Barnes & Noble

"Some days you have to grow up all at once," freshly divorced, overworked dad (Tim Robbins) tells his sons, Walter, ten, and Danny, six. This is going to be one of those days. Left to their own devices in their cavernous old house, the bickering siblings begin to play a vintage board game that offers more thrills and fantastic adventure than Chutes and Ladders. Before you can say Jumanji, the boys find their house transported to the outer rings of Saturn, where they face such perils as a meteor shower, a defective robot, and giant lizards. With this movie and Elf, director Jon Favreau has become Hollywood's top PG guy for creating family films all ages can enjoy. Based on Chris Van Allsburg's book, Zathura is a vast improvement over Jumanji, which covered similar terrain but was overpowered by the special effects. Zathura is grounded by the natural performances of its young stars: Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo as Walter and Danny, who are themselves adrift in the wake of their parents' breakup; and Panic Room-survivor Kristen Stewart as Lisa, the boys' disagreeable teenage sister, who is initially oblivious to their predicament. Dax Shepard shows up as a stranded astronaut who played the game long ago, with tragic results. What also distinguishes Zathura is a script that respects the audience's intelligence and allows for genuine wit and emotion. Although Zathura’s not as visceral as Revenge of the Sith or The Goblet of Fire, the climactic encounter with the Zorgons may not be, in the words of the board game, "for the faint of heart." As a game, one can't imagine wanting to play Zathura more than once. The same cannot be said about the film. It is a winner. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

An old and forgotten game develops magical powers in this fantasy for the whole family. Twelve-year-old Walter Budwing (Josh Hutcherson) and his younger brother, Danny (Jonah Bobo), figure they're going to be in for a boring time when their father (Tim Robbins), who was supposed to spend the day with them, is suddenly called away on business, and gives them strict orders not to leave the house. Walter, who doesn't have much use for Danny, is motivated by boredom more than anything else when he agrees to play a board game Danny has found in the basement during a round of hide-and-seek. However, the boys quickly discover the space-themed game Zathura has some unusual qualities -- a roll of the dice unexpectedly launches the Budwing home into outer space, and Walter and Danny are suddenly fending off menacing robots, angry aliens, and showers of interstellar debris outside the Earth's atmosphere. As the boys try to figure out a way back home, they get some unexpected help from an earthling astronaut (Dax Shepard) who has also lost his way. Based on the book by children's author Chris Van Allsburg -- who also wrote The Polar Express and Jumanji -- Zathura was directed by Jon Favreau, the actor-turned-filmmaker who enjoyed a breakthrough success with Elf. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 043396134751
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français
• Time: 1:41:00
• Sales Rank: 17,560

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Zathura / Jumanji
• Zathura / Jumanji

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