Zathura: A Space Adventure

Yeah, I know - it's just "Jumanji" (1985) set in space, but it's still quite an enjoyable outing for Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo. "Danny", the latter who definitely won out on the name stakes, is the younger brother who just wants to hang out with his cooler older sibling "Walter" when their dad (Tim Robbins) is called to work - but he isn't interested. After an altercation with a baseball, "Danny" goes exploring their rickety old house and discovers a game called "Zathura" which he starts playing by himself! That's mistake number one - but at least it gets "Walter" to pay attention as their house detaches itself from suburbia and heads into outer space - and a perilous one at that. There are robots, "Zorgons", an helpful astronaut (Dax Shepard) oh, and yes - there's a sister too - "Lisa" (Kristen Stewart) who is much older than her brothers and who has even less interest in their games. Each turn of the key delivers a card and each card could potentially spell life and death. Will they make it all the way round? No, jeopardy isn't any higher on Jon Favreau's list than it was in the original Van Allsburg book, but along the way we have some fun trashing their house, fighting off monstrous aliens and someone realised early on that Stewart does some of her best acting when cryogenically frozen to her toothbrush. The visual effects work well and of course the messages of familial loyalty, inter-dependence and resilience are writ large as just about everyone realises they can only win if they work together. I enjoyed this.