In a surreally entrancing shot that consciously echoes both “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “The Wizard of Oz,” Danny opens the front door to find their house hovering not too far from what appear to be the rings of Saturn. It soon becomes clear, however - after an impromptu meteor shower in the living room - that self-operation is the least of the game’s properties. After Dad takes off, putting their negligent older sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart) in charge, Danny finds himself stuck in the basement, where he digs up a ’50s-style space-themed board game called Zathura.ĭanny begins to play the game, an ingenious wind-up contraption that comes with self-moving pieces and a metal turnkey in lieu of rolling dice. Ten-year-old Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and 6-year-old Danny (Jonah Bobo) compete for the attention of their stressed-out father (Tim Robbins, in a brief but effective turn). Yet aside from the occasional lapse in pacing, screenwriters David Koepp and John Kamps sustain attention for a full 101 minutes without departing significantly from the slender 32-page framework of Van Allsburg’s story. As evidenced in both “Jumanji” and Warner Bros.’ “The Polar Express,” the main obstacle to wresting Van Allsburg’s gorgeously imagined picture books onto the screen - aside from the author’s ineffable tone of deadpan surrealism - has been their lack of a feature-length narrative.

Zathura a space adventure book