The book adapted movie franchise Jumanji has ruled over the industry for the past few decades. The franchise started back in 1995, inspired from the books Jumanji (1981) and its sequel Zathura (2002), written by Chris Van Allsburg. A total of four movies have been made till now, Jumanji (1995),Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) along with an animated series Jumanji(1996–1999). The franchise is owned by Columbia Pictures as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures.
The story revolves around the fun adventures experienced by a group of friends, who mysteriously gets transferred to the world of the forest adventure board/ video game, Jumanji, where they have been given specific strengths and weaknesses, and using their potentials they need to reach their final goal, in order to get out of the game. Also, they are assigned different characters which are totally different from their real life personalities.
Zathura is different from the concept of Jumanji. Two brothers get transferred to the world of the board game, same way they did in Jumanji, but here, they are transferred to the depths of the space and need to overcome obstacles in order to return home.
The modern remake of the 80s version starred Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, playing the in-game characters of Dr.Bravestone, Mouse, Professor Sheldon, Ruby Roundhouse and Seaplane respectively. The adventure comedy was directed by Jake Kasdan, and co-written by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinkner. A group of high-school students Martha, Bethany, Spencer and Fridge, were detained, and that’s when they discovered the cursed video game. Unknowingly, they commenced playing and suddenly got sucked by the computer and thrown to a jungle. They discover their weaknesses and strengths, surprised by the various aspects they got, for instance, one got a weakness of cake whereas one got a strength of smoldering. Just like any normal video game, they got only 3 lives, and if they lose all 3 of them, then they will die in the game only. As the group moves ahead, trying their best to solve every step, they meet a mysterious guy named Seaplane, only to discover that he was the very guy who 20 years ago disappeared out of nowhere one night.
The sequel to the 2017’s movie, Jumanji: The Next Level, got a lot of twists. Spencer, while repairing the video game one night, once again returned to the game. The next day, the very same friends visits his house, when they meet his grandfather, Eddie, and his old friend, Milo Walker. Upon asking the whereabouts of Spencer, they went on to search his room, that’s when they discovered that he returned to Jumanji, and hence, they all decided to do the same. But here comes the twist. The game pulled in Fridge, Martha, Eddie and Milo, leaving Bethany behind. They are transported to a weird land of snow and desert, and the same way they need to overcome the adventures in order to return home.
The movies teach us a lot of lessons. First and foremost is the strength of friendship. Even in real life, we got to hold tight together to overcome any problems in life. We often underestimate our potential and think ourselves as worthless, but there might be some situations where we are needed the most, and our talents are used to the fullest. Everyone has got their own strengths and weaknesses, and that’s what make us human, and unique in our own ways. We might be loser in someone’s eyes, but a hero in someone’s else. Unexpected circumstances force us to push our boundaries, making us discover the hidden us.
The book adapted movie franchise has also inspired the development of various video games such as Jumanji: The Game (1995)
Zathura: Adventure is Waiting (2005) and Jumanji: The Game (2017).