***First "Official" DVD review ZATHURA*****

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

One cannot help but compare Zathura to Jumajii. The director is the same, the author of the story is the same, the premise of the movie is the same, but there is a twist. It is a space adventure. In my opinion this movie is far more accessible and entertaining than Jumanjii.

The story begins with two brothers who compete for everything, including their fathers (Tim Robbins) attention. They argue, fight, and generally disagree about everything. The action really begins when younger brother Danny (Jonah Bobo) finds the board game Zathura in the basement, and invites older brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson) to play. Once they roll the dice, they quickly find that this game has some unusual qualities. Each roll of the dice finds them in a different circumstance. They run into a meteor shower, a malfunctioning robot, a cryogenic bathroom complete with a frozen sister (Kristen Stewart) angry aliens that thrive on heat and a surprise astronaut that turns out to be an older version of Walter. As each adventure passes, the brothers learn to work together to finish the game before their father gets home from a weekend appointment.

The Picture

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has made ZATHURA available on DVD in a 1.85:1 widescreen presentation that has been enhanced for playback on 16:9 displays. Image quality is generally quite good, with the picture being sharp and nicely defined most of the time. Occasionally, shots appear a little soft, but the picture is never problematic. Colors appear strongly rendered and stable, while the flesh tones are consistently appealing. Blacks are generally solid and deep, whites are stable and the contrast is pretty smooth. Shadow detail is a little variable, but usually quite good. Digital compression artifacts are never a cause for concern. The average bit rate for the picture is around 4.5-5mbps with occasional peaks at around 7mpps

The Sound

ZATHURA comes with a potent 448kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack that makes good use of all the discrete channels. With tons of chaos and destruction, sound effects are aggressively deployed once the movie hits outer space. Fidelity is very strong, with the sound effects packing a wallop and the musical component having a full-bodied quality. The LFE channel certainly rocks the house, but deep bass can be found in the front and rear channels. Voices are cleanly reproduced and the dialogue maintains complete intelligibility. Occasionally, the shrieking of the film’s young protagonists starts to grate on one’s nerves, but that certainly isn’t a flaw in the soundtrack. A French language track has also been encoded onto the DVD, as have English and French subtitles.

Extras

Director Jon Favreau and co-Producer Peter Billingsley are on hand to provide a running audio commentary. Next up is the featurettes Race to The Black Planet is a twelve-minute look behind-the-scenes featuring interviews with members of the production team. The Right Moves clocks in at fifteen minutes and looks at adapting Chris Van Allsburg’s book to the screen. The Cast is nearly thirteen minutes in length and focuses on the casting process and the actors who got the roles in the movie. Miniatures runs nearly ten minutes and looks at some of the old school special effects that the film relied upon. The World of Chris Van Allsburg is a nearly thirteen minute program that looks at the author/illustrator and his work. Zorgons, Robots and Frozen Lisa highlights Stan Winston’s effects work in this sixteen-minute program. Making The Game spends ten minutes examining the look and design of the actual board game as depicted in the movie

Zathura runs 101 minutes and has closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

This is an all around entertaining movie for the whole family and would be an excellent movie for your collection.

[L.J.]

Nice review Sir T.

I took my kid to the theater to see this and he enjoyed it. I personally thought Jumanji was better. Zathura had been there, done that, written all over it since the stories were similar although I already knew that going in. I purchased the DVD a couple of days ago and only watched a few bits and pieces. The constant arguing of the brothers did get a little old also. All in all, I agree with you, it was a pretty good film and great for HT.

[GMichael]

Cool STT,

This sounds like it's worth a viewing.

Thank you

[topspeed]

fidelity is very strong, with the sound effects packing a wallop...

How the hell would you know?!? You haven't even calibrated your system with an SPL meter yet!

Here's an idea, why don't you move out of your parents house, jump in your clapped-out Honda, and get a LIFE while you try to impress teenage girls with your "booming" stereo?








Oh, wait...


Wrong reviewer.

Sorry.

*sheepishly drops head and slowly closes door behind him*

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

How the hell would you know?!? You haven't even calibrated your system with an SPL meter yet!

Here's an idea, why don't you move out of your parents house, jump in your clapped-out Honda, and get a LIFE while you try to impress teenage girls with your "booming" stereo?








Oh, wait...


Wrong reviewer.

Sorry.

*sheepishly drops head and slowly closes door behind him*

Sir Terrence follows topspeed out the door and down the hall. He eyes the watercooler on the wall, and give topspeed the " you know you are so dunked" look. Topspeed is safely dunked and shivering on his way down the hall once again.......

[Worf101]

Sir Terrence follows topspeed out the door and down the hall. He eyes the watercooler on the wall, and give topspeed the " you know you are so dunked" look. Topspeed is safely dunked and shivering on his way down the hall once again.......

Worf puts down the tankard of Blood Wine and peers out the door. See's Sir TT and Topspeed strug - a- ling by the water cooler... Decides not to interrupt what is obviously a tender BBM (Broke Back Moment) and returns to cruising holodeck porn...

Da Worfster

[kexodusc]

Worf puts down the tankard of Blood Wine and peers out the door. See's Sir TT and Topspeed strug - a- ling by the water cooler... Decides not to interrupt what is obviously a tender BBM (Broke Back Moment) and returns to cruising holodeck porn...

Da Worfster

Holodeck porn...they have that? And here I was blocking the closed door with a chair so I could do it the ol' fashioned way..
Where have I been?

[Worf101]

Holodeck porn...they have that? And here I was blocking the closed door with a chair so I could do it the ol' fashioned way..
Where have I been?

I'm sorry, that technology hasn't made it to this part of the Alpha Quadrant yet. Holodeck's are fine for fun, but it's 2006, where the hell is my flying car or antigrav belt? I'm sick of walking and driving on the ground.

Da "Will the Future Hurry Up and Get Here Already?" Worfster

[kexodusc]

I'm sorry, that technology hasn't made it to this part of the Alpha Quadrant yet. Holodeck's are fine for fun, but it's 2006, where the hell is my flying car or antigrav belt? I'm sick of walking and driving on the ground.

Da "Will the Future Hurry Up and Get Here Already?" Worfster

Geez, I'd be happy if those litte Segway robot drivey platform thingys were cheap and plentiful. And my car wouldn't have to fly, but could it at least run on water and drive itself? I got no business driving a car at 6:30 AM before 3 cuppsa jabba.

[GMichael]

GMichael hears the noise by the watercooler. Steps out of office and snaps a few pictures with his phone. Turns to the holodeck and downloads the last program to his hard drive.
Goes back to work.

[topspeed]

LMAO!

Hey, now! There'll be absolutely absolutely NO BBM's for this cowboy!

[Worf101]

LMAO!

Hey, now! There'll be absolutely absolutely NO BBM's for this cowboy!

Wha? Who? Did somebody say something I'm absolutely innocent, innocent I tells ya!!!!

Glad you can take a joke T.S.

Da Worfster