JUMANJI (1995) *** Ah, dunno...it just doesn't sound like that great of a premise for a film-bunch of people sitting around playing a board game, even if one of them is Robin Williams. Don't be fooled, my friends, for lurking in that board are the shadows and darknesses of the collective subconscious! Aiee!! And also plenty of fodder for zoological anarchy enthusiasts, and apologists for the managerial crust. Joe Johnston does really nice work splicing a group of well-cast actors (Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce, Jonathan Hyde twice, Bonnie Hunt) with lions, and bats, and elephants, and monkeys, and alligators, and every manner of computer animation from the wilds. The animation works really well on at least two levels: the animals do funny things that real animals would have refused to do, and the graphics subconsciously give credibility to the game, here in the video age. Bebe Neuwirth and David Allan Grier are tremendous at being horrifically astounded, and when Johnston gets them both doing it in the same frame it's a super treat. The sugar and spice ending works for me, and I bet that there are a lot of people who wish they could get back to 1969 and do it all over again. Not me, but for those that do I would particularly request that they reexamine their votes in presidential elections.
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