Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

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When their bickering escalates and Walter starts chasing him, Danny hides in a dumbwaiter. But Walter surprises him, and in retaliation, lowers Danny into their dark, scary basement, where he discovers an old tattered metal board game, “Zathura.” After trying unsuccessfully to get his brother to play the game with him, Danny starts to play on his own.

From his first move, Danny realizes this is no ordinary board game. His spaceship marker moves by itself and when it lands on a space, a card is ejected, which reads: “Meteor shower, take evasive action.” The house is immediately pummeled from above by hot, molten meteors.

When Danny and Walter look up through the gaping hole in their roof, they discover, to their horror, that they have been propelled into deepest, darkest outer space.

And they are not alone.

So begins an exhilarating, sometimes frightening, but always unpredictable adventure. Danny and Walter realize that unless they finish the game they’ll be trapped in outer space forever. With every turn, they confront one

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Related Movies: sequel of Jumanji (1995) Jumanji 2 (2004) [sequel] Stay Alive (2006) [version]

Behind the Scenes: Read more about the production Blast Off! Space Ships, Robots And Zorgons, Oh My! Shake, Rattle And Roll Zathura: The Game

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External Reviews

Unlike Jumanji, Zathura is a complete movie-going experience. And it's suitable for the entire family (although young children may be frightened by the Zorgons, who are scary-looking). The simplicity of the plot is a strength and weakness, but Favreau's sure-handed direction does a good job of obscuring how little meat exists on the bones of the story. Zathura is welcome late-year fun for all ages - a pleasant contrast to the nauseating dreck that normally masquerades as family-friendly science fiction. 

Zathura lacks the undercurrents of archetypal menace and genuine emotion that informed The Polar Express. But it works gloriously as space opera. 

--Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)

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This is simply supposed to be a mindless journey that two kids go on for “fun,” and they don’t learn anything along the way. If this sounds like fun to you, be my guest, but I found Zathura to be mostly pointless. C

--Lee Tistaert (Lee's Movie Info)

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In the end, Zathura is such a mess that the backstory it spends time developing is completely ignored. The film is so consumed with throwing whatever it can at these boys that they're never afforded a believable chance to reconcile their relationship. Kids may not care, but adults who believe Zathura will teach kids a lesson on working together should pass on this space trash. 

--David Levine (FilmCritic.com)

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ZATHURA far from being a wondrous flight of fancy is grounded by its flirtation with tedium. Younger kids might enjoy the whiz-bang special effects, but there’s only so much alien attacks and shooting stars can cover, and for most of us, it’s just not enough. 

--Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)

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The theme of children having parent-free adventures has always been a favorite for young viewers....."Zathura" plays into this desire astonishingly well, giving young boys exactly what they want to see: giant robots, an astronaut, dinosaur-looking monsters, and an inattentive babysitter. Ask any 8-year-old and he'll tell you those are four of his favorite things. B

--Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)

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"Zathura" is the least of the three movies because it abandons us with two of the most intolerable children to make it onto a movie screen. 

--Wesley Morris (Boston Globe)

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All in all, this is a movie that everyone can enjoy. 8/10

--Tony Medley (TonyMedley.com)

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“Zathura” has pure adventure, a heart that doesn’t force itself, and visuals that will fuel the dreams of children everywhere for years to come...I hope that Jon Favreau doesn’t find his family film years merely a necessary stepping stone to a larger directing career. If “Zathura” is any indication, he seems to be one of the only filmmakers around who understands that obnoxious and crude are not always mandatory elements in a children’s film. 

--Brian Orndorf (eFilmCritic.com)

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Directed by

Jon Favreau Iron Man, Batman Forever, Daredevil

Written by

David Koepp War of the Worlds, Mission: Impossible, The Lost World: Jurassic Park Chris Van Allsburg Jumanji, The Polar Express, Widow's Broom

Cast

Kristen Stewart Panic Room, Cold Creek Manor, Undertow Tim Robbins The Shawshank Redemption, War of the Worlds, Top Gun Frank Oz Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Jonah Bobo Around the Bend, The Best Thief in the World, The Fox and the Hound 2 Josh Hutcherson Howl's Moving Castle, American Splendor, RV Dax Shepard Without a Paddle, Idiocracy, Employee of the Month John Alexander Men in Black, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes [more]

Music By

John Debney Sin City, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty

I guarantee that if you picked a couple of pre-teens at random and asked them to make up a story involving a couple of kids in a house floating through space, what they would come up with would be far more interesting than anything seen in the film. “Zathura” is like one of those elaborate toys that you stay up all night on Christmas Eve putting together, only to find that the kids are having more fun playing with the box that it came in.  --Peter Sobczynski (eFilmCritic.com) If I were still 12 years old, "Zathura" would be my new favorite movie, and even at 12, I had very good taste in movies.  --Scott Weinberg (eFilmCritic.com) For a kid-aimed PG-rated fantasy you could do worse than Zathura: A Space Adventure. Now there's a ringing endorsement. You could do worse  --Lew Irwin (ShowBizData.com) And though “Zathura” may not be quite the second coming of “Jumanji” that it would like to be, it does stand by itself as a pretty nifty way to kill a Saturday afternoon with the kids.  --Tom Ciorciari (eFilmCritic.com) Overall, Zathura was a good film but it could have be a much better film but kids will like the film and parents will like as well just not the bad words they say in this film.  --Paul Perkins

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