Product: Jumanji [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 4.0
Great Movie - Williams at his best.
Definitely a great movie worth the watching. The opening scene is a couple of 19th century boys who bury a box. They are obvioulsy scared - it's a dark night and they can hear wolves. Despite their fear, they agree they must bury it. One nearly panics as steady drumbeats begins from the board. They bury it when one boy asks the other, "But what if somebody finds it?"There is a deadly pause before the reply: "Then God have mercy on his soul..."1969, a small town. Alan Parrish discovers the board and invites his friend to play the game. Yet they unknowingly unleash powerful forces and Alan is sucked into the game "until the dice read five or eight". His friend is chased screaming out of the house by bats.1995 - Two young kids discover the board in their new home and begin playing, bringing about the arrival of giant mosquitoes and a lion, and bringing Alan back. Yet there is no way out of the game except to finish it. During the course of the movie, everything from stampeding rhinos, to floods, to a crazed hunter with a machine gun appear all attempting to kill the players.They succeed in ending the game and the board is eventually sent downriver, till it enters the sea. There is a quick epilogue of the characters and how their lives end.The closing scene is the best. The board is lying on a beach. Two out-of-focus characters are seen as the drumbeats begins. One of them says "Qu'est-ce que c'est ce bruit?" The writing underneath translates - "What's that noise?"The movie incorporates the best parts of movies to create a really good movie - comedy, drama and plenty of thriller/action with lots of good acting AND special effects. Worthwhile seeing, but not really worth buying in my opinion. It lacks something I can't quite put my finger on...One thing I can say for it - the sound effects for the movie are really really good in a house of horrors (trust me, I tried it!)