irreverent reverends

it was the magical world of chris van allsburg's jumanji that undoubtedly inspired zathura, his follow up space-game adventure tale. the interesting point here is that hollywood's sleek addition to the interactive board game genre was indeed an original effort on van allsburg's part.

van allsburg clearly constructed this type of story for a specific reason. the relationships formed and lessons learned behind the antics of the game erect a formula that could be endlessly repeated with new familial issues to excise and patch up with each go-round. the hollywood approach to van allsburg's incredible storytelling is obviously expoited because, well, they're just that damn good. how could they possibly let zathura stay on the bookstore shelves without turning it into a thanksgiving box office marketing wet dream?

that said, jon favreau, in his follow up directing role to the 2003 holiday smash 'elf', does a fair job at constructing the family tension between walter (josh hutcherson, 'little manhattan') and danny (jonah bobo), and an even better one exploring the small victorian house suspended in the limitless spacial universe described by van allsburg. it's not easy to write a film focusing on two kids under 11, but veteran david koepp (jurassic park, spiderman) does a fine job in creating the bickering and sometimes comical dialogue between walter and his younger brother.

the board-game tactics that run parallel to those of jumanji don't seem as cleverly constructed this time around, but the effort to focus the game on the reformation of two young brothers is quite nice. zathura is visually appealing, with the meteor shower and magnet field card turns showing today's CG superiority to jumanji, but instead of a frightening bounty hunter, this time it's just an average personal toy robot. and instead of a ferocious lion and sneaky monkeys, it's trite zorgon aliens. and finally, instead of an endearing and hairy robin williams, it's a flat and snarky dax shepard astronaut. his surprise reveal is certainly unexpected, but also poses some logistical problems that i am still working on deciphering.

for an interstellar adventure this anticipated, zathura revels in its lovely predecessor. it's no sequel, but walter and danny are so fast to jump into the game (almost like they knew what their board-game adventure had in store for them), that it leads one to ponder the true significance behind zathura. either way, take evasive action -- the van allsburg meteorshower continues. but do be sure to take a peek.