After a long day of listening to my boys fighting, I decided we all needed to get out of the house and see a movie. I corralled my husband, my daughter and both of my sons into the car. I painstakingly made sure that my daughter sat between the two boys so that they could not kill each other on the drive to the theater. Sure enough, the drive consisted of them reaching across their sister's lap to pinch and poke each other. By the time we reached the theater, all I could think about was how great it was going to be to quietly watch a movie for two hours
Little did I know that Zathura is a thinly disguised lesson in brotherly love. Throughout the first half to two-thirds of the movie, the audience is subjected to fight after fight between the two brothers, Danny (played by Jonah Bobo) and Walter (played by Josh Hutcherson). The resemblance to my two sons is uncanny. I believe I even heard the same words and pitch on the screen that I had been subjected to earlier in the daythis was certainly not the relaxing experience I had hoped for when deciding to go to a movie. By the end of the movie, the brothers learn that in order to survive and return home, they must learn to work together. The final scene shows the brothers playing ball together and acting like best friendsyeah right.
Zathura, directed by Jon Favreau, is almost an exact replication of Jumanji, released in 1995. The only difference is the age and gender of the participants and the location of the adventure. In Zathura, Danny and Walter decide to play a board game that Danny finds hidden under the stairs. When Danny hits the button to begin the game, meteors bombard the living room, the house breaks away from earth and floats through space. If I hadn't seen Jumanji first, this would have been a good movie. But after seeing Jumanji, this was just way too predictable.
As sappy and nauseating as the hour-and-a-half long sermon about getting along with your brother was for me to watch, it seemed to have the desired effect on my sons. As we drove home, my nine-year-old son fell asleep with his head on his older brother's lap.
My older son's response as he shrugged his shoulders for emphasis was, "He was hurting me with his head digging into my shoulder so I moved him." I might have believed that response if his hand was not protectively wrapped over his younger brothers shoulders. Even though I know that bonding will be short-lived, it is a moment that will go down in history for our family.
Little did I know that Zathura is a thinly disguised lesson in brotherly love. Throughout the first half to two-thirds of the movie, the audience is subjected to fight after fight between the two brothers, Danny (played by Jonah Bobo) and Walter (played by Josh Hutcherson). The resemblance to my two sons is uncanny. I believe I even heard the same words and pitch on the screen that I had been subjected to earlier in the daythis was certainly not the relaxing experience I had hoped for when deciding to go to a movie. By the end of the movie, the brothers learn that in order to survive and return home, they must learn to work together. The final scene shows the brothers playing ball together and acting like best friendsyeah right.
Zathura, directed by Jon Favreau, is almost an exact replication of Jumanji, released in 1995. The only difference is the age and gender of the participants and the location of the adventure. In Zathura, Danny and Walter decide to play a board game that Danny finds hidden under the stairs. When Danny hits the button to begin the game, meteors bombard the living room, the house breaks away from earth and floats through space. If I hadn't seen Jumanji first, this would have been a good movie. But after seeing Jumanji, this was just way too predictable.
As sappy and nauseating as the hour-and-a-half long sermon about getting along with your brother was for me to watch, it seemed to have the desired effect on my sons. As we drove home, my nine-year-old son fell asleep with his head on his older brother's lap.
My older son's response as he shrugged his shoulders for emphasis was, "He was hurting me with his head digging into my shoulder so I moved him." I might have believed that response if his hand was not protectively wrapped over his younger brothers shoulders. Even though I know that bonding will be short-lived, it is a moment that will go down in history for our family.