Director: Joe Johnston
Release Date: 1995
Running Time: 1hr 39 minutes
Genre: Adventure
Rating: PG
Synopsis:
When two kids find and play a mysterious board game, they released a man trapped for decades in it and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game.
Jumanji was always a movie that I truly loved watching as a child, something that has thankfully followed me on into my adulthood. It has the whole caboodle, action, adventure and magic. One day, young Alan Parrish finds himself followed home by a group of bullies. Forced to find sanctuary in his dad's shoe factory, he stumbles across a building site that contains more than he thinks. Buried deep into the muddy grounds, lies a game of drums. Eager to show his best-friend Sarah, upon returning home, both get more than they bargain for when Alan finds himself sucked into the board game. Little would he know, that it would take 26 years for him to return home again.
The beauty of "Jumanji" is that it isn't just a film about two youngsters that stumble across a board game. The storyline dives into time travel, parallel universes, and physical transformations. Did the events that you see actually take place? Or were they all just dreaming? Were they shown life through a parallel universe, and the consequences they would have to face? It's wonderfully mind-boggling. If you dive even deeper, it's really quite an emotional story. The storyline also focuses on death, love and friendship. It's up to you, how you interpret it.
Robin Williams performance as Alan Parish is magnificent. William's characterisation is fantastic, with the perfect balance of humour and emotion. You really get this spark of emotion that makes you sympathise with his character. Williams is able to express so much emotion through his eyes that your convinced he's really been stranded in the jungle for twenty-six years. Alan's had no human contact and from the age of twelve had to defend for himself. I really love the mystery that comes with his character, what happened to him in the jungle? How did he survive all this time on his own? Why is he so scared of Van Pelt? A good film should always make you question more than what the director and writers originally intended. It doesn't have to be black and white.
Bonnie White stars as Alan's best friend and high school sweetheart, Sarah Whittle. Psychologically twisted by the events that took place. Sarah now seeks the guidance of the afterlife to help her through, or so she thinks. I love the idea to use Jonathan Hyde as a duel character. Samuel Parish and Van Pelt. This is where it's very easy to believe that the whole story could be a dream. Is Van Pelt, an inner demon, linked in with the fear of his father pressuring him into becoming a Parish and attend boarding school? The same concept was also used in Walt Disney's "Peter Pan" where Wendy's father was also Captain Hook. You really do find yourself asking so many questions. The writers really wanted us an audience to see the story from several different angles.
It's hard to believe that this film is almost twenty-three years old, it still looks gorgeous in 2019. The production design is not only creative, but fantastically thought out. Some could claim that it's not geographically accurate. Lions for example live in the deep grassland of Africa, not the jungle. Remembering though of course that people also don't get sucked into board games. It's fun and magical and wasn't intended to be taken that seriously. It was made purely for entertainment. We see at the beginning of the film that two young lads are desperately trying to get rid of the game. For each time that someone plays the game, does someone else get sucked into the game? Are all of these characters and creatures from previous games played over the years?
The special effects are very impressive. The use of CGI and props together works incredibly well. Unfortunately these days, films are ruined because so much CGI has been used that we've forgotten what it feels like to witness real effects. It's very easy for filmmakers to step over the mark to the point it doesn't look convincing to audiences anymore. Fun and lively, Jumanji is an absolute masterpiece and certainly one film that shouldn't be missed.
5/5 stars
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