Zathura



Zathura is the sequel to Jumanji, penned by Chris Van Allsburg and adapted into a fantasy film in 2005. The story picks up where the previous one left off: two boys discover the Jumanji board game where it was hidden and take it home. However, Danny, the younger of the pair, discovers another game also hidden inside the box: the sci-fi based Zathura. Despite their ongoing rivalry, Walter and Danny find they must work together if they're ever going to beat the game and get back home.

Note, the book is a direct sequel to the book Jumanji, but the film is a Spiritual Successor to the film Jumanji.

Much like its predecessor, the film heaped on plenty of details that weren't in the original 32-pager, such as adding Lisa, Walter and Danny's older sister, and a mysterious astronaut who becomes a gruff mentor to the boys. It's also worth noting that, excluding voice actors or people wearing alien costumes which cover their whole bodies, the film has a cast of exactly five, one of whom is barely in the film. There are no extras, crowd shots, or other group scenes.

While moderately well-reviewed, it ended up being a box-office flop, mostly because it was released a week before Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire hit cinemas. Nowadays, it's mostly remembered for being featured in a fourth season episode of The Apprentice, where none of the candidates could pronounce the film's name correctly.

Zathura contains examples of:
"Walter: I'm not mean, Danny, I'm in fourth grade, I have a girlfriend."
 * Actor Allusion: Perhaps it was unintentional, but:


 * Adaptation Expansion - The boys gained a sister and an experienced astronaut mentor in the film, among other things.
 * Aliens Are Bastards: The Zorgons.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Danny. To the point that
 * Apologizes a Lot: Danny, especially after he did something horrible.
 * Artifact of Doom.
 * Ashes to Crashes: When the game creates a meteor shower one of the meteors hits an urn on the mantlepiece. Danny shouts "Grandma!"
 * Be Careful What You Wish For - Especially on shooting stars.
 * Big Eater.
 * Big No: Danny when Walter.
 * Big Shadow, Little Creature: When the robot first appears. It gets big pretty quickly though.
 * Brick Joke: The bicycle seen orbiting the house while in outer space, which then crashes back to earth after they return home through Zathura.
 * Brown Eyes: All of the main characters.
 * Cain and Abel:
 * Call a Smeerp A Rabbit: "It's just a goat..."
 * Call a Smeerp A Rabbit: "It's just a goat..."

"Astronaut: You wished for a football?
 * Cassandra Truth: The boys try to tell Lisa what is happening but she quickly brushes them off. Their dad also wasn't any better about believing them.
 * Chekhov's Gun / Foreshadowing: A couple. For example, the Reprogram card, and
 * When after insisting on allowing the astronaut to stay against his wishes,
 * Curtains Match the Window: All of the main characters.
 * Expy - The astronaut seems to be there just as Alan's counterpart. He played the game long ago and got trapped in, the younger of the two brings him out, he knows about one of the things in the game, he gains a love interest,
 * Lisa for Sarah, ending up as the astronaut's love interest. Walter for Judy, as his attitude is "Let's play and it'll all disappear" and Danny for Peter, as his attitude is "I'm not playing that thing".
 * Harmless Freezing: Lisa gets frozen pretty early on for five turns and once those turns were up she unfroze without any problem, not even noticing that she had been frozen.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * - The astronaut is noticeably a lot harder on Walter than he is on Danny. At first it seems because this is simply due to Danny "rolling" him out of the game, but
 * The Homeward Journey
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold - The film makes Walter out to be rather bullying and demanding towards the younger Danny. The astronaut also has his jerky moments, but has the benefit of experience.
 * The Astronaut is notably only really a jerk towards Walter.
 * Mundane Wish: The game has a card called Shooting Star, which grants a wish. When Walter got one of these cards and had to come up with a wish fast, he panicked and wished for a signed football.
 * Mundane Wish: The game has a card called Shooting Star, which grants a wish. When Walter got one of these cards and had to come up with a wish fast, he panicked and wished for a signed football.
 * Mundane Wish: The game has a card called Shooting Star, which grants a wish. When Walter got one of these cards and had to come up with a wish fast, he panicked and wished for a signed football.

Walter: Signed by Brett Farve."


 * No Fair Cheating: Try moving a piece backwards or forwards to cheat? Out the airlock you go!
 * Planet Looters: The Zorgons.
 * Raygun Gothic - The eponymous board game is full of it.
 * Jumanji IN SPACE!
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: The robot.
 * The Reptilians: The Zorgons.
 * Reset Button -
 * The Reveal - The astronaut
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong -
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The players manage to survive all the hazards and dangers and make it to their destination, Zathura, . The fact that it's actually the Reset Button makes this a Subversion, but until the moment everything suddenly returns to normal, there's zero indication that they aren't about to die pointlessly.
 * Sibling Rivalry: Between Danny and Walter.
 * Spiritual Successor: The movie, to Jumanji.
 * Surprise Incest:
 * This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "Get me a juice box, biatch!"
 * Thrown Out the Airlock:
 * A Villain Named Zrg: The Zorgons
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: Lisa at one point gushes over the Astronaut's eyes...
 * Yellow Brick Road: In Jumanji style.