Patricia Clarkson Movie:

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		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Based on the children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, Jumanji stars Robin Williams as a man who escapes his confinement within a devilish board game, only to be followed by all kinds of exotic problems: elephants, lions, zebras, monkeys, floods, giant insects, killer plants, and a big-game hunter. The computer-generated effects all wreak havoc through quiet streets, and while most of this is pretty fun, relationship conflicts and character development are weak and forgettable. The high point, in comic terms, is probably David Alan Grier's hilarious performance as a cop catching the worst of these various plagues--one at a time. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, Dolby sound, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, optional Spanish and Korean subtitles.--Tom Keogh

Jumanji [Region 2] Reviews:
Family Fun
2009-11-20 - First time I watched it, I did a 'ho-hum',by the 3rd, I was hooked, and added to my collection.

jumanji review
2009-11-05 - Love this movie, exciting, funny, good for the whole family! Unable to locate this item in the stores, but of course, now I'm learning, just go to amazon.com to find anything you desire. Great service and prices.

Action and adventure for the kids
2009-10-03 - Find a comfortable chair, lay out the board, grab the dice, and get ready to play. But remember: once you start this game, you can't stop. If it takes you over twenty years to finish, finish you must. "Jumanji" is loosely based on the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book by Chris Van Allsburg. The basic premise stays the same: a sister and brother find a strange game based on a jungle safari adventure. When they begin playing it, they find they cannot stop, for the characters and events of the game come to life and start filling their house with monkeys, lions, explorers and other strange things. Only finishing the game will make it all go away. In the hands of Hollywood, more story is added. Now we have a game spanning 26 years, when one of the two children playing the game in 1969 gets sucked into the game itself. He's trapped there until a fresh pair of children in 1995 find the game and begin playing. The right number is rolled, and out Alan comes...as Robin Williams! Finding the grown girl to complete the group, the four must complete the game before their town is destroyed by the stampeding rhinos, killer pod vines and crazed Great White Hunter. Robin has some good moments in this film, though he isn't allowed to riff as much as in other vehicles. He's supported by an excellent cast, including a young Kirsten Dunst as the sister of the new pair of children; Jonathan Hyde as both the 1969 father and Van Pelt, the Great White Hunter from the game; and Bebe Neuwirth as the modern children's aunt. The effects are, not surprisingly, ILM-excellent -- necessary in a film of this type. The script was co-written by Van Allsburg to insure the atmosphere of the film and book mesh, but he did not fall into the "This is MY baby" syndrome, and received good help from his two co-writers (for details, see the main page). Highly recommended for old and young alike.

The Everlasting Game
2009-09-13 - This movie is a lot of fun. It's full of action and adventure and, at the same time, has its very tender moments. You can't help but get interested in the characters immediately and you stay involved until the very satisfying conclusion.

Puh-Lease!
2009-07-06 - I couldn't wait to see JUMANJI when it first came out in the mid-Nineties. A magical board game that brings the wilds of the jungle to life? Action, mayhem, and special effects? Robin Williams? Sign me up!

Yet I walked away from the theater disappointed with this movie; and the other day after viewing it on cable my disappointment hasn't wavered. While some scenes were certainly exciting and entertaining, for the most part JUMANJI was annoying--from David Alan Grier's (who added nothing to this film) wrecked police cruiser, to Robin Williams's "poor me" sappiness, to Kirsten Dunst being an irritating smart aleck, to a young Bradley Pierce whimpering with monkey makeup on. Yuck. And the special effects. . .let's just say CGI has come a long way since the last decade. No, the monkeys and spiders and bats and elephants and the lion and rhinos did not look real. And what, pray tell, was the point in playing this (terrifying) game in the first place? Games are played for fun--not to teach near-lethal life lessons.

Now the good. Jonathan Hyde was fun to watch in his dual role as Williams's father/hunter-protagonist; and Bebe Neuwirth is always easy on the eye, no matter what the venue. And I liked the juvenile, bawdy, irreverent orneriness of the game board itself; in many ways it was the best character in JUMANJI, and kept the movie from rolling snake eyes.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning