Zathura

Zathura is the sequel to Jumanji, penned by Chris Van Allsburg and adapted into a fantasy film in 2005. The story picks up where the previous one left off: two boys discover the Jumanji board game where it was hidden and take it home. However, Danny, the younger of the pair, discovers another game also hidden inside the box: the sci-fi based Zathura. Despite their ongoing rivalry, Walter and Danny find they must work together if they're ever going to beat the game and get back home.

Note, the book is a direct sequel to the book Jumanji, but the film is a Spiritual Successor to the film Jumanji.

Much like its predecessor, the film heaped on plenty of details that weren't in the original 32-pager, such as adding Lisa, Walter and Danny's older sister, and a mysterious astronaut who becomes a gruff mentor to the boys. It's also worth noting that, excluding voice actors or people wearing alien costumes which cover their whole bodies, the film has a cast of exactly five, one of whom is barely in the film. There are no extras, crowd shots, or other group scenes.

While moderately well-reviewed, it ended up being a box-office flop, mostly because it was released a week before Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire hit cinemas. Nowadays, it's mostly remembered for being featured in a fourth season episode of The Apprentice, where none of the candidates could pronounce the film's name correctly.

Tropes used in Zathura include:

Walter: I'm not mean, Danny, I'm in fourth grade, I have a girlfriend.

"It's not a goat! It's not a goat!

  • Cassandra Truth: The boys try to tell Lisa what is happening but she quickly brushes them off. Their dad also wasn't any better about believing them.
  • Chekhov's Gun / Foreshadowing: A couple. For example, the Reprogram card, and the Astronaut also having a Fleet Admiral card.
    • When after insisting on allowing the astronaut to stay against his wishes, Walter asks Danny, "Who's brother are you, his or mine?" The correct answer is both.
  • Curtains Match the Window: All of the main characters.
  • Expy - The astronaut seems to be there just as Alan's counterpart. He played the game long ago and got trapped in, the younger of the two brings him out, he knows about one of the things in the game, he gains a love interest, and is reset back to his younger self by the end.
    • Lisa for Sarah, ending up as the astronaut's love interest. Walter for Judy, as his attitude is "Let's play and it'll all disappear" and Danny for Peter, as his attitude is "I'm not playing that thing".
  • Future Badass: Walter.
  • Harmless Freezing: Lisa gets frozen pretty early on for five turns and once those turns were up she unfroze without any problem, not even noticing that she had been frozen.
  • Heel Face Turn: The robot after it was reprogrammed.
  • I Hate Past Me - The astronaut is noticeably a lot harder on Walter than he is on Danny. At first it seems because this is simply due to Danny "rolling" him out of the game, but actually the astronaut is a time-looped older version of Walter, who in his timeline wished his brother out of existence in anger after an argument and regretted it ever since. After years of reflection, he's more than a little resentful towards his past self's brotherly callousness, but ends up being very proud that the current Walter learned his lesson where he did not.
  • The Homeward Journey
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold - The film makes Walter out to be rather bullying and demanding towards the younger Danny. The astronaut also has his jerky moments, but has the benefit of experience.
    • The Astronaut is notably only really a jerk towards Walter. See directly above.
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Lisa does this trope at the end, telling the boys to never mention what happened in Zathura.
  • Mundane Wish: The game has a card called Shooting Star, which grants a wish. When Walter got one of these cards and had to come up with a wish fast, he panicked and wished for a signed football.

Astronaut: You wished for a football?
Walter: Signed by Brett Farve.

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