1990s Fantasy Adventure Comedy Is A Netflix Essential, Stream Right Now

By Nina Phillips | Published

jumanji

With the modern reboots of the Jumanji franchise, it’s time to look at the original that started it all. Thankfully, the 1995 Jumaji is available to stream on Netflix right now. It’s a charming film that, while perhaps not as good as the reboot, does offer a great cast and an interesting storyline.

The Beginning

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Jumanji follows the story of two young kids, Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) who end up finding a board game while playing in the park.

They take the game home and decide to play, ignoring the warning message, “Do not begin unless you intend to finish.”

As the game starts, they realize it’s different than any other they’ve played before. Animals come to life, terrorizing their home, and later the city.

But quitting isn’t an option if they want things to go back to how they were.

The Cast

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In addition to Kirsten and Bradley, there are several other great actors in Jumanji. Robin Williams (Mrs. Doubtfire), Jonathan Hyde (Titanic), David Alan Grier (Joe Pickett), and Bonnie Hunt (The Green Mile) are some of the other actors people might recognize from the film.

Jumanji was originally a small children’s book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. For those who don’t know, there is also the sequel to the Jumanji book, called Zathura, which was also turned into a movie.

Zathura

Zathura follows a similar plot but is set in space instead of on Earth. Two siblings, Danny (Jonah Bobo) and Walter (Josh Hutcherson) find a board game in the basement. As they start to play, their house enters the far reaches of space.

Now, alongside their older sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart) and an astronaut (Dax Shepard), they have to try and finish the game and return home in one piece.

While Jumanji has nothing new or ground-breaking going for it, it is a classic and well-done story. To take a children’s book and adapt it into a fully flushed-out story is something quite impressive. It was a fun story with a great cast.

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle

There were some pretty dark moments, and definitely enough to creep out children, but there were also enough funny moments to balance out the fear. The people in the film were rather minor characters compared to the crazy story events, but it was still memorable and exciting to watch.

Even the reboot is worth mentioning. There are many reboots that do a poor job of redoing an original classic. However, the 2017 version of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is also really good.

While the stories are different, the modern twist on the game, and teleporting into the world instead of bringing it to the modern world is a pretty interesting take.

Stream It Now

GFR SCORE

In fact, it has a better rating than the original, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The 1995 version of Jumanji has an average audience score of 63 percent. However, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is more than a movie with a bunch of well-known faces, with an average audience score of 87 percent.

If you want to watch the original film for yourself, the 1995 version of Jumanji is available to watch on Netflix.