Jumanji/Fridge

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Brilliance:

• The first several times I saw Jumanji, I couldn't stand the appearance of the CGI animals, which looked so cheap and fake that they detracted from an otherwise extremely engaging fantasy movie. Sure, it was only 1995 when it came out, but Jurassic Park had far superior CGI two years earlier. It wasn't until recently that I realized the animals are supposed to look fake and slightly misty--it marks them as supernaturally created intruders in the real world! --Karalora
  • Not only that, but they came out of a board game. A board game that would have all of its images painted on it. And the game is also very old. Hence, the animals looking more fake and faded!
• Some other Brilliance: the reason they used the same actor to play Alan's father and the hunter is because the hunter is the representation of Alan's way to deal with problems, to run away and not face them, as well as the fact that he has a bit of an antagonistic relation with his father. It isn't until he realises that his father, despite everything, loved him with all his heart - to the point of bankrupting his own factory in order to find him - that he finally begins to take a stand, and the moment he faces his biggest fear and faces it head on instead of just running away is when he finally wins. Who says that the Jumanji game wasn't "cheating" so that it ended in the moment Alan finally learned his lesson?
  • As further evidence of this: one of the dice is still rolling as Alan and Van Pelt have their final showdown. It isn't until he stands up to the hunter, faces his fears, that the die lands and gives him the correct number to reach Jumanji--as in, he won because he stood up to Van Pelt.
• The reset to 1969 happens because the game is calling back everything released while Alan and everyone were playing. Including the bats Sarah let out on her first turn, which, given the relatively short life cycle of a bat, would have been long dead in 1995.
  • And yet, they were briefly encountered in the attic in 1995. Game constructs don't have to conform to real-life lifespans, I don't think. More likely, the game calls back all EVENTS that it caused, from when they first rolled.

Horror:

• What would've happened if one of the others tried to cheat? Would THEY have become more like THEIR tokens? I mean, one of the pieces was an elephant!
  • Well, monkeys are often associated with mischief... perhaps that's why Peter was turned into a monkey.
  • For some odd reason, this troper would mess up just to be an alligator.
  • The "you will go back more than your token" line meant that Peter was turning into a monkey as a form of Hollywood De-evolution.
• Just think, if Alan hadn't gotten that roll at the end, then they would have never finished the game. Judy was dead at that point, so once it's her turn it's GAME OVER.
  • There's a lot of debate on that. Jumanji is a game that wants to be played. Only when the game reaches its end will the exciting consequences return to normal... but if somebody were to die, would the game freeze? Or maybe you could continue without them, but upon the rewind they would not be there, but in the game forever? Or maybe you just need to end the game to bring them back with a reset? So far, nobody's wanted to find out...
  • It wouldn't have gotten to Judy's turn in any case. Alan was three spaces from the end: the only way for him not to win with that roll was if he got a two, and that would mean doubles and another turn. His victory was inevitable with his next turn unless HE got killed first (which makes the issue about his fate, not Judy's).
• What would happen if all the main players died before they could complete the game? Would the game be still 'frozen' and the jungle animals prowl the city forever?
  • My guess is that the game would reset its pieces, but not necesserily bring back the escaped animals, since the players are still dead so time cannot rewind. Alan's town would turn into the jungle. That is why it is so important to finish the game.
• If neither Judy nor Peter had rolled a 5 or 8 on the first turn, even if the game had skipped over Alan's turn because he was still in the jungle, it would be Sarah's turn... with no way for Judy or Peter to know whose turn it was. From their perspective, the game would be stuck.
• For the animated series, in the final episode Alan learns and solves his clue, then leaves the game as an adult. There's no going back in time, like in the movie. That means Judy and Peter's parents are still dead, since they were living with their aunt in the series as well.