Jon Favreau turns to another family-friendly tale in his latest film, Zathura, about a Jumanji-like board game that summons a real life space adventure for two young boys, Danny (Jonah Bobo) and his younger brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson). There’s not much to Zathura to completely sustain interest throughout its running time but it is entertaining early on, heavily relying on CGI special effects to bring a science-fiction galaxy adventure, complete with a malfunctioning robot straight out of Forbidden Planet, and evil reptilian aliens called Zordons. It’s apparent that Favreau and screenwriters David Koepp and John Kamps (adapting Chris Van Allsburg’s book) have fun shamelessly channelling ‘50s science-fiction popcorn entertainment with a charming, if slightly hollow, subplot about the two brothers learning to accept one another and come together as a family. While overly relying on countless scenes of special effects at the expense of a narrative drive, Zathura is nonetheless entertaining and contains enough standout sequences to redeem it. The initial living room meteor shower, a result of starting the game unaware of its power and the continuous destruction of the three-story house is exciting and funny, proving Favreau has the technical chops when orchestrating action sequences. That and watching Tim Robbins redeem himself after his insufferable performance in War of the Worlds, inspires confidence. Worth checking out but it’s not the second coming of The Goonies. I will continue to wait…
Richard Saad
© Cinephile Magazine, 2006