Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

Two young brothers are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writers:

Chris Van Allsburg (book), David Koepp (screenplay)

Stars:

Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jonah Bobo	...	Danny
Josh Hutcherson	...	Walter
Dax Shepard	...	Astronaut
Kristen Stewart	...	Lisa
Tim Robbins	...	Dad
Frank Oz	...	Robot (voice)
John Alexander	...	Robot
Derek Mears	...	Lead Zorgon
Douglas Tait	...	Zorgon
Joe Bucaro III	...	Zorgon (as Joe Bucaro)
Jeff Wolfe	...	Zorgon

Storyline

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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

playing a board game | sibling rivalry | board game | two brothers | outer space | 

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Taglines:

Adventure Is Waiting

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for fantasy action and peril, and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

At around 1:30:00, a Zorgon ship rockets past the front of the house. Mixed into the sound of the rocket blast is Chewbacca's familiar roar.

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Goofs

When the house passes too close to Tsouris-3 and enters its gravity field, objects in the house and attached to the house begin to fall toward Tsouris-3 and away from the house, even though all objects, including the house itself, would be subject to the same gravitational force and would fall toward Tsouris-3 together. However, that would be true only if the house was in a free fall toward Tsouris-3, which it's obviously not - it's hovering above using its own propulsion system. It must have a propulsion system of some kind, because it's moving from place to place between turns, and it can also control gravity, because there is normal gravity inside the house. Also, it may be possible that the entire game happens in a virtual world, so the laws of physics don't have to apply at all.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dad: [playing catch] Oh, man. That's it. Nice grab. Oh, yeah.
Dad: All right, Danny, your turn.
Walter: What? l didn't get my full turn!
Dad: Yeah you did. I counted. That was 25. That's what we said.
Walter: That's not fair!
Dad: lt's exactly fair. Come on, Danny. Time for your turn, then l gotta work for an hour.
Danny: [getting into place] You know, you're not the only one who gets a turn.
Walter: [miming] "The only one who gets a turn."

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Alternate Versions

In the UK, two sequences where an aerosol is used as a blowtorch and where fire is set to a sofa with the use of an accelerant (around 1 min 17 secs) were cut by the distributor. This is because the BBFC have a very strict policy on imitable techniques (headbutts etc.) and decided that the scene was unsuitable for anything lower than a 15 certificate. Since this would have excluded the entire target audience, Sony asked for the scene to be cut in order to obtain a PG certificate.

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Connections

Featured in Zathura: Race to the Black Planet (2006)

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Soundtracks

Numb
Written by Bonnie Borst, Andy Zulla, Tiff Eaves and Sam Schlesinger
Performed by Tiff Eaves
Courtesy of Vibrance Records

User Reviews

Impressive

I'm not much of a critic so I'll keep this short. Went to see this movie expecting a kids film, not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised. The special effects in the movie were spectacular. It was still the basic 'jumanji' style story line, but it was a fun film with lots of visuals. The whole theater seemed to enjoy it, and there were actually a few darker scarier scenes that youngsters may find very frightening. My ten year old sister loved it, scared at a few parts too.I would think twice before bringing a child younger than 7 to see it.

Over all, good fun film, enjoyable even for a maturer audience. The story, acting, and music was typical, but the sound and visuals effects could arguably fit in with a Star Wars film.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jumanji 2

Filming Locations:

Stage 30, Sony Pictures Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,427,872, 13 November 2005

Gross USA:

$29,258,869

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$65,079,104

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Radar Pictures, Teitler Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (8 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1