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Jumanji is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film about a supernatural board game that makes wild animals and other jungle hazards materialize upon each player's move. It was directed by Joe Johnston and is based on Chris Van Allsburg's popular 1981 picture book of the same name. Industrial Light & Magic provided computer graphics and animatronics for the special effects.

The film stars Robin Williams as Alan, a man who emerges from the game's unseen jungle world, along with Kirsten Dunst as a kid named Judy Shepherd who plays the game with her brother, Peter Shepherd (Bradley Pierce), David Alan Grier as Carl Bentley, a hapless shoemaker-turned-police officer, Adam Hann-Byrd as Alan when he was a boy, Laura Bell Bundy as little Sarah Whittle, the girl who played the game with Alan when they were children, while his adult version was interpreted by Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde plays a double role as Alan's father and Van Pelt, a big-game hunter intent on killing Alan--Van Pelt is patterned after Alan's father. The cast also features Bebe Neuwirth as Judy and Peter's aunt. It was shot in Keene, New Hampshire, where the story is set, North Berwick, Maine (the Parrish Shoes factory) and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Plot

In 1869, two boys Benjamin and Caleb bury a chest in a forest near Keene, New Hampshire, and hope that no-one ever finds it. A century later in Brantford, New Hampshire 1969, 12-year-old Alan Parrish flees from a gang of bullies led by Billy Jessup to a the Parrish Shoe Companyfactory owned by his father, Sam Parrish, where he meets his oldest friend Carl Bentley, one of Sam's employees. When Alan accidentally damages a machine with a prototype sneaker Carl hopes to present, Carl takes the blame and loses his job. Outside the factory, after the bullies beat Alan up and steal his bicycle, Alan follows the sound of tribal drumbeats to a construction site near the factory and finds the chest buried 100 years ago, containing an elaborate jungle adventure board game called "Jumanji".

Alan takes the game home to the Parrish Mansion and attempts to run away after having an argument with his father about attending the Cliffside School for Boys. However, his friend Sarah Whittle appears at the front door to give his bike back. The two begin playing Jumanji after hearing the drumbeats, which acts strangely: When a player rolls the dice, the player's piece moves itself and a message appears on the board. When Sarah throws the dice away onto the game, it is automatically accepted as a roll and summons shrieking Bats into fireplace, scaring the kids to give up playing. Alan starts putting the game away but makes his first move when the clock chimes and he drops the dice, the crystal ball message states that he must wait in a jungle until a five or an eight is rolled, and he is sucked into the game. A swarm of Bats released by the game then attack Sarah and chase her out of the house.

Twenty-six years later in 1995, Judy Shepherd and Peter Shepherd move into the Parrish house with their Aunt Nora Shepherd after losing their parents in a car crash when on a skiing vacation in Canada. A few days later, Judy and Peter hear Jumanji's drumbeats and play the game in the attic, and as a result, giant Mosquitoes attack them, and local monkeys destroy their kitchen. Realizing that the consequences the game releases will disappear and everything will be restored when the game ends, they continue the game despite the danger. Since he rolled doubles, Peter rolls another turn and lands a five, releasing both a male Lion and an adult Alan, who locks the Lion in a bedroom. Alan learns about the sate of Brantford during his life in Jumanji and goes to the now closed shoe factory to find his parents. On the way, he meets Carl, working as a police officer, and discovers that the town's economy was devastated by the factory's closure. In the factory, a homeless man reveals that Sam abandoned the business to search for his son until his death in 1991 along with his wife Carol-Anne. Back at the Mansion after escaping a Mosquito, Judy and Peter try to persuade Alan to help them finish the game but he is having none of it.

Alan does soon join playing the game with Judy and Peter when rolling the dice has no effect on the board, because he realizes they are continuing the game he and Sarah started years ago. Finding Sarah, now a psychic who had gone into isolation after Alan's disappearance, Alan tricks her into rejoining the game and the following moves release Jumanji vegetation (man-eating Pods and poisonous Purple Flowers, a big-game hunter named Van Pelt who is intent on killing Alan as he is a product of the game itself and largely inspired by Sam Parrish, and an animal stampede (Rhinoceroses, Elephants, Zebras and Pelicans). Among other things, Peter transforms into a Monkey after trying to cheat while Alan is taken away by Carl, but soon recognizes Alan; Peter, Sarah and Judy battle Van Pelt in a local department store to retrieve the game and only lose him when Alan and Carl crash through the store and bury Van Pelt under fallen paint pots.

Back at the Mansion; now becoming overrun by vegetation, a Monsoon floods the house and triggers the appearance of two Crocodiles that attack the group; only ending when Carl and Nora try to enter the house and drain the flood outside. Upstairs in the attic, Alan is sucked into the floor by Quicksand; large poisonous Spiders come out and Judy is shot by a poisonous barb from a Purple Flower. Sarah's last roll releases an Earthquake that splits the house in two. Finally, Alan wins the game just in time when Van Pelt is about to shoot him, causing all jungle elements (including Van Pelt) to be sucked back into the board in a form of a whirlwind.

After that, Alan and Sarah suddenly find themselves back in 1969 again, once again children, but with full knowledge of their lives after they started playing. Alan reconciles with and admits to his father that he was the one who damaged the machine. Carl gets his job back, and Sam allows his son to attend a local school if he wishes to do so. Alan becomes terrified, thinking that Judy and Peter are still in the attic, but Sarah reminds him that it's 1969, before Judy and Peter are even born. Sarah hands their game tokens to Alan as a way of showing that they were never in the game. Alan and Sarah chain up the Jumanji board and throw it into a river.

Later in 1995, Alan and Sarah are married and expecting for their first child. Alan has taken over the shoe business, Carl still works in the factory as the plant supervisor, and Sam is retired, but still alive along with his wife. Judy, Peter, and their parents meet with Alan and Sarah at a Christmas party, where Alan and Sarah offer the children's father a job in the shoe company and discourage them from going on the ski trip that would have killed them.

Meanwhile, two French-speaking young girls hear drumbeats as they walk along a beach, and are due to see the Jumanji board half-buried in the sand.

Cast

Soundtrack

All music composed by James Horner. Total length: 52

Track Number Track Name Track Length Image
1. Prologue And Main TItle 3:42
Jumanji 1995 Title
2. First Move 2:20
Bats
3. Monkey Mayhem 4:42
Jumanji-Monkeys-Party
4. A New World 2:40
Alan-Parrish-Jungle
5. It's Sarah's Move 2:36
Jumanji Elephant Token
6. The Hunter 1:56
JumanjiiJungleGun
7. Rampage Through Town 2:28
Rampage through town
8. Alan Parrish 4:18
Parrish Shoe Company
9. Stampede! 2:12
Jumanji Stampede
10. A Pelican Steals The Game 1:40
Jumanji Pelican
11. The Monsoon 4:48
Jumanji Monsoon
12. Jumanji 11:47
Jumanji Spider Attack
13. End Titles 5:55
Jumanji End

Commercial songs from film, but not on soundtrack:

Song Writer Performer Chorus
Una Voce Poco Fa Gioacchino Rossini Agnes Baltsas and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra Ian Marin
Night & Day Cole Porter N/A N/A
Serenade in D, Op. 44 Antonin Dvořák Neville Marriner & Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields N/A
Locomotive Breath Ian Anderson Jethro Tull N/A
The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle (Theme from Gilligan's Island) Sherwood Schwartz & George Wyle N/A N/A

Reception

Jumanji did well in the box office; it took in $100,475,249 in the United States and Canada and $162,322,000 overseas, totaling to $262,797,249.

The film earned mixed reviews from critics, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 50% of 32 professional critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.6 out of 10. Metacritic posts an average rating of 39%, based on 18 reviews.

Legacy

In 1995, a novelisation of the film was written by George Spelvin with contributions from Chris Van Allsburg, the author of the original picture book. It is a largely faithful adaptation with some backstory and wording differences and scenes that did not appear in the film or were cut from the final release.

In 1996, a cartoon adaptation known as simply Jumanji was released. It is an abridged adaption of the 1995 film with some elements also taken from the original picture book were added. The gameplay of Jumanji is an alternative method to the film, while Sarah Whittle did not appear.

In 1996, Milton Bradley released a board game adaptation of Jumanji, based on the game board and rules seen in the film, with some new gameplay elements added and new consequences as danger cards.

In 2005, an adaptation of the original Jumanji book's sequel Zathura, was released. While the movie does not make any references to Jumanji, it is advertised as being a spiritual sequel to Jumanji, taking place within the same universe.

In celebration of the original picture book's 30th anniversary, an audiobook read by Jumanji film star Robin Williams was released.

In July 2012, rumors emerged about a reboot of the film already being in development. Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad had a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, saying: “We’re going to try and reimagine Jumanji and update it for the present.”. On August 1, 2012, it was confirmed that Matthew Tolmach will be producing the reboot alongside William Teitler, who is the producer of the original film.

Finally, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was released in December 2017. It serves as a sequel/soft reboot of the series, being in continuity with the original film, but not featuring any of the characters.

Trailers

Trivia

  • The 1995 Christmas scene was the first scene to be shot on location, back to back with the Parrish Mansion in it's much "cleaner" state to allow the crew to start creating the damaged effects needed to film.
  • This is the last film that I.L.M. special effects supervisor Stephen L. Price worked on before his death. The film is dedicated to his memory.
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