Jumanji

Special Effects Critics Beware

Alan Parrish has been stuck in a board game for 26 years! As crazy as that may sound, it isn't nearly as crazy as all the things that come out of the board game when Judy and Peter Shephard begin to play the game 26 years after Alan and Sarah began. But once the game has started, there is no going back to normal life, they must gather all the original players and finish the terrible game they started.

Lets look on the positive side of things, shall we? Special effects have come a looooong way over the past 17 years since this movie was made and I, for one, am thankful for that! If you can look past the old effects of this movie and just have fun watching it with your kids, you'll be thoroughly entertained and have a great time of suspenseful fun. Robin Williams isn't at his most funny here but he's still great as the jungle man Alan. Kirsten Dunst has always been a better child actress than she's turned out to be an adult actress so you're good to go there and Bonnie Hunt is simply a breath of fresh and funny air anytime I see her in anything. So go ahead and add this one to your Netflix queue and have an adventurous good time with the family.

Motherly Advice: ClearPlay's main goal in this one is to filter out all the blasphemy. There is one very brief little kiss at the end between kids but I thought it was super tame and innocent and I didn't have a problem with it at all. Even with filters though this movie may still be kind of intense for little ones. There are 'scary' creatures that come out of the game (big spiders, bats, a lion, giant bugs with huge, pointy beaks, crazy monkeys and a rapidly growing vine that tries to eat Peter). However, the effects of each 'scary creature' are so bad that it's hard to take it seriously. But still, little ones sometimes can't tell what's real and what's not so I think you should be careful viewing this with kids 6 and under.

Danielle' - Your Game Board Movie Guide

Rated PG for menacing fantasy action and some mild language; 104 min; Directed by Joe Johnston