The Best Jumanji Sequel Came Out 12 Years Before The Dwayne Johnson Movies And Was Even Better Than The Original Film

Years before Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson starred in his own Jumanji films, Robin Williams’ classic comedy got an even better sequel in a completely different movie. Since the original Jumanji was released in 1995, it has become an absolute classic. The film retained so much of its popularity that it was rebooted in 2017, when Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle hit theaters. Johnson’s legacy sequels proved so popular that they garnered well over $1 billion at the global box office, and Jumanji 4 was recently confirmed. Despite their success, however, Johnson’s Jumanji movies aren’t the best sequels in the franchise.

Johnson’s Jumanji movies are a lot of fun and great in their own right, and they’re even among the best Dwayne Johnson movies out there, but they’ve still been outdone. Interestingly, Jumanji has an often-forgotten spinoff movie that recaptured the same magic Robin Williams did in 1995. It was so good, in fact, that it surpassed Johnson’s films even before they were made. One of the best Jumanji movies doesn’t even have “Jumanji” in its title, and it came out over a decade before Dwayne Johnson’s legacy sequels did.

Zathura Was A Spiritual Successor To Jumanji (& It Was Even Better)

Zathura Essentially Brought Jumanji To A Science Fiction Setting To Tremendous Effect

Even though it’s not a direct sequel, 2005’s Zathura: A Space Adventure is a great spiritual successor to Jumanji. Zathura follows Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) as they play the titular board game Zathura. Like in Jumanji, Walter and Danny quickly realize that the things they do in Zathura also happen in real life, from meteor showers to invasions by lizard-like aliens. The movies have extremely similar premises – which makes sense, given they’re both based on books by Chris Van Allsburg. On top of their premise, however, both Zathura and Jumanji tell stories about the challenges of childhood, unintended consequences, and how to finish what you’ve started.

Zathura is technically considered a spin-off of the Jumanji franchise, though it doesn’t contain any references to the earlier film or book.

Zathura isn’t just similar to Jumanji, however, it’s actually better. The original Jumanji wasn’t a critical success: it received just 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics generally thought it was a serviceable but underwhelming kids’ movie. Zathura, on the other hand, received 77%, and was widely praised for its visual effects, its moving emotional plot, and its inventive take on the sci-fi genre. The story of Walter and Danny learning to love each other, for example, is a lot more emotionally effective than the story of Alan Parrish trying to get back to his childhood. Even though Jumanji is better remembered by posterity, Zathura arguably deserves it more.

Zathura Captured Jumanji’s Essence Better Than The Dwayne Johnson Movies

Zathura Recaptured Jumanji’s Originality & Unique Sense Of Adventure Better Than Johnson’s Movies Could

One of the biggest reasons Zathura is such an effective spiritual successor to Jumanji is because it recaptured some of the latter’s magic. Jumanji is an icon for a reason: very few other films were able to create an adventure that was both completely otherworldly and entirely familiar. Whether it’s a horde of human-sized mosquitoes or Peter turning into a monkey-boy, Jumanji was able to take these fantastical elements and give them real weight and stakes. Zathura does the same, and it’s hard not to be mesmerized by a suburban house floating through an asteroid belt or a killer robot rampaging through a living room.

Related

How Zathura Connects To Jumanji (Is It A Sequel?)

Zathura’s plot is eerily similar to Jumanji’s, but the space adventure isn’t a mere knockoff. Both board game movies have the same origin.

Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji films, on the other hand, didn’t have the same spark that Robin Williams’ did. Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level are both fun adventure movies, but they really could have been their own series. Aside from the generic jungle setting and the idea of characters being sucked into the game world, the later Jumanji films don’t have much in common with the original. Johnson’s Jumanji movies simply didn’t have that strangely alluring blend of mystical action in mundane settings like Zathura did. For that reason, Zathura is a much better sequel to Jumanji than either of the more recent films.

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  Jumanji

  The Jumanji franchise originated with the 1995 fantasy adventure film about a magical board game that unleashes real-life jungle dangers into the world. The franchise was revived in 2017 with a modern twist, transforming the game into a video game that traps its players inside an adventurous jungle world. The series blends action, comedy, and fantasy, attracting a broad audience and becoming a major box office success.

• Zathura: A Space Adventure features two young brothers, Walter and Danny, who discover a mysterious board game that propels their house into outer space. As they face cosmic challenges, they must cooperate with an astronaut to navigate the dangers and return safely to their suburban life.

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