Plot: What’s it about?
For me, Jumanji was one of those Robin Williams movies that I never really wanted to see in the theater. I mean, come on, it’s about a board game and it was supposed to be for kids. Well, the Special Edition arrived, and I’m a sucker for those, so I decided to check it out. Robin Williams plays Alan Parrish, a boy who has been literally sucked into a board game called “Jumanji”. The experience was so frightening that his frined who was playing at the time, ran away in terror (and later we learn that she had to endure many years of psychotherapy). Terror…Psychotherapy? Do these sound like words that are used in a kids movie? No!
Now we go to the present, two more kids move into what is called “The Old Parrish” house and in the midst of being late for school, start playing the game. What happens, but an 8 is rolled (they would have also accepted a 5). Out pops Robin Williams (a grown up Alan Parrish) and all the madness starts again, this time with more players. Now you would figure that playing a board game is no big deal. Usually mosquitos the size of cats don’t chase you, or a stampede of large African animals don’t stomp through your house, down the street and through the forsest and you really don’t expect the floor to turn to liquid with you standing on it. Welcome to Jumanji! So, how do the kids (one of which is a very young Kirsten Dunst) get Alan to finish the game, find the missing person who watched him get sucked in to begin with to play, and try to avoid getting killed at every turn? You’ll have to watch and find out.
Jumanji was not at all what I expected, it’s a pretty good story, based on an old kids book and had me shaking in my boots more than once. Well, what would you do if you rolled a seven at the craps table (in Vegas) and a killer Lion came at you?! If you’re looking for 104 minutes of good, quality entertainment then you just may have found your movie. Put it this way…you could do a lot worse, like being someone whose actually playing the game!
Video: How does it look?
Absolutely perfect. I did a side by side compairison with the earlier edition that they had and it looks identical. Now, that’s not bad, because there was nothing wrong with the one they had. The anamorphic 1.85:1 picture looks terrific and is a standard that every DVD should live up to. Black levels are right on, and the detail is unbeliveable! If you don’t buy this disc for the sound/extras or story alone, buy (or rent) it just to check out what a DVD should look like.
Audio: How does it sound?
I don’t do this often, but Jumanji is one of those movies where I actually thought I might get in trouble for having my stuff on too loud (and I have asked every neighbor around me if they’ve ever heard my sound system, and all answers have been “no”). When you have a movie that deals with stampedes, explosions and monkeys shooting 12 gagues, you’d better be prepared for a LOT of good sound. Dialogue is overshadowed by effects, but clear and easily understandable. A demo disc for sure!
Supplements: What are the extras?
As if all the other stuff you get isn’t enough, you get a full-length commentary by the Effects guys, a few featurettes about the making of the movie, 4 trailers, photo galleries, production notes and cast bios and a feature I’m liking more and more, an isolated score by none other than James Horner. If all that doesn’t tempt you, Columbia Tristar has remastered the disc as a dual-layer job. Check this one out!
