Zathura: A Space Adventure

Came in grand condition! Thank you.

Although this is really a family film, I watched it alone as a 45 year old man with kids in college and I really enjoyed it. Seemed like something fun to watch while sick with covid. I'm not sure why this movie didn't have the same success as Jumanji. The acting from the kids was excellent.

This is about a game that transports two young boys and their older sister into space, where they have Adventures.It is well done, to be sure. And very much worth watching.Unlike /Jumanji/, however, that's really all there is. No back-story, no overarching problems to be solved.Still, a good time is had by all.

In 1995 the movie "Jumanji" came out, based on a story by Chris Van Allsburg about two children playing a board game that came to life. When it became fairly successful, another short story of Van Allsburg in the same theme was turned into a movie. This was "Zathura". Whereas the Jumanji game centered around an African jungle safari, the setting of Zathura was rocket ships in outer space. Despite the nature of the board game, the movie "Zathura" is of the "fantasy" genre, not science fiction; the idea of children being magically transported into the universe of a board game is fantasy, and the universe depicted is a fantasized version of outer space that isn't intended to match reality (more on that later). Zathura was generally well-received by critics but tanked at the box office. However, despite the lack of success or of the star-power names its predecessor had, Zathura is actually the better movie. It is less pretentious than Jumanji, and similar to Pixar movies is packaged with a nice little moral (in this case regarding sibling rivalry) that is not horribly overdone. It also has surprisingly good special effects, much better than Jumanji's. The "Zathura" board game that the children find has a graphic style that looks like the covers of 1950's science-fiction pulp magazines. When the boys get launched into "outer space", instead of making the environment look like a REAL spaceflight the movie brings the campy 1950s-look of the board game to life and makes it quite realistic. "Sibling rivalry" was a prophetic theme for this movie, considering its older brother was a successful movie whereas this one sank in the theaters without making a ripple. Nonetheless, Zathura is the movie I'd watch again.

Please describe the audio and video quality of any Blu-Ray you review. Thanks to those who do this.This movie was very similar to the Jumanji Blu-Ray. Both are presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio (no black bars at the top and bottom), both have excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound (great surround and sub-woofer bass), both are about 1 hour and 37 minutes long, both are about board games which affect reality, both with great special effects, and both with not-so-great video quality.I give the audio a 10.0, but the video only 8.0, maybe 8.5. I had to make sure the blue light was on on my Blu-Ray player (Sony's do this when playing a Blu-Ray disc), but realized since I was hearing DTS-HD Master Audio, I did have the Blu-Ray disc in, and not the DVD, which is included in the case. I just didn't think the video quality was great, like it should be on a Blu-Ray disc.If you've read some of my other reviews, and noticed these two movies' video quality being inconsistent, I recently watched a regular DVD in my Blu-Ray player, and thought it looked pretty good. These two movies are not much better, if at all.Zathura might be a little better than Jumanji (video quality).This was my first time watchint Zathura, and I thought it was pretty good.

My boys love this movie. Lucky for me, it’s entertaining for adults as well. We have seen it at least five hundred times by now.Good buy. Easy to watch over and over again

This is a kid safe and family fun movie. Generates smiles, some looks of fear and laughter

I convinced myself this movie was a fever dream when i was a kid, im so happy i stumbled across it over a decade later!

Okay, I'm giving this film 5 stars on my sons behalf. He is 5 and adores this film. I would give it 3 stars as I find it tolerable/ almost enjoyable. It really is best for young kids/maybe boys. My 7 year old daughter doesn't like it that much- but watches it when it's his turn to choose.It has good acting, 2 kids playing a space board game that becomes real. It has aliens, lasers and meteorites. A bit of scare (but not too much), and lovely touching moments and nice lessons to be learnt.I would recommend to any parents considering this for their child/son around 5 or so.

Saw this film on tv, great film so I thought I’d order it. Extremely disappointed when I received the dvd. It arrived with no name on the package and as I live in a shared house, it caused a bit of confusion with other residents in the household. Was looking forward to watching the dvd, so in the DVD player it goes, played a trailers fine, 1 minute and 30 secs in to the film, it stops playing! Tried it few times, wiped the disc, same thing happened time after time. I got one the other residents in the house to try it another player, Nah! Complete waste of time. In the bin it went... The only good thing I have to say is that it arrived earlier then expected, but apart from that, complete waste of time and money!!

I am an old guy who grew up with comic books and am also a fan of hard science fiction. Zathura is in the fantasy category with science fiction elements (more like "Star Wars" than "2001: A Space Odyssey") but it is a really fun little movie that I have seen several times and have always enjoyed, so it's nice to have my own copy since I am sure I will enjoy watching it again. It is a film that I think can be enjoyed by young and old that also has a good message for kids about getting along with and caring for your siblings without being corny about it. The performances are not Academy Award worthy but they are of good quality and believable.

Enjoyed this movie and I must admitt it was better than I thought it would be, I brought this movie for my grandchildren but it's staying in my collection until I give in to them for it. It reminded me of Jumanji only in space, But it still entertained me enough to stay and watch it instead of action,thrillers and horrors all the time, a change is worth doing every so often that isn't the same concept over and over again that we all seem to fall into. Worth buying and sharing the fun and laughter that seems to have been lost in the last couple of decades as a family.

In a nutshell it's a film about a couple of competing brothers who find an old mechanical board game which sends them into space when they play it.It's generally well acted, well written and fun and the children aren't irritating.The special features include documentaries where various people involved in the production discuss the board game itself and how they hoped it would be a character in itself. They certainly seem to have achieved this and its retro-50's look is a major feature in the film's attraction.