Not since 1980’s “Flash Gordon” have I seen an opening credit sequence so gloriously retro in its approach, wonderfully evoking pulpy sci-fi of an era gone by, and promising rip-roaring space adventure to come. That’s where the comparison to “Flash Gordon” ends, as “Zathura”, Jon Favreau’s high-flying follow-up to Joe Johnston’s “Jumanji”, lives up to this promise in every way, delivering one of the best kid-friendly action films in recent years. True to the spirit of its predecessor, this film delivers real danger and potentially disturbing thrills on a legitimate action film level while not losing sight of the child characters that drive the story forward. The special effects never appear cheap, and the story never gets bogged down with plot contrivances or preachy lessons for the kids. “Zathura” does have a few messages about appreciating ones siblings and life not always being fair, but that’s perfectly okay. Unlike last month’s “The Legend of Zorro”, which was targeted toward the same demographic of young boys (by the same studio, Columbia, nonetheless), this is a solid film that doesn’t pander or lose its way, remaining entertaining to even the most jaded of adult movie goers, like your truly.
We open on an old but cozy large house in the suburbs, as a divorced dad played by Tim Robbins plays catch with his two boys on a Saturday. Upon his returning to his home office for a quick hour of freelance work, the boys become restless and argumentative. Consoling the boys, particularly the youngest, Danny (Jonah Bobo) eats up too much of his work time, and soon he’s off running an errand, playing catch-up. Rejected by his ten-year-old brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson) in favor of ESPN’s “SportsCenter”, Danny eventually finds a cool old key-operated mechanical space-travel board game called “Zathura” in the basement. Without much in the way of directions available on the musty old box lid, Danny fires up the game, pressing a button labeled “start”, thereby unknowingly unleashing a strange new reality upon themselves, as the entire house is inexplicably hurdled into outer space (near the rings of Saturn to be exact), at the whims of whatever the cards say as the game spits them out. In true, classic “Wizard of Oz” fashion, “getting home” becomes the goal, despite the fact that the house itself is along for the ride. Simple laws of physics and spatial relations are knowingly disregarded by the screenplay in true young-kid-fantasy style, as the house still has working electricity, gas, running water, and even a basement, even though all full exterior shots appear to be lacking any subterranean levels.
At the mercy of the rules of fair play (i.e., everyone must take their turn) and the cryptic messages on the cards that are dealt, the boys are seemingly arbitrarily served up deadly meteor showers, a rampaging giant robot (voiced by Frank Oz), and worst of all, evil predatory lizard aliens called Zorgons. Through most of this, the boys’ teenaged sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart, “Panic Room”) is completely unaware, either sleeping, showering, or cryogenically frozen. That is, until a deux ex machina in the form of a stranded astronaut (Dax Shepard) appears about midway through, offering (more like forcing) his help to the stranded household. Lisa becomes smitten with the astronaut, but the invading Zorgons leave no time for googly eyes and footsies. The boys continue to do what they can in the name of getting home, still getting on each others nerves, and depending on their wits. Slowly the house is altogether demolished, but never is the wanton destruction held up by the filmmakers as a spectacle of boyhood violence mongering. Even in the eleventh hour of the situation, when all that is left is an errant chunk of the living room floor, they still never leave home. They couldn’t if they wanted to. With themes of imagination and daydreaming subtly re-occurring, it is refreshingly never quite made clear whether any of this is “really happening” or not, but in the truly positive sense, it doesn’t really matter in the long run.
None of that is to say the film is without fault. If “Zathura” is in any way true to the credited source book, original author Chris Van Allburg recycled so much from his other work “Jumanji”, it could be considered plot plagiarism. The changes to the story mechanics are minimal: instead of the adults having to finish the game to restore normalcy, the two boys simply must make it through the game without killing one another. And on top of that, no matter how bad things get, everyone involved knows that once the game is ended, everything will go back to normal. Plus, the writers even go so far as to use the obvious plot device of wish fulfillment multiple times to move the story in the right direction. Dax Shepard’s lost astronaut character is an echo of Robin William’s lost jungle man, and serves as another plot device, arriving out of nowhere just in time to pull the boys fat out of the fire. All of these citations are obvious screenwriting 101 gaffs that any half-educated student of storytelling would be able to spot, and are not what we’d expect from seasoned writer David Koepp (“Spider-Man”, also “Panic Room”). (Although maybe we should be less surprised about fellow credited screenwriter John Kamps [“Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie”]?)
Funny thing is, none of that matters here. Between the impeccable casting and the spot-on direction from Favreau, “Zathura” actually gets away with being an overly familiar sci-fi retread that hinges on shooting stars and randomly dealt cards that reflect the whims of the writers. Besides, the plot contrivances aren’t as bad they seem in the long run. Not to spoil anything, but as I was watching the film, I thought about what this film SHOULD do with this astronaut character, and then, lo and behold, it actually did it. I don’t mind second guessing a plot twist when it’s the right plot twist, and dare I say, “Zathura” does it right. As far as allegations of being “Jumanji” in space, well, what can I say? That movie is ten years old, and honestly, I couldn’t remember it that well as I was watching this. The target audience of “Zathura” were barely born, if that, when “Jumanji” opened. We should be so fortunate to see that kind of time in between most plot recyclings in Hollywood. “The Legend of Zorro” took almost as long to follow its predecessor into theaters, and I would gladly trade all of its convoluted theatrics for what we’ve got here any day. Decent special effects and quality art direction are a big plus in “family” pictures such as this where there is always the temptation to cut corners, but nothing can substitute for believable characters that we actually care about working their way through real danger – no matter how old they are. The kids in the audience really responded to “Zathura”, and chances are you will too.
- Jim Tudor