Zathura: A Space Adventure

(2005) dir. Jon Favreau
viewed: 02/17/06

Zathura strives to be the kind of kid-friendly adventure stuff that seemed relatively prevalent in the 1980′s. It’s actually adapted from a story by the guy who wrote Jumanji and it’s basically similar (I guess — I never did see Jumanji), in that everything that happens is because of some obscure boardgame that must be played to its conclusion. In a sense, it’s a hyperbolic literalized metaphor of adventure in game-playing and fantasy. Which is all well and good.

It’s well-produced and moderately entertaining. I know that it was readily enjoyed by my eight-year old nephew, so maybe it works well for it’s target audience. For an adult, it’s not especially surprising or engaging and the younger brother of the film is out and out cloying and annoying. It’s really distancing when as a viewer, you feel a film change gears and tone (probably significantly notable by the score) to suddenly go for the “heartstrings” and give a feeling of connection.

Director Jon Favreau’s previous film Made (2001) was pretty funny in a low-key sense, though I never saw Elf (2003) due to some allergy I have to Will Ferrell. I don’t suppose that many people without kids or nephews in the general target audience age range for Zathura are too likely to actually see it, so there isn’t too much to warn people away from. It’s tolerable.