Jumanji (1995)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Joe Johnston

Writers (WGA):

Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay) and
Greg Taylor (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 December 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

Roll the dice and unleash the excitement!

Plot:

When two kids play an old magic board-game they found, they release a man trapped for decades in it and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game.

Plot Keywords:

Board Game | Jungle | Magic | Tail | Zebra

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 17

12:30 PM

AMC

Cast

Robin Williams	...	Alan Parrish
Jonathan Hyde	...	Van Pelt / Sam Parrish
Kirsten Dunst	...	Judy Shepherd
Bradley Pierce	...	Peter Shepherd
Bonnie Hunt	...	Sarah
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Nora Shepherd
David Alan Grier	...	Bentley
Patricia Clarkson	...	Carol Parrish
Adam Hann-Byrd	...	Young Alan
Laura Bell Bundy	...	Young Sarah
James Handy	...	Exterminator
Gillian Barber	...	Mrs. Thomas
Brandon Obray	...	Benjamin
Cyrus Thiedeke	...	Caleb
Gary Joseph Thorup	...	Billy Jessup

MPAA:

Rated PG for menacing fantasy action and some mild language.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:10 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | USA:PG (No. 33723) | Ireland:PG | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-10 | France:U | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/6 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Trivia:

When Van Pelt enters the gun store, the music playing on the radio has been modified for the Mexican release due to the fact that, at least in the U.S. release, it originally featured Mexico's national anthem. It is an infringement of Mexican law to play the anthem for commercial or mockery situations, deliberately or not, although in the U.S. Territories it is in the public domain.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the scene after the brakes go out in the police car and it crashes into the store, the policeman simply refills the master cylinder with brake fluid to fix the brakes. The previous scene showed that there was a hole in the line that released fluid, which would cause the brakes to not work again, yet the policeman continues to use the brakes with no ill-effect.

Quotes:

Sarah Whittle: You might've told us there was a man in there with a rifle that hunts people.
Alan Parrish: Well, I didn't know, okay? It's just the roll of the dice.
Judy Shepherd: [sarcastically] Is he the reason you didn't wanna play?
Sarah Whittle: [scoffs] You didn't want to play either, Mr. We-Started-Something-26-Years-Ago-And-Now-We've-Gotta-Finish-It?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith: Part 1 (#2.9)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle (Theme from Gilligan's Island)

Action and adventure for the kids, and Robin Williams for the adults

Find a comfortable chair, lay out the board, grab the dice, and get ready to play. But remember: once you start this game, you can't stop. If it takes you over twenty years to finish, finish you must.

"Jumanji" is loosely based on the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book by Chris Van Allsburg. The basic premise stays the same: a sister and brother find a strange game based on a jungle safari adventure. When they begin playing it, they find they cannot stop, for the characters and events of the game come to life and start filling their house with monkeys, lions, explorers and other strange things. Only finishing the game will make it all go away.

In the hands of Hollywood, more story is added. Now we have a game spanning 26 years, when one of the two children playing the game in 1969 gets sucked into the game itself. He's trapped there until a fresh pair of children in 1995 find the game and begin playing. The right number is rolled, and out Alan comes...as Robin Williams! Finding the grown girl to complete the group, the four must complete the game before their town is destroyed by the stampeding rhinos, killer pod vines and crazed Great White Hunter.

Robin has some good moments in this film, though he isn't allowed to riff as much as in other vehicles. He's supported by an excellent cast, including a young Kirsten Dunst as the sister of the new pair of children; Jonathan Hyde as both the 1969 father and Van Pelt, the Great White Hunter from the game; and Bebe Neuwirth as the modern children's aunt. The effects are, not surprisingly, ILM-excellent -- necessary in a film of this type. The script was co-written by Van Allsburg to insure the atmosphere of the film and book mesh, but he did not fall into the "This is MY baby" syndrome, and received good help from his two co-writers (for details, see the main page). Highly recommended for old and young alike.