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Average User Score: 7 (49 sources)

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sheep233

-1

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It's pretty boring and childish, it's a good movie for kids, though, it's just that Zathura will probably be boring and stupid for older kids. Over all there's cool special effects, kids that are bad actors, an annoying astronaut, and boredom,...
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It's pretty boring and childish, it's a good movie for kids, though, it's just that Zathura will probably be boring and stupid for older kids. Over all there's cool special effects, kids that are bad actors, an annoying astronaut, and boredom, through some of the film at least.

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Posted jul 16, 2008 6:14 am pt

255Utah

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It is a awesome movie and so funny when zathura is a black hole.

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Posted may 11, 2008 12:50 am pt

bangor09

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You´ll obviously have the word "Jumanji" very present while watching this film, but surprisingly, the movie works very much as a sequel, (not a remake) or as a spin-off, and it holds its own merits, the effects are great and...
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You´ll obviously have the word "Jumanji" very present while watching this film, but surprisingly, the movie works very much as a sequel, (not a remake) or as a spin-off, and it holds its own merits, the effects are great and it´s a very funny film for the whole family... unless you are those kind of families that Rob Zombie always portrays in his movies ;)

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Posted may 10, 2008 5:00 pm pt

wwefanforlife

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First of all this movie is awesome Zathura starts off with 2 brothers both young kids who just do not get along with each other. So right i will get into the story Danny (Jonah Bobo) is younger and all he wants is to get on with his brother Walter...
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First of all this movie is awesome Zathura starts off with 2 brothers both young kids who just do not get along with each other. So right i will get into the story Danny (Jonah Bobo) is younger and all he wants is to get on with his brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson). Now Walter is watching TV and trying to ignore Danny. Walter takes Danny down to the basement because he knowns he is scared of it. When Danny is in the basement he finds a game called Zathura he brings the game upstairs and asks Walter if he would like to play but he says it is for babies. After Danny presses the button on Zathura he gets a card reading Meteor Showers. A shower of Meteor's fire down into the house destroying the whole living room then the TV. Danny and Walter then check outside and see that there house is floating in space. Their sister later in the movie gets frozen in ice due to a card reading saying it. They later meet the Zorgon's who love eating anything that is meat and that is also humans. The Zorgon's look like lizards and there attracted to fire. To help them along the way is The Astronaut (Dax Shepard) who Danny gets from getting the card from Zathura. Watch the movie and check it out for yourself to see what happens.

The effects in this movie are most definitely awesome the space effect looks amazing. It is worth checking out and offers laughs and full flat out entertainment.

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Posted jan 15, 2008 5:50 am pt

expatriot

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Suprisingly good movie with a confusing story-line about the older brother being the astronaut, but apart from that I thought it was good with some great one-liners!

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Posted sep 22, 2007 2:16 am pt

elise920

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Kids might like it, but I did not. The beginning of the movie was OK, but it went downhill pretty fast. The story is kind of dumb and the twist in the end is even dumber, not to mention it doesn't make any sense at all. The acting is pretty bad,...
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Kids might like it, but I did not. The beginning of the movie was OK, but it went downhill pretty fast. The story is kind of dumb and the twist in the end is even dumber, not to mention it doesn't make any sense at all. The acting is pretty bad, the dialogue is corny, and the special effects are nothing special. I liked Jumanji, but the sequel was a big disappointment. Not worth renting.

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Posted jul 22, 2007 2:48 am pt

viveckvivu

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Its just like Jumanji. Its Jumanji Part 2. But its not just animals. Zathura is a board game. If you play it, then you have got to play it till the end. No quitting. Its a space game. Jumanji was jungle type, this is space type. The movie is...
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Its just like Jumanji. Its Jumanji Part 2. But its not just animals. Zathura is a board game. If you play it, then you have got to play it till the end. No quitting. Its a space game. Jumanji was jungle type, this is space type. The movie is really great! With robots as the villans. The meteor rain. The wishing star. All the space things.

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Posted jan 27, 2007 6:49 pm pt

NoOneIsAlone

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I was expecting more from this movie. I thought that it will be a sort of Jumanji like story, but it was not exactly that cool. You would thought that with robots and aliens it will be a cool movie, but you are wrong, the storyline is a little...
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I was expecting more from this movie. I thought that it will be a sort of Jumanji like story, but it was not exactly that cool. You would thought that with robots and aliens it will be a cool movie, but you are wrong, the storyline is a little silly and not everything is well-explained, I did not particulary enjoy it.

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Posted jan 3, 2007 5:22 am pt

agent_0042

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My first ever free preview!

Zathura --- a space adventure.

My space adventure began with a pass for a free preview screening of the movie given away at, of all places, the library where I work. Since I'd never been to a...
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My first ever free preview!

Zathura --- a space adventure.

My space adventure began with a pass for a free preview screening of the movie given away at, of all places, the library where I work. Since I'd never been to a movie sneak-preview before, I got there pretty early. As it turns out, I needn't have worried, the theater was only about half full ---- probably because it was a Monday night. I've also been doing some checking around and apparently there have been quite a few free previews of this. The free preview had some nice side benefits --- only two trailers to wait through before the start of the movie and none of the stuff at the beginning with ads or messages to turn off your cell phones or buy stuff from the concessions or anything.

Okay, on with the movie review.

Zathura, the movie version, is the story of two boys, Danny and Walter, who live in something of a broken family.They split time living with their mother and father. Walter is rather older than Danny and is in that phase where he pretty much thinks there's nothing less cool than to hang out with or play with his younger brother. The two fight pretty constantly and when one of their fights disrupts their father's work, he's forced to leave for a bit to go out and make a copy from a backup. While he's gone, Danny does something to anger Walter and then runs off and hides inside a dumbwaiter (a sort of cargo elevator). Walter finds him and sends him plummeting to the basement. At first, Danny is scared, but then he discovers a neat board game, Zathura. He takes it upstairs and tries to show it to Walter, but Walter dismisses it as an old, boring game and goes back to what he was doing --- watching TV. Danny decides to go ahead with the game. He turns a key, hits a button and out pops a card. Since he can't read, he shows it to Walter, who reads out "Meteor Shower: Take Evasive Action." Suddenly, things become very real for both Danny and Walter as a real meteor shower hits their home. They soon discover that the only way out of their predicament is to keep playing the game --- but it's up in the air whether they can survive long enough, or even stop fighting long enough, to continue.

"Zathura" is loaded with special effects, suspense and excitement. But it's also tempered with humor, a strong story, and a strong musical score. The acting is also quite good. The boy playing Danny is a relative newcomer, but he's a cute little kid and reminds me of some past child stars. I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a hot up-and-coming young talent.

If you were lucky enough to get one of these free preview passes, then I hope you enjoyed the film as much as I did. If not, and you haven't already seen it, it's on DVD now with some cool special features.

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Posted dec 31, 2006 1:48 am pt

jbeauchamp17

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Zathura follows the concept brought forward in the movie Jumanji, through a board game coming to life. This time, instead of the jungle coming to the house, the house is launched into outer space. The only way that they can get home - to finish...
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Zathura follows the concept brought forward in the movie Jumanji, through a board game coming to life. This time, instead of the jungle coming to the house, the house is launched into outer space. The only way that they can get home - to finish the game. The special effects are great, and the story compelling, though the cating on a whole leaves a bit to be desired. Jumanji is a much better movie, and Zathura lacks the presence of a Robin Williams type character.

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Posted dec 23, 2006 3:56 pm pt

• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  91
  Zathura is a rarity: a stellar fantasy that faces down childhood anxieties with feet-on-the-ground maturity.

  by Scott Brown | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  90
  The result is a glorious low-tech pleasure that may be the most lyrical, phantasmagoric boys' adventure story since Joe Dante's Explorers.

  by Scott Foundas | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  88
  A wild buckle-up-and-blast-off adventure that plunges every corner of kids' favorite subject.

  by Peter Debruge | Read Full Review »
• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  83
  Cool!

  by Chris Kaltenbach | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  83
  Although the drama suffers from the episodic story structure, Zathura feels less like "Jumanji" and more like a really great episode of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" TV series.

  by M. E. Russell | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  78
  Favreau keeps the picture throttling forward with a carefree charm.

  by Marjorie Baumgarten | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  75
  Jonah Bobo and Josh Hutcherson -- may have delivered their parts just a wee too convincingly. Their squabbling is so pitch perfect that most adult viewers likely will want to reach through the screen and start crackin' some heads.

  by Winda Benedetti | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  75
  The movie harks back to a time before state-of-the-art technology when writers and directors had to rely mostly on imagination.

  by Ruthe Stein | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  75
  Zathura involves a lot of yelling, a lot of explosions and a lot of flying objects -- but what else would you expect from a movie that is, honestly for a change, intended for 10-year-old boys?

  by Liam Lacey | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  75
  Jon Favreau, the actor-director who made the delightful family film "Elf," has a firm grip and a light touch with this material about bickering brothers who find a board game that zaps the family home into hyperspace.

  by Carrie Rickey | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  75
  Will work better for younger viewers than older ones. There's not much plot to absorb and there's plenty of action, so this is the kind of spectacle that will appeal to those without long attention spans.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] Charlotte Observer
  
  75
  The result is an odd mix of honesty and hokum that pilots a course toward greatness before settling into a somewhat lower orbit.

  by Lawrence Toppman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  75
  It works gloriously as space opera.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  70
  This handmade feel gives Zathura an appealing, childlike sense of wonder, an element too often forgotten in movies with many times the budget and technological resources.

  by Desson Thomson | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  70
  In the enchanted limbo between waking and sleeping, Zathura feels both real and unreal, like a dream you could shake off at any moment.

  by Stephen Holden | Read Full Review »