Jumanji Review

 
So I wound up watching this today. Yes I'm aware that Robin Williams recently passed away, so in that respect this review is topical. I'm not going to discuss it aside from saying that I hope his family and friends can find a way to be at peace with things.

So then, the plot of the movie revolves around a magical board game. The board game functions such that up to four people can play, each player taking a turn to roll the dice. Every roll of the dice causes something.... interesting to happen. A couple examples are a horde of trouble causing monkeys and a hunter hellbent upon killing one of the players. There are of course other occurances, but I wouldn't want to spoil all of them.

The movie starts with, well it starts with a pair of boys in the 1800's disposing of the game clearly having played it and not wanting anything else to do with the damned thing. The first important event is when a young boy named Alan starts the game with his friend Sarah. Due to a consequence of one of the rolls Alan winds up trapped inside the game for many years. Fast forward those many years later and a new pair of children pop open the game and place the third and fourth pieces onto the board and start playing. Early on Alan is released and they all vow to keep playing despite the horrible things the game throws at them because supposedly if they complete the game everything will be undone.

That's the basic plot of the movie. Mostly it deals with them handling the various horrors the game throws at them as they all try to continue taking their turns and trying to have one of them get to the center to finish the damned thing. I do think all of the various issues are interesting enough, nothing really over stays it's welcome. The most important of the issues is the aforementioned hunter, but he proves to be interesting enough to warrant the additional screen time so it's quite alright.

And that's basically all I have to say about it. It's a fun little movie if you haven't seen it before give it a try. Or if you have before and now remember it and have that little inkling to see it again. I like it. Not amazing, but it's certainly worth seeing at least once.

7.5 dangerous ass board games out of 10

One question that I was asked while watching the movie was what would happen if one of the players dies? The things the game spawns are very clearly dangerous. The rules of the game state that when it's your turn it must be you who plays. So what happens if someone dies? I suppose either their piece would be removed and the remaining players would have to continue, or the game would simply become unfinishable.