Movies - Zathura

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	Movies - Zathura

Zathura is a film directed by Jon Favreau, released in November 2005, based on an illustrated book by Chris Van Allsburg. It starred Jonah Bobo as Danny. Tim Robbins also had a small role as the father of Walter and Danny. The film also gave a sister to the boys, introduced a derelict astronaut to the plot, and multiplied the number of the Zorgons and Zorgon ships.

Plot summary

Two boys, Walter and Danny, discover a space themed board game where everything inside it becomes real. The boys are eventually drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is magically hurtled through space. The story is similar to Jumanji, another illustrated book by Van Allsburg.

The main villains in the movie are the Zorgons, reptilian humanoids who are fond of heat and get attracted to a heat source much like bees are attracted to nectar. Another character, a robot, first appears (as a wind-up tin toy that quickly becomes life size) rampaging through the house. It can switch sides via the "Reprogram" card from the game. One of the boys uses this on the robot, and it instead sets its sights on the Zorgons. The robot is destroyed when a Zorgon ship explodes with it.

Retro style

The film was set in present times while the book had illustrations with a 1950s look, before and after the board game started.

The Zorgon spaceships look like the archaic submarine-style types seen in science fiction serials of the 1940s or earlier. In a scene on board a Zorgon starship, we see a single Zorgon acting as a stoker for an old-style furnace fired by wood or anything combustible. The movie's design is an example of "yesterday's future," based on what the future was imagined to be like at different points in history. The Zorgons have the "look of the future" from the 1930s and 1940s, the robot from the 1950s and the derelict astronaut from the 1960s. The robot also arguably resembles Cylons from Battlestar Galactica or Darth Vader from Star Wars, as well as an old fashioned stove.

The house the story takes place in is a classic turn of the century California Arts & Crafts style house located in Glendale, California. The style, resembling the Greene & Greene houses in Pasadena, emphasizes perfect square shapes (the floor-plan for the house itself appears square-shape). Windows, sliding doors, fireplace, and dumbwaiter. Squares recur in various places in the movie, including a flat square television. Presumably this is to allow the house to clash as much as possible with the natural shapes of rock, fire, and gas that surrounds the house for most of the movie.

Box office

Despite having very positive buzz from critics (75% on Rotten Tomatoes) and screenings, Zathura's grossed only $28,045,540, less than half of its $65 million budget.

Cast

Jonah Bobo
: Danny
Josh Hutcherson
: Walter
Dax Shepard
: Astronaut
Kristen Stewart
: Lisa
Tim Robbins
: Dad
Frank Oz
: Robot (voice)
John Alexander: Robot
Derek Mears: Lead Zorgon
Douglas Tait: Zorgon
Joe Bucaro III: Zorgon (as Joe Bucaro)
Jeff Wolfe: Zorgon

Cards

1.(Danny)Meteor shower, take evasive action.

2.(Walter)You are promoted to a starship captain, move ahead two spaces.

3.(Danny)Shipmate enters cyronic sleep chamber for five turns.

4.(Walter)You robot is defective.

5.(Danny)You pass to close Tsouris-3, enter gravity field.

6.(Walter)You are promoted to fleet admiral.

7.(Danny)You are visited by Zorgons.

8.(Walter)Reprogram(Later used to control the Robot.)

9.(Danny)Rescue stranded astronaut.

10.(Walter)Caught cheating, prepare for immediate ejection.

11.(Walter)Make a wish on a shooting star.

12.Flunk Space Academy, move back four spaces and repeat last turn.

13.(Danny)Would you like to swing on a star? Move ahead nine spaces.

14.Game over: Thank you for playing.

Trivia

Similar to Jumanji, a player's piece won't move if it's not their turn. This explains why the astronaut couldn't finish the game after he wished his brother away: It was his brother's turn after he wished.
Fritz, a pit bull in all of Van Allsburg's books, appears in the movie as a Beanie Baby toy on a shelf after Walter wishes his older self's (the astronaut) brother back.
Creating a float to advertise this movie was the challenge on an episode of The Apprentice.
A running gag is that there is a bicycle that keeps on floating near the house, even after all those events. At the end of the movie, when the house is back on Earth, the bike crashes down from the sky, just before the credit roll.
The budget was $65,000,000. The film's box office total in the USA was $28,045,540.
Lisa's character was later added after it was decided that leaving the kids home alone was irresponsible.
Illustrations on the game are (from start to finish): Earth, a spaceship, the Space Academy (most likely the one mentioned in the cards), meteors, the Robot, Tsouris-3, a Zorgon Pirateship attacking, a shooting star, a Zorgon pirate with a gun, and Zathura.
Some clues that the astronaut is Walter are that he knew about how the house works (he told Danny to turn of the pilot light of the furnace) and that he had the same card as Walter. He also knew that Walter was going to use the shooting star to wish Danny had never been born.
Zathura is an obvious contraction of ZAraTHUstRA, as in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

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