Trailer available here
Continuing on from The Mummy this is another movie that until this year I had never actually watched, or at least not in full. It felt like one of those sort of movies that despite having never watched it, hearing so much about it and Robin Williams performance in it, I knew everything that I needed to know about it.
There were certainly some moments of the movie that I didn’t expect or made me pause like huh??? but overall after watching it there was still the feeling that I had indeed watched it before; Perhaps I had and it just left such a mreh impression on me that the moment in time completely escapes me.
Until I watched it though I was completely unaware that this is actually an adaptation of a really short picture book from the early 80s and on learning that it sort of made sense to how the plot develops in such a linear and structured way as it doesn’t have that completely produced for the big screen feel but rather there is a cozy simplistic feel to it. And it actually enhanced my appreciation for the movie as something that people might call a classic or people having nostalgia for because it is a great plot and piece for children and shows the power of imagination (though also probably terrified some children on release, when times were more delightfully simplistic, that playing board games could be terribly dangerous!).
It got me thinking though; What game have I played or that exists in the world now that I wouldn’t want to suddenly come to life/be a reality? And outside of the obvious of Game Of Life, because let’s be honest that game is a choreographed nightmare of monogamous relationship escalators combined with capitalist expectation, it would have to be something like Sub Terra. Sub Terra is pretty similar in terms of concept to Jumanji, each turn there’s a chance of something going wrong, but on top of having to survive all those events and essentially work together with your fellow players to escape you only have a certain number of turns to escape to the surface before you die regardless. Double Jeopardy!
Maybe at some point in time I’ll watch the remake and see how I feel about it but the cozy feels of this version is something that I could handle and would watch again, in the have it on in the background sort of way, because it had a joyful simplicity to it that really does work for all the family and amongst the action has a splattering of much needed comedic relief. Why I never watched it before now alludes me.
DANNIIXBHRI 