Official Synopsis
The story of two young brothers who are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.
The construction of Zathura’s story is a bit messy, but the moments and ultimate message behind what the story is trying to tell is crystal clear. Does that forgive it for all its flaws? No, but that doesn’t take away at the entertainment value that director Jon Favreau presented his audience from the moment the game begins until it reaches its zenith.
Let’s get right into this, folks.
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Zathura starts off well enough with the firm establishment that Danny (Jonah Bobo) and Walter (Josh Hutcherson) hate each other as brothers. They’re growing up in a difficult situation, their parents are divorced, and they’re growing up on two different age ranges — Danny is the youngest, Walter is the oldest. So, outside of the stress of having split parents, their different levels of thinking are getting in the way as well. There is a lot going on and they’re both competing for the attention of their father (played by Tim Robbins). When they accidentally ruin their dad’s work project due to their fighting, he leaves for the office to go replace it, leaving them home alone with each other, which is never good. Short-lived peace turns to brotherly violence, which leads Danny to stumble upon a game in their father’s basement called Zathura. Once activated, the game launches real world sci-fi events in the house, which sends the duo, and the house, spiraling into space.
Act one is a spectacular example of how a movie only needs a reason to go on an extraordinary journey. That reason is a random board game placed randomly in a basement. At least with Jumanji there is an explanation and setup for later events. With Zathura, it’s not even apologizing for not explaining anything, rather it’s firmly focused on the main message of two brothers at odds coming together to save their family. It’s a clear message and it tries to shush your ever wandering mind from asking, “How did we get here”? Is this bad for the story? Yes, but act two and three help to make it better.
The second act begins and ends with the same type of flurry and fury that made act one interesting at the end. Zathura has taken control of the kids situation and has done enough to alert the older sister, Lisa (Kristen Stewart), that something is amiss. To sum up act two quickly, here is what to expect:
1. The board game dictates all actions (good or bad, mostly bad).
2. You will have killer lizards.
3. Cryogenic sleeping.
4. A wacky space cowboy astronaut (Dax Shepard).
5. Lots of good tension, fun action and quick trips of enjoyment.
6. Oh, and a killer robot.
Those six things will take up the entire act two, with three of them repeating in act three. There is no clear connection for the above things other than through the McGuffin that is Zathura. Again, is this a bad thing for the story? Well, yes…and no. I say yes because there is no real connection between things, no sign of progress other than through the game. There is no end goal and every little thing is pretty random. If you had a twist or something in the story that would make someone say, “Oh, that’s why they’re trying to do XYZ’, then we have a different, more complicated story to tell. BUT! Favreau has no interest in going that route and no interest in telling a solid, life-changing story. Rather, he chooses to have fun.
Guess what, though? Fun works.
Act two of Zathura is entertaining. You can’t guess what’s next and you don’t care halfway through. It’s just plain fun. While I couldn’t help to feel that the story is a complete mess, and it is, my kids were completely enamored by this film. They sat and watched it with uneasy adventure in their eyes. That’s who Favreau made this for and it works on every level with them.
When act three begins, it reaches almost a horror-level tension. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s worth the wade through the messy story. Having said this, none of the story works without the two interesting leads in Jonah Bobo and the yet-to-save-the-world Josh Hutcherson. Both kids nail their respective roles and do a great job selling their youth and their character predicaments. Aside from them, Kristen Stewart does a great job with Lisa, though her screen time is considerably low. To round things out, Dax Shepard should make it a career to play the ‘big brother’ type in every film. He is a comforting and amusing soul.
Anyway, Zathura isn’t a great film, in fact it does a lot of traditional storytelling things wrong. With that said, it’s a fun film for younger kids that works on their entertainment level. Pick your point of view wisely, as your entertainment enjoyment rests on it.
On the Blu-ray side of things, the transfer is pretty solid to HD. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment did an honorable job with getting a ten year old film to Blu-ray. It has some graininess in the picture here and there, but for the most part the compression is solid and there is no color banding present (and there are a lot of dark scenes for it to happen). Definitely a worthy purchase, if you’re a fan of the film.
In terms of features, here’s what you’re getting:
– Goosebumps Sneak Peek
– Reflections on Zathura
– Zathura Motion Storybook as read by author Chris Van Allsburg
– Commentary with director Jon Favreau and co-producer Peter Billingsley
– Seven Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
Solid features for the most part, especially the commentary, but it woul dhave been nice to see a few updated things. The movie might be enough with the features, especially with its price, but there could have been more.
Anyway, onto the summary!
