Jumanji
TriStar Pictures | Release Date: December 15, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
9
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
As for Williams himself, his wild-man routine is only in evidence in his opening scenes; otherwise he dials it down, perhaps sensing that the way to upstage the loony creatures is to be relatively rational. There is something touchingly innocent in his performance. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
The result is a thrill ride with enough plunges and turns and loop-the-loops to make it worth a spin. What the picture lacks is the magic and resonance you feel in the best of popular entertainments. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineStaff(not credited)
Regrettably, however, the weird elegance of Chris Van Allsburg's much-praised picture book has been all but lost in translation. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Based on a popular children's book by Chris Van Allsburg and directed by that "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" guy Joe Johnston, Jumanji is a calculated but very entertaining special effects extravaganza. [15Dec1995 Pg. 01.D]
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Eschewing warm, cuddly imagery just as Mr. Van Allsburg's book does, the film affects a strange, artificial style that has the invasive weirdness of "Gremlins" but none of the charm. Read full review
60
EmpireStaff(not credited)
On a scene by scene basis, it is mostly great fun but suffers from a contrived script which repetitively drags characters back to the eponymous magical board game for another effect-producing throw of the dice. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Jumanji is cardboard Spielberg, a B-movie scrap heap of spare parts lifted from "Jurassic Park" and "Gremlins" and "Back to the Future". Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Jumanji takes approximately one-hundred minutes for four people to play a board game. The result isn't much more fun or involving than watching a few friends play Monopoly. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
As a movie, it's far from compelling. As a thrill ride, though, it's a rampaging special effects and animatronics extravaganza that will make small children cringe behind their seats. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The terror sequences (not only animals but monsoons and earthquakes and quicksand) are scary until they get monotonous: after a while, you have a sense you're watching a clip reel from every Hollywood disaster flick ever made. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The movie takes time to warm up, it weakens into soppiness at the end, and the game itself, if you think it through, makes very little sense. Read full review
50
VarietyLeonard Klady
The screenplay, however, denies the film a solid foundation. Jumanji is diverting in a splashy , eye-catching manner, but is about as substantive and durable as filigree. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Williams is hardly at his comically inventive best. And the script (adapted by Chris Van Allsburg, and a string of others, from his book) pursues the least exciting avenues possible. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The film is a gloomy special-effects extravaganza filled with grotesque images, generating fear and despair. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
The script boasts more writers than the computerized menagerie's got megabytes, but they haven't come up with much variety or humor in what is essentially a string of catastrophes. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesJack Mathews
Something bad happened on the way from the book to the movie. [15Dec1995 Pg. F.01]
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Mostly trite and tacky despite Robin Williams's strenuous acting. Read full review
20
NewsweekJohn Leland
Director Joe Johnston ("Honey, I Shrunk the Kids") turns this fantasy into a mean-spirited exercise in terror. Read full review
10
TimeRichard Corliss
Director Joe Johnston's elaborately dressed kids' movie--about a board game that sucks its players into a perilous jungle overrun by lions, rhinos, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders--spends so much time on the how of special effects that it neglects the why of characterization. Read full review
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