Jumanji (1995) Review

Apparently, I didn't have a childhood because I never saw Jumanji growing up.  I had never even heard of it until I was in high school.  I saw Zathura, but my friends acted like I had murdered a baby because I had never seen this Robin Williams, jungle, board game movie.  So guess what, I finally watched it!  Does Jumanji live up to the hype?  Does Junmanji got it going on?

In 1969, Alan Parrish (Adam Hann-Byrd), a bullied kid, finds a buried chest in a construction site.  Inside, he finds a board game called Jumanji.  When he and his friend, Sarah (Laura Bell Bundy) play the game, Alan gets trapped inside the jungle, and when bats attack Sarah, she flees the house leaving Alan trapped inside.

26 years later, orphans Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) move into the old Parrish house with their aunt.  Judy and Peter find the board game, accidentally releasing monkeys, lions, and other animals into their small town.  They also release a grown-up Alan (Robin Williams).  As the animals and other elements cause chaos in their town, Judy and Peter realize the only way to survive and save their town is to beat the game, and they'll need Alan's help.

What Works:

Jumanji works because of it's characters.  They are smart and likable people.  The child actors aren't annoying at all, which is extremely rare.  Both kids are brave and capable in the face of danger, which can't be said for most child characters.  Plus, the late Robin Williams is fantastic as always pulling off the comedy and the drama expertly.

I also want to address the practical effects.  They're aren't a ton of them, but the few there are stand out.  The sequence where the house floods is fantastically done, as is the scene where the house splits in half.  These effects look great and are very impressive.

Finally, Jumanji is pure, simple fun.  It makes you want to go back to your childhood and play a board game.  That's exactly what I wanted out of this movie.

What Sucks:

Jumanji is a movie that was ahead of it's time.  I think the filmmakers were held back by the technology of their time.  This is evident by Zathura.  It's basically the same movie, just in space.  But with the better technology available to Zathura, it allowed them to do more impressive visual effects then Jumanji, and allowed them to go more in-depth with the world of the game.  I'll be honest, the CGI in Jumanji is terrible.  It's part of the movies charm, for sure, but it's still really bad.

One other minor nitpick is the opening scene.  It's really silly and unnecessary.  I think you could cut it out of the film and have a better way for Alan to find the game.  But again, that is a minor criticism.

Verdict:

I think I can safely say that I was neglected as a child because I didn't see Jumanji growing up.  I'll have to give my parents a call and find out what the deal was.  Jumanji is a very fun film and in the upper-tier of family-orientated adventure films.  The characters are great and the adventure is fun.  The practical effects are great, even if the CGI isn't.  Jumanji absolutely has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good