JUMANJI

US, 1995, 104 minutes, Colour.
Robin Williams, Jonathan Hyde, Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pearce, Bonnie Hunt, Bebe Neuwirth, David Alan Grier, Patricia Clarkson, Adam Hann -Byrd.
Directed by Joe Johnston.

Jumanji was a very popular film in its time and continues popular with young audiences. It is based on a novel by Chris Van Allsburg who also wrote the books on which Polar Express and Zathura were based.

The film focuses on imagination – but imagination for terror. However, after all the terror and the struggles, the film opts for a happy ending, the restoration of everything – and the righting of everything that had gone wrong.

The film opens in 1969 in a mysterious house with a young boy playing the Jumanji game and being swallowed up by it. The little girl playing with him suffers mental problems for the next twenty-five years. In 1995, two young children who were having difficulties of their own after the death of their parents in an accident, come with their aunt to live in the house. They are caught up by the game – unleashing all kinds of strange animals from the jungle and then finally, the young boy of 1969, returning as an adult – in the form of Robin Williams.

The only way to put everything right is for all the players to continue and end the game. This leads to all kinds of mayhem in the town, dangers for themselves from animals and a great white hunter.

The film moves with a rapid pace, the central characters playing the game in all different kinds of places, especially to avoid the disasters. The special effects people have done very well with the creatures – but also with the amount of destruction in the town as well as the collapse of the house.

The film was directed by special effects Oscar-winner Joe Johnston, for Raiders of the Lost Ark. His own films include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the more quiet October Sky, Jurassic Park 3, The Rocketeer, Wolf Man.

1.The popularity of the film? For younger audiences? For adults?

2.The 1969 settings, the contrast with 1995? The house? The town and the streets, the supermarkets, parking lots? The countryside? The musical score?

3.The importance of the action, the stunts? The special effects for all the animals and for the destruction?

4.The 1969 segment: Alan, his being bullied, his friend Sarah, his father’s stern attitude, his mother’s concern, his father being busy? The shoe factory? Carl and Alan being responsible for his dismissal because of the shoe on the assembly line? The parents deciding to send him to boarding school, his reaction, saying that he hated his father? Sarah coming to talk with him, playing the game, his disappearing into the game?

5.1995, Judy and Peter, the death of their parents, their Aunt Norah bringing them to the house, their reactions? Settling in? The noises, the drum? Aunt Norah and her exasperation, going to work?

6.The children finding the game, playing the game? The effect on them? Fears, dangers, hiding?

7.The range of creatures and their effect: the mosquitoes, the monkeys and their destruction in the kitchen, the lion and its being trapped in the bedroom? The vines all over the house, the poisoned flowers, the darts, snakes, the herd and the stampede throughout the town? The monsoon, the quicksand, the earthquake? The hunter and his pursuit of Alan?

8.Alan’s reappearance, his still being a child after twenty-six years, trying to find his parents, the grave? His befriending the children? His meeting Carl? His being pursued by the hunter? Going to find Sarah, bringing her back to the game? Sarah, her seclusion, her psychological difficulties, reluctance?

9.The playing of the game, the dangers, all around the town, the parking lot, the supermarket, the hunter firing in the market? The cars, the monkeys driving, the bikes, the destruction of Carl’s car?

10.The cumulative effect of the adventures? On the children, on Alan, on Sarah?

11.Sarah, her love for Alan, the quicksand, her being caught, their being saved? Judy reversing the process?

12.The final throw of the dice, finishing the game? Alan and Sarah in 1969? The reconciliation with his father, the affection?

13. Everything restored in 1995? Alan, Sarah pregnant? His parents? The facgtory? Judy and Peter for Christmas, their father employed - and not going on the Rockies' holiday?

13.The use of the same actor for the father and the hunter – in the line of Peter Pan and the father and Captain Hook.