Oh what an annoying little bug. He drove me crazy in Crazy, Stupid, Love, in an otherwise really good movie, but his character was so annoying I had to turn away sometimes from the screen not to feel awkward.I did not know earlier that he was a child actor who performed in other movies, as well, so when I started to watch Zathura I had to realize that this little guy is an earlier manifestation of the annoying teenager but with the same pitiful qualities...he was supposed to be a cute little fellow but he was rather a little bug who drives parents and viewers mad.The movie itself is quite an entertaining family picture in the style of Jumanji - without Bobo it could have been around 6,5 out of 10.

Bad casting, lack of chemistry among the 'actors' made an interesting plot sound like a screeching chalk that never ends. The premise of two kids siblings fighting is not new, but at least make one of them sympathetic. The younger kid is a disaster at all levels. That character was not made for the actor who plays it. The astronaut is overplayed, and lacks charm or chemistry with any of the other players. The worse part about it, I kept watching it, trying to see if by a miracle this got better... and it didn't. The Outer Space Animations were spot on. THOSE deserved a better movie to be on.

Following the storyline of the fast-paced "Jumanji" (1995), ten years after, we get this "Zathura, a Space Adventure". And it is impossible to not make comparisons. Two movies A very real game. And some characters forced to play to survive. If in the Robin Williams' film a whole jungle came out of the board, in this adaptation of the story of the same author who inspired "Jumanji", mixing with "The Goonies" (1985), we go to outer space, with all the meteorites, cryogenic cameras, lost astronauts and alien bugs that this entails.But unlike his older sister, successive runs are happening without much noise, without getting in almost no time to hook the viewer or make him feel some empathy towards the characters. Another weak point of this new incursion in too real games, the characters. While in "Jumanji" we had two adults who put some adventure and seriousness to the game, here the two young protagonists are limited to running, shouting, fighting, and in certain final moments to give us a moralistic mania about the relationship between two brothers.The right special effects to be a movie for children. The vision of space following the trail of any science fiction movie, achieved without further ado. The intervention of Tim Robbins, wasted, but of course, that could be expected. It seems that he is there to do a favor for the director, or for his children to see him in a film intended for all audiences.In short, this new version that we wanted to sell taking advantage of the charm that had "Jumanji" in its time, is a failed attempt to resuscitate the myth that this was, a simple entertainment only suitable for children. They will enjoy it.

This is a charming family adventure of two young squabbling brothers causing chaos whilst staying with their father (Tim Robbins.) When they are left alone the younger one finds a board game called Zathura and end up in a real life space adventure with meteor showers, heat attracted lizards, a rampaging robot and a rescued astronaut whilst their house floats in space and their sister is frozen.The film is about co-operation with the siblings doing better as they work together and the rescued astronaut is key in bringing them together. A young Kristen Stewart plays the older sister whose part is largely redundant and seems more livelier when she is actually frozen!Director Jon Favreau brings a Spielberg like charm to the story and gets the best out of the two young actors and the special effects are very good. Co-writer David Koepp, famous for the Jurassic Park films as always brings a familiar beat to his plotting. He really should trademark the predictability of his scripting with only the astronaut's unveiling at the end being a mild surprise.Despite similarities to Jumanji, it is still a good film to watch as a family and younger children will find this enthralling.