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"JUMANJI"
(1995) (Robin Williams) (PG)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Minor Minor Moderate Heavy Heavy
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Minor Mild Heavy None Minor
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
None Minor Mild Minor Heavy


QUICK TAKE:
A boy, sucked into a mystical board game decades ago, returns to finish the game.
PLOT:
In 1969, Alan Parrish, the son of a shoe tycoon, unearths a buried chest containing Jumanji, a strange but alluring board game. He and a friend, Sarah Whittle, begin playing the game but moments later Alan is sucked into the game and disappears. Years later, Judy (KIRSTEN DUNST) and Peter (BRADLEY PIERCE) have moved into the old Parrish home with their aunt Nora (BEBE NEUWIRTH). They find Jumanji and begin playing the game. Each roll of the dice causes weird events to transpire and exotic and dangerous creatures (giant mosquitos, spiders, flesh eating vines, etc...) to appear. Eventually the now grown up Alan Parrish (ROBIN WILLIAMS) appears. From then on he, the kids and the grown up Sarah (BONNIE HUNT) must battle the creatures, great game hunter Van Pelt (JONATHAN HYDE), and other obstacles as they try to reach the end of the game with the help of the adult.
WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Yes, Robin Williams and the fantastic array of things that come from the board will draw them to this one.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG
For menacing fantasy action and some mild language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • ROBIN WILLIAMS is the young player returned so many years later who must contend with his world having changed and the fact that he must now finish the game. Doing so, he displays courage and bravery.
  • KIRSTEN DUNST and BRADLEY PIERCE play the kids who must help Parrish finish the game. They also show courage under fire, and the only bad trait is Judy's exaggeration of how her parents died.
  • JONATHAN HYDE plays a comic book style villain who's only intent is to hunt down Parrish. He, obviously, is not a good role model for anyone.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • Aunt Nora tells the kids that "...we can all have ice cream -- and bourbon," after a hard day of unpacking.
  • BLOOD/ GORE
  • Alan's lip is bloody after the neighborhood bullies beat him up.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Some neighbor kids chase young Alan to his father's shoe factory. They wait and later ambush him, beat him up and steal his bike.
  • Obviously Van Pelt has a bad attitude as he tries to kill Alan.
  • Townspeople (in the finest "monkey see, monkey do" tradition) loot a store after monkeys have done the same.
  • Alan, not knowing how to deal with a whimpering Peter-turned-wolf boy, tells him, "Are you crying? Crying never helped anyone. If you have a problem, face it like a man."
  • FRIGHTENING/TENSE SCENES
  • Every roll of the dice brings greater danger into the house and while older kids might like this, it might freak out little kids (as it did in our audience).
  • An early scene has two boys burying the game during a thunderstorm. There is eerie music, wolves howling, and one of the boys falls into the pit they're digging. A pounding sound comes from the game and the boy cries out, "It's after me!"
  • As Judy and Peter begin playing the game, there's scary music and with the first roll of the dice, there are weird sounds coming from the chimney. Moments later, Alan is sucked into a vortex coming from the game and soon disappears into it. Judy screams and a fireplace load of bats pour into the room and chase her out. It's a very intense scene.
  • Peter's screams come from the attic and Nora and Judy rush up there to investigate (turns out to be bats). Again, another scary scene.
  • An exterminator tells the kids he wouldn't live in the house since he heard that old man Parrish killed Alan, chopped him into little pieces and hid them in the house.
  • Huge bird-sized mosquitos suddenly appear and menace the kids.
  • A lion appears and chases the kids through the house.
  • Supersized mosquitos attack a car that Alan and the kids are in. They thrust their proboscis' through the covertible's roof and then through the glass as they try to get at the humans for lunch.
  • Alan tells the kids about life inside Jumanji. "There are things that hunt you in the night. Things you can't even see..."
  • Slithering vines appear, grab Peter and pull him under the rug. A huge open mouthed plant appears and tries to pull Peter in while the others pull Peter the other way. The humans eventually win.
  • Van Pelt appears and begins shooting away at Alan who flees from the house.
  • Peter hides in a car in the path of the oncoming stampede. Large animals race over the car, crushing it closer and closer to him.
  • There is a violent thunderstorm/monsoon in the house and soon the players are swimming for safety as they try to elude crocodiles that are after them. There are several scenes where characters almost slide into the open mouths of the crocodiles.
  • Huge, cat-sized spiders appear and move closer to Alan and Sarah who are stuck in the floor.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • Hunting rifle/Semi-automatic assault weapon: Used by Van Pelt many, many times to fire at and try to kill Alan (his "game"), to shoot up a police car, as well as shoot at the grown up Sarah and the kids.
  • Kitchen knife: Thrown by a monkey at Peter.
  • Knife: Used by Alan to fend off the attacking lion.
  • Shotgun: Cocked and fired through the roof a police car by a monkey.
  • Sword: Used by Alan to cut through a menacing vine.
  • Gunshop: Many guns are seen here as Van Pelt goes to buy a new weapon.
  • Hangun: Held by a monkey who's riding on a police motorcycle.
  • Axe: Used by Peter to fend off the giant spiders that are attacking.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "Jerk," and "Stupid."
  • JUMP SCENES
  • Judy spins and jumps as drum beating sounds suddenly get much louder.
  • A monkey hops out of the fridge that it's been stuck in.
  • A zoological stampede suddenly blows through the library wall.
  • A giant mosquito suddenly thrusts his proboscis through a convertible car top.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • Most of the scary music occurs early on in the film and is later replaced by more action oriented music. All of the scenes relating to the board game and/or playing it are accompanied by downright scary music (that would fit in well with a horror film).
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • 2 damns, 1 hell, and 3 uses of "God," and one of "Jesus" as exclamations.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • None.
  • SMOKING
  • A vagrant in an abandoned shoe factory smokes a pipe.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Alan is upset that his parents are going to send him away to a private school. He and his dad get into an argument and Alan says, "Maybe I don't want to be a Parrish," and later says he'll never speak to his father again.
  • Judy tells a real estate agent how her parents died (an exaggeration -- but they really did die in a car wreck) and how she and Peter really miss them.
  • Alan finds out that his parents are dead (after he's been in the game so long). Little kids may worry that they'll be sucked into a game and that their parents might die or be gone when they return.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • That kids won't disappear into any games and that dangerous and scary creatures won't appear from them.
  • VIOLENCE
  • A pack of monkeys destroys the kitchen. One of them throws a knife at Peter.
  • An ambulance smashes into a car.
  • Supersized mosquitos attack a car that Alan and the kids are in. They thrust their proboscis' through the covertible's roof and then through the glass.
  • Van Pelt appears and begins shooting away at Alan who throws a sword at Van Pelt and then runs from the house.
  • Van Pelt shoots a police car to bits with his hunting rifle.
  • A zoological stampede (rhinos, elephants, etc...) smashes its way through the house.
  • Monkeys, and later, humans, vandalize and loot a store.
  • Peter bites Van Pelt on the leg to free Sarah.
  • Slapstick: Van Pelt is blown across a store and into a wall while inside a canoe and a police car crashes into the store and a whole wall of paint cans falls onto Van Pelt.
  • The large slithering vines grab a police car and pull it into the woods.
  • A flesh eating vine shoots a poison dart into Judy's neck.
  • Van Pelt fires a last shot at Sarah and Alan, but the bullet stops just inches away and then everything is sucked back into the game in a big violent vortex.



  • Reviewed June 2, 1996

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