I recently saw this on late night TV. This is destined to be a classic fantasy film that the whole family can watch and enjoy. Based on the book by noted children's author Chris Van Allburg who also wrote 'Polar Express' and 'Jumanji' this was adapted for the screen by David Koepp who wrote screenplays for 'Jurasic Park' I and II, 'Mission Impossible' and 'Spiderman' among his many hits. John Kamps joins Koepp on this screenplay. Danny (Jonah Bobo) and his older brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson) are two fighting siblings of about 7 and 10 years old. Their older teen aged sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart) is a lot older and typically annoyed and distant from them. Their father (Tim Robbins) has to leave for a couple of days and Walter takes out his frustration with Danny by locking him in a dumbwaiter and sending it to the basement. Under the stairs Danny finds an old board space adventure game from the 1950's called Zathura. He brings it upstairs to an indifferent Walter and they began to play it and suddenly they are trapped in the grips of the games world and it transports their house and them into outer space where they circle a giant Saturn-like planet trapped in it's asteroid belt. The games sends a threatening robot and terrorizing space creatures to them and ultimately an astronaut (Dox Shepard) to help them. Oscar award winning cinematographer for 'Pan's Labyrinth' Guillermo Navarro photographs. Jon Faureau, in his third feature as a director, directs. J. Michael Riva heads up the production design and the art direction team of David F. Klassen and Richard F. Mays with set decoration by Lauri Gaffin and a huge special and visual effects department. It's fantasy. The house still has heat and and their is still oxygen to breath in it despite being ripped from the ground and hurled deep into outer space but this is fun fantasy with lots of humor and I would recommend it and give it a 9.0 out of 10.
Review of Zathura: A Space Adventure
