Walter is ten and Danny is six and their father has left them with their teenage sister for the afternoon. Danny finds a clockwork board game in the basement called Zathura. He winds it, a card pops out, it says Meteor Shower, and the living room is hit by meteors. Outside the window there is no street. There is Saturn. Zathura is Jumanji in space, from the same author, and it was Jon Favreau’s film before Iron Man.
What Happens In The House
They have to finish the game. Each turn brings a card: a defective robot that wants to kill Walter, the sister Lisa frozen in cryonic sleep, an astronaut who has been stuck in the game for years, and the Zorgons, lizard aliens who eat meat and set fire to everything. The brothers fight over the game, over a wish, and over which of them their father likes more. The astronaut’s identity is the twist and it is a good one.
Why It Is Better Than Its Box Office
Favreau shot it with practical effects: a real house on a gimbal, a real robot, men in Zorgon suits. Josh Hutcherson was 12 and Kristen Stewart was 15. Tim Robbins is the father for about five minutes. The film lost money in November 2005 and has become a cable staple. Chris Van Allsburg wrote the book as a sequel to Jumanji.
Watch Zathura On GoMovies
101 minutes in HD. Press play above. Free, no account.