Release Date: December 15, 1995
Starring: Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce, Jonathan Hyde, Adam Hann-Byrd, Laura Bell Bundy
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG (menacing fantasy action, some mild language)
The big selling point for Jumanji was that it would provide the same sort of visually explosive special effects for the holiday crowds of 1995 that Jurassic Park handed out a number of summers ago. Given that the latter is a contemporary classic and a landmark in computer-generated special effects, there's no doubt that using it in comparison to the former is simply a prime example of advertising hype. Even so, the comparison is an inept, near-sighted one that should never have been applied. Whereas the Steven Spielberg-directed dinosaur actioner was a technothriller that could have been ripped from today's headlines, Joe Johnston's Jumanji is an excursion into a world of what-ifs and why-nots -- a true fantasy product.
Robin Williams has the lead, but it's perhaps a half-hour before we actually see him. Alan Parrish (Adam Hann-Byrd as the younger incarnation and Williams as the older), son of Brantford, New Hampshire's largest employer, discovers a long-hidden board game -- the title's Jumanji -- buried near a construction site. Playing the game with his friend Sarah Whittle (Laura Bundy, and later on, Bonnie Hunt), he learns that the game is enchanted, and before long, in a bizzare twist of events, he's sucked into the game itself.
Flash forward twenty-six years. Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) have moved into the old Parrish mansion with their mother and discover the board game in the dusty attic. They, too, find the same enchanted properties: each roll of the dice produces a rhyme that results in live jungle animals coming out of the game and wreaking havoc. Play cannot continue until the children best the beasts. At first it appears the two kids are in over their heads, but a predesignated roll releases Alan from the game (now grown-up) and he, along with Sarah Whittle (also now grown-up), help the children complete the game to return things to normal.
Williams does not bring much of his typical comedic routine to this outing, preferring a more dramatic style which he pursues with mixed results. On one hand, he loses a lot of the flamboyance which has helped him save ill-fated projects like Hook or Mrs. Doubtfire; on the other hand, some of his more annoying qualities on the screen don't get in the way, allowing him to expand on previously latent talent.
Director Johnston also has mixed success with this picture. He crafts a genuinely exciting atmosphere -- coaching the actors to run from computer-generated mosquitoes, rhinoceri, man-eating plants, and a deliciously evil British game hunter named Van Pelt (Jonathan Hyde). He keeps the tension ratched up during these scenes, but when there's no animals to be found, things fall into a rather tedious routine. Johnston's experience with other family films like The Pagemaster and The Rocketeer shows here -- he knows when to tone things down and keep it appropriate for younger demographics.
But, overall, if anything makes this picture it's the special effects. Without them Jumanji might be a rather humdrum turnout, with a mostly no-name cast and a low-end script by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Most likely, it will tend to be a picture that loses attraction with age, a minor footnote in the careers of all involved. It's imaginiative, though, and for this it's largely appreciated, taking a wild-minded concept and turning it into a movie that, for the time being, is worth the price of admission.
all contents © 1997, 1999 Craig Roush