in mental contemplation. Now, let's leave this nonsense behind and continue.While there are some tiny flaws with the acting and screenplay--there really isn't much to dock this rating in the slightest. My only warning is, if you are going to watch with your family, make sure your child, grandchild, little brother/sister, whatever is "at least" in the upper elementary, as many scenes might prove to be too intense.So let me close by saying "for those who wish to seek to find a way to leave your world behind" give this movie a go and remember what made family film so powerful just a decade before.