Reviews & Ratings for
Jumanji (1995)

Jumanji is a film directed by Joe Johnston based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. Now I wasn't quite excited to see the films considering the reviews. But I did enjoy Zathura, the spiritual sequel to this film so I deiced to give it a go. And to my surprise I was quite entertained by the film.

Plot: Judy and Peter play a board game to some disastrous results.

Story and direction: The film opens up with 2 children from 1869 burying something and saying that whoever opens this up may God be with them. I mean this scene was basically not necessary. The film could have opened from 1969 with our protagonist Alan Parrish. We see Alan's world where he is bullied a lot and hides in his father's shoe factory. There we are introduced to Carl who I think was not necessary for the film in the first place. Then we see Alan taking the Jumanji game to his home and opening it. in the meanwhile, we see Alan's parents deciding to send him to boarding school to which he objects and decides never to talk to them again. Then Alan and Sarah begin to play the game when Alan gets sucked into it and Sarah getting scared runs for her life. Then the film takes a 26 year leap, where we are introduced to 2 new characters Peter and Judy, who have been given a quite nice back story. They open up the game and while they playing Alan comes out of it. Then we are taken on a joyride where the try to finish the game with a now grown Sarah. Now the thing that felt awful in the film was the CGI. It felt like you were watching some big patches of imagery that were just pasted onto the screen. Then I guess the Van Pelt character. He was just too laughable for me. And was wasted a lot. And finally, the revised 1995 version wherein some things were not explained rightly, according to me.

Performances: Robin Williams made me remember that why I will be remembering him as a great actor. His comic timing was spot on. RIP Sir Williams. Bonnie Hunt was also great as Sarah. Kirsten Dunst was a great child artist in the film. So as Bradley Pierce.

Favorite Scene: The scene where Alan pops up to save Peter and Judy from a lion and his joy that he has returned home after 26 years of being trapped in the game. Robin Williams just acted so great in this scene.

Verdict: Although with some misses, Jumanji is a very much watchable film. I enjoyed my time with this movie.

I am going with a 7.5/10