Jumanji (1995)

Jumanji is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film, directed by Joe Johnston. It is an adaptation of the 1981 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The film was written by Greg Taylor, Jonathan Hensleigh, and Jim Strain, and stars Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth. The special effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic for computer graphic elements and Amalgamated Dynamics for animatronics components.

The story centers on 12-year-old Alan Parrish, who becomes trapped in a board game while playing with his best friend Sarah Whittle in 1969. Twenty-six years later, siblings Judy and Peter Shepherd find the game and begin playing and then unwittingly release the now-adult Alan. After tracking down Sarah, the quartet resolve to finish the game in order to undo all of the destruction it has caused.

The film was shot in Keene, New Hampshire, though the story is set in the fictional town of Brantford. Additional filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia. The film was released on December 15, 1995. Despite its lukewarm critical reception, it was a box office success, earning $262,797,249 worldwide on a budget of approximately $65 million and was the 10th highest-grossing movie of 1995.

In 2005, a spiritual sequel to Jumanji titled Zathura was released; it was also adapted from a Van Allsburg book.

Synopsis

In 1869, two brothers bury a mysterious chest from which the sound of drumbeats can be heard. A century later, 12-year-old Alan Parrish escapes from a group of bullies to a shoe factory owned by his father, Samuel Parrish. When Alan accidentally damages a machine, Carl Bentley, an employee at the factory and Alan's friend, is blamed and dismissed. The bullies attack Alan and steal his bicycle. Alan follows the sound of tribal drumbeats to a construction site, where he finds a chest containing a board game called Jumanji, and takes the game home.

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