Rated PG for fantasy action and peril, and some language.
Directed by Jon Favreau (Elf… wrote Swingers)
Starring Tim Robbins, Kristen Stewart, Frank Oz, Jonah Bobo and Josh Hutcherson
Zathura was a pleasant surprise.
I admit, when I first saw the ads I wasn’t rushing to Fandango to buy tickets. Needless to say, I didn’t have high expectations at the screening… neither did others. I took a fellow youth worker with me to the screening. Five minutes before the film started, “What’s the name of this film again? Who’s in it?”
“Zathura. Written by the ‘Jumanji’ guy, directed by the ‘Elf’ guy. It’s ‘Jumanji’ in space.”
But the film ran and right away we found ourselves both laughing. We were immediately drawn in by the relationship of the two brothers.
It’s nice when a film doesn’t place all bets on action sequences, creature affects and space battles- not that Zathura lacks in these areas. The movie starts with a realistic glimpse of post 2000 youth culture, sibling rivalry, and family relationships. Then it throws these individuals into a fantasy/science fiction adventure.
The kids were real. It’s obvious that Favreau has his thumb on the pulse of today’s youth. The teenage daughter was dead on this generation of young people. And the whole theater identified with the two brothers fighting like we all did as kids: the older brother tries to ignore the younger, the younger persists, eventually the younger sets the older one off and they chase each other around the kitchen in socks, slipping and wiping out into the cabinets.
And the film captured the typical “split home” struggles. “Dad, why are you leaving? I thought we weren’t going to Mom’s until tomorrow?”
“No, this is a ‘3 day dad week’ and a ‘4 day mom week.’”
“I thought it was a ‘4 day dad week’ and a ‘3 day mom week!’”
Or when one of the kids complains about the dad’s house. “I like mom’s house better.”
Dad quickly agrees. “So did she… and now it’s hers!”
The film includes some great one-liners very relevant to today’s youth culture. (Parents in the audience will be laughing at lines that go right over the heads of young kids). The dad requests for his teenage daughter to not use the term “hooking up” when referring to her boyfriend (a term that does often pack sexual connotations). She dismisses her father, burying her face in a pillow, “I knew we should have never rented ‘Thirteen.’”
Zathura won’t win any awards, and it won’t break any box office records. But it’s a film that balances funny real life moments with some fantasy action. It's not The Incredibles, and it's not Spiderman II… but it's a family film that kids and parents will actually enjoy.
I’ll be taking my family to see it when it comes out.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
Zathura has little objectionable content in it, but it may put a sour taste in conservative audiences right away as it drops a foul word (d**k) in the first few moments of the film. This was one of the few foul words in the entire film.
Other than that little bit of language, the film is fine. I’ll be taking my 8, 10 and 12 year old to see it when it’s released.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
