{"id":1622,"date":"2006-10-12T03:21:09","date_gmt":"2006-10-12T07:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinemacrazed.wordpress.com\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2015-12-01T17:49:40","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T22:49:40","slug":"zathura-a-space-adventure-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/12\/zathura-a-space-adventure-2005\/","title":{"rendered":"Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zathura_house\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was not a fan of \u201cJumanji.\u201d Beyond the great special effects it was a rather boring, and confusing lollapalooza with sub-par performances, and a cheesy ending. So when the unofficial sequel \u201cZathura\u201d arrived in theaters, suffice it to say my skepticism was tantamount to my skepticism of \u201cSharkboy and Lavagirl.\u201d It looked well intentioned but basically looked like an empty spectacle. In a world filled with \u201cHoot,\u201d \u201cSharkboy and Lavagirl<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cSleepover\u201d which are the considered the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of children\u2019s fare, \u201cZathura\u201d is a welcome change of pace. It doesn\u2019t talk down its audience, it doesn\u2019t paint clich\u00e9s, it doesn\u2019t insult our intelligence, and its entertainment is enjoyable for both adults and children. That\u2019s rare.<\/p>\n

But, leave it to John Favreau to take such an arduous task and succeed in giving a fun and rather menacing piece of children\u2019s fantasy. Favreau is not one to skimp on details in terms of \u201cZathura\u201d and more than proves himself as a worthy director of big budget films. \u201cZathura\u201d not only re-captures the magic of board games which, as a child, were about the next best thing to video games, but he also re-visits old science fiction devices like killer robots, the dreaded Zorgons, space ships that look like ornaments from the fifties, and the classic battle of good and evil. \u201cZathura\u201d is like a big game of pretend, and adults will enjoy how deep down into our imaginations Favreau gets. The film is filled with great performances including Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo as the two inadvertent heroes who find themselves thrust into orbit after discovering the board game in the basement. As per the formula of \u201cJumanji,\u201d the game is a supernatural orbit into another world filled with all sorts of dangers, but never too frightening.<\/p>\n

Dax Shepherd is both funny and memorable as the lost astronaut who happens upon the orbiting house and helps the two keep out of trouble while playing the game. But the aspect that makes \u201cZathura\u201d worth watching for all audiences are the themes of loss, and familial troubles, and pain. The brothers fight for a reason, and that reason comes into play when the game becomes hectic. I just wonder how long Kristen Stewart can go on playing the same characters over and over in these films. She plays the disgruntled older sister yet again, and she really fails to show any range in her career. The film as a whole loses steam in the climax when a major plot twist is revealed. And major as it may be, the film just winds down to a whisper, and fails to continue the excitement and awe present from the very beginning. Favreau’s second foray into the family genre is an ambitious and much appreciated effort, more so than “Elf” was. With great acting, engaging characters, a fun plot, and underlying themes of dysfunction, “Zathura” is a much better film than its predecessor “Jumanji.”<\/p>\n

Buy This Film<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was not a fan of \u201cJumanji.\u201d Beyond the great special effects it was a rather boring, and confusing lollapalooza with sub-par performances, and a cheesy ending. So when the unofficial sequel \u201cZathura\u201d arrived in theaters, suffice it to say my skepticism was tantamount to my skepticism of \u201cSharkboy and Lavagirl.\u201d It looked well intentioned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58,71,219,340,349,580,906,1212],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-comedy","tag-family","tag-fantasy","tag-kids","tag-science-fiction","tag-z"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1622"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17451,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions\/17451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}