Jumanji

I’d watched this for about twenty minutes before I realised that it was Kirsten Dunst who was keeping her panic-stricken younger brother “Peter” (Bradley Pierce) company as they discover a rather elegant looking board game in their new home. We already know that this used to be the lavish home of the shoe-making “Parrish” family and that playing the self-same game, a quarter of a century earlier, the young “Alan” had had a mishap that had caused a mystery that prevailed to this day. Anyway, the two youngsters having a go nowadays soon realise that this isn’t like Cleudo or Monopoly. This one has an habit of delivering quirky rhymes after each throw followed by lions, monkeys, deadly mozzies - indeed anything that can trash the town, their house and the brand new police car of the increasingly beleaguered “Officer Bentley” (David Alan Grier). Luckily, “Peter” throws a five and that presents them with the aforementioned, long-missing, lad (Robin Williams) now an adult, clad in leaves and adept at playing this thing from the inside. All they need to do now is find his playing companion from back in the day (Bonnie Hunt) and complete the game. How hard can it be? Well aside from all the carnage, the game also presents them with the shotgun toting, “Quatermain”-esque, “Van Pelt” (the multi-tasking Jonathan Hyde) who is determined to see them all as trophies on his wall. Now they have to stay alive, finish the game and hopefully right some wrongs. No, there isn’t any jeopardy but Williams, Dunst and the enthusiastic Pierce keep this quickly paced family adventure rollicking along nicely. Sure, Williams always did over-egg his character roles, but the kids and Hyde work well as a foil for that and the rolls of the dice easily introduce a new chaotic scenario for each of them as they try to cross the winning post. It’s good family fun that whizzes along in a sort of “Smokey and the Bandit” meets “Tarzan” fashion and has held up quite well.