Zathura: A Space Adventure
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 11, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyScott Brown
Zathura is a rarity: a stellar fantasy that faces down childhood anxieties with feet-on-the-ground maturity. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
The result is a glorious low-tech pleasure that may be the most lyrical, phantasmagoric boys' adventure story since Joe Dante's Explorers. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldPeter Debruge
A wild buckle-up-and-blast-off adventure that plunges every corner of kids' favorite subject. Read full review
83
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Cool! Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Although the drama suffers from the episodic story structure, Zathura feels less like "Jumanji" and more like a really great episode of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" TV series. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Favreau keeps the picture throttling forward with a carefree charm. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Will work better for younger viewers than older ones. There's not much plot to absorb and there's plenty of action, so this is the kind of spectacle that will appeal to those without long attention spans. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It works gloriously as space opera. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The result is an odd mix of honesty and hokum that pilots a course toward greatness before settling into a somewhat lower orbit. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Jon Favreau, the actor-director who made the delightful family film "Elf," has a firm grip and a light touch with this material about bickering brothers who find a board game that zaps the family home into hyperspace. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWinda Benedetti
Jonah Bobo and Josh Hutcherson -- may have delivered their parts just a wee too convincingly. Their squabbling is so pitch perfect that most adult viewers likely will want to reach through the screen and start crackin' some heads. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The movie harks back to a time before state-of-the-art technology when writers and directors had to rely mostly on imagination. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Zathura involves a lot of yelling, a lot of explosions and a lot of flying objects -- but what else would you expect from a movie that is, honestly for a change, intended for 10-year-old boys? Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Favreau again delivers that rare beast -- a family film that even childless adults can enjoy. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin Chang
Its unwieldy title notwithstanding, Zathura: A Space Adventure is arguably the best adaptation of a Chris Van Allsburg book to date. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Neither pandering nor dull, Zathura plays exactly like a no-limits replica of the kind of space adventure that imaginative kids left to their own devices might enact. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This handmade feel gives Zathura an appealing, childlike sense of wonder, an element too often forgotten in movies with many times the budget and technological resources. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
In the enchanted limbo between waking and sleeping, Zathura feels both real and unreal, like a dream you could shake off at any moment. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Flawless comic timing and vivid imagination power this rollicking sequel to "Jumanji." Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
A low-key, warm-without-being-schmaltzy childhood adventure story that will engage younger viewers without driving their parents too crazy. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Jon Favreau's adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's kid-lit adventure of the same name, more than fills the bill - though it's unlikely to draw anyone over the age of 11 (not counting baby-sitters). Read full review
63
PremiereRyan Devlin
There's nary a smidgen of adult humor, so parents might find things a bit on the dull side at times, but in the end they will likely thank Favreau in droves for making a film that is at least certain not to give them a headache. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Director Jon Favreau, who dipped profitably into family entertainment with 2003's "Elf," effectively recreates the illustrative universe of a good children's book, but he's stuck with a story that noisily grinds its gears. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
The movie has a lot of the elements that might make it thrilling and it's visually arresting, but it's missing the emotional connection necessary to make it interesting. Read full review
50
Village VoicePeter L'Official
One thing: Perhaps my studio-cynic hackles are raised imprudently, but either Favreau reimagined the boys' teenage sister to read as matinee sex bomb, Tootsie Rolling around in pink boxers for half the film, or children's books have become a lot hotter since I put down Seuss and Sendak for Encyclopedia Brown. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's a tick better than the movie version of "Jumanji," if that's any help. If you liked the book, you'll find the film of "Zathura" faithful in most respects, though not so much amplified as padded. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Tim Robbins plays the working dad, and the movie misses him once he bails out early. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Basically "Jumanji" in outer space -- and even without Robin Williams, this is still a singularly loud, charmless and overbearing family movie that could use a hit or two of Ritalin. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The film's Buck Rogers-style graphics are cool, but the shrilly squabbling brothers -- realistic though they may be -- are insufferable, the story's your-turn/my-turn structure is tedious, and its relentlessly reiterated message about brotherly love and cooperation is really grating. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Rarely is a movie audience asked to put up with so much noise for such a thankless payoff. Read full review
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