Zathura

After their father leaves for work, leaving them in the care of their older sister, six-year-old Danny and ten-year old Walter discover an old tattered metal board game, "Zathura." After trying unsuccessfully to get his brother to play the game with him, Danny starts to play on his own. From his first move, Danny realizes this is no ordinary board game. His spaceship marker moves by itself and when it lands on a space, a card is ejected, which reads: "Meteor shower, take evasive action." The house is immediately pummeled from above by hot, molten meteors. When Danny and Walter look up through the gaping hole in their roof, they discover, to their horror that they have propelled into deepest, darkest outer space. And they are not alone. Danny and Walter realize that unless they finish the game they'll be trapped in outer space forever. With every turn, they confront one incredible obstacle after another: They accidentally put their sister Lisa into a deep cryonic sleep, are chased by a crazed, malfunctioning six-foot robot, rescue a stranded astronaut and are besieged by lizard-like, carnivorous creatures called Zorgons. With the help of the astronaut, Danny and Walter begin to put their petty fraternal differences aside, work together to overcome the obstacles they encounter and attempt to finish the game so they can go home. But all their efforts may be in vain when they face their biggest challenge of all--a battle against an intense gravitational pull into the void of the dark planet Zathura.

I loved Jumanji and when I heard that this movie was made by the writer of Jumanji (and alot like it), I was really excited. In it's own right, this is a great movie with great values that are taught to kids. It's made obvious in this movie that bickering with your brother or sister can only turn out bad and that you and your siblings are on the same side. A big nod to Dax Shepard, while he is obviously not to the level of Robin Williams or Kirsten Dunst in the original Jumanji, adds alot to Zathura.

There is a bit of language and some scary scenes with alien lizards. Otherwise a clean movie.

It's almost unfair to compare this movie to Jumanji until you realize that you can't help it. It's a board game, that makes things happen, that reverses everything to normal at the end. It just isn't quite as good as Jumanji. However, it is a great movie with great values for kids. Probably the best choice at the theaters until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire comes out on Friday.

4.0 out of 5