JUMANJI

REVIEWED BY ERIN DAMAN

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: thematic elements

Rated:

On a dark night in 1869, two terrified boys bury a mysterious chest, hoping and praying that it will never be found. And if it is discovered by some unlucky individual? “May God have mercy on his soul!” one boy mutters grimly. 100 years later, bullied, emotionally neglected twelve-year-old Alan Parrish discovers the mystic trunk partially buried at a construction site. Curious, he pulls it out and opens it, finding a strange game inside. He hurries home with it and sets it up. After dinner, his friend Sarah comes over, and they make the mistake of starting the game.

It seems simple enough-roll the dice, movie the piece, the first one to reach “Jumanji” and shout its name wins. But as Sarah and Alan play, they discover that things happen… pieces move by themselves, and a cryptic rhymed clue appears in the globe in the middle of the board. On Sarah’s turn, it reads “At night they fly, you better run, these winged things are not much fun!” They hear strange sounds from the chimney, but nothing happens. Frightened, they decide to quit the game, but Alan accidentally drops the dice, and his piece moves. The globe depicts a haunting message -- “In the jungle you must wait, until the dice read five or eight.” As Sarah watches in horror, Alan is pulled into the game and disappears to the jungles of Jumanji, only to face the unthinkable horrors that lie therein! But before Sarah can do a thing, a flock of huge bats pour out of the chimney and chase her into the night.

26 years later, Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) move into the abandoned Parrish mansion with their aunt, who is their legal guardian since the death of their parents not long ago. As they adjust to their new home, Peter and Judy begin exploring their surroundings. One morning, after their aunt had left for the day and the children were getting ready for school, they begin to hear the eerie pounding of drums. They follow the sound to the attic, where they discover the source -- Jumanji.

They open the game and find two of the four playing pieces stuck fast to the board game. Then unknown to them, a game continues until it is completed -- as long as the game lingers on, so will the consequences brought on by it. As they wonder at the phenomenon, Peter unwittingly drops the other two pieces, and they also stick fast to the game. Quite frightened, they decide to put it away, but accidentally drop the dice onto the board. They look on in horror as the piece moves on its own. Before they know what is happening, they have a lion prowling around the house! Thinking another roll might get rid of the lion, Peter rolls a five, and out of nowhere appears a jungle man! It is none other than Alan Parrish (Robin Williams), who quickly traps the lion in a bedroom.

After the children learn who the man is and what happened to him, they beg him to help them finish the game. He agrees on the condition that he gets cleaned up first, and soon they are seated around the game, only to discover that the game is froze. As they try to figure out what is going on, Alan realizes the cause -- it is Sarah’s turn. After searching the town, they finally find a very confused, frightened Sarah (Bonnie Hunt). They explain what is going on and what she must do. At first she refuses, but is soon tricked into playing. As the foursome goes on to finish the game, they are struck with one terrifying and dangerous circumstance after another. As their situation gets more desperate, the game grows in intensity. Will they survive long enough to reach Jumanji?

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a kid’s movie. The plot might be, but the thematic elements and violence are not. Young children will find this movie quite frightening. Even I shivered as Alan was pulled into the game, and it is a very tense movie riddled with dangerous situations. Violence comes in the form of VanPelt, a dangerous big game hunter after Alan for some unknown reason. VanPelt is ever shooting at Alan and the rest, undoubtedly trying to kill them. Language is minimal, though, with one misuse each of God and Jesus’ names, along with three other mild curse words.

Some parents might be concerned with the amount of magic in this movie. I personally do not see anything wrong with it. Magic is not real and only is a problem when someone thinks magic is real! You will probably find yourself getting very frustrated with the stupidity of the characters sometimes. If they just sat there and rolled, rolled, rolled instead of waiting around to see what happened, they would have got a lot farther in most of the situations. But, if the characters were smart, there wouldn’t be much of a movie!

The acting is great, and I was especially impressed with Jonathan Hyde’s dual role as VanPelt and Mr. Parrish. (Which is ironic when you consider Mr. Hyde’s last name!) I also appreciated the lessons in this movie -- it really stressed the importance of friends and family. The ending was satisfying, but the very ending is an interesting twist. I really enjoyed Jumanji -- it was exciting, funny, and it had that creepy, mysterious feel which adds so much to this kind of movie. So if danger, magic, and adventure are what you’re looking for, you’ll find it in Jumaji. Just don't, whatever you do, turn out the lights.