JumanjiMovie Reviews

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No
Avg. Critic Score: 39 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
10 OK for kids 10+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Based on a popular children's book by Chris Van Allsburg and directed by that "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" guy Joe Johnston, Jumanji is a calculated but very entertaining special effects extravaganza. [15Dec1995 Pg. 01.D] Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    Eschewing warm, cuddly imagery just as Mr. Van Allsburg's book does, the film affects a strange, artificial style that has the invasive weirdness of "Gremlins" but none of the charm. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Jumanji is cardboard Spielberg, a B-movie scrap heap of spare parts lifted from "Jurassic Park" and "Gremlins" and "Back to the Future". Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Stack

    As a movie, it's far from compelling. As a thrill ride, though, it's a rampaging special effects and animatronics extravaganza that will make small children cringe behind their seats. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Leonard Klady

    The screenplay, however, denies the film a solid foundation. Jumanji is diverting in a splashy , eye-catching manner, but is about as substantive and durable as filigree. Read full review

  • 40
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Williams is hardly at his comically inventive best. And the script (adapted by Chris Van Allsburg, and a string of others, from his book) pursues the least exciting avenues possible. Read full review

  • 38
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The film is a gloomy special-effects extravaganza filled with grotesque images, generating fear and despair. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    The script boasts more writers than the computerized menagerie's got megabytes, but they haven't come up with much variety or humor in what is essentially a string of catastrophes. Read full review

  • 30
    Los Angeles Times | Jack Mathews

    Something bad happened on the way from the book to the movie. [15Dec1995 Pg. F.01] Read full review

  • 25
    Christian Science Monitor | David Sterritt

    Mostly trite and tacky despite Robin Williams's strenuous acting. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 10+ Some thrills, but may be too much for little ones.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film has lots of thrills and perils but little joy, as monstrous jungle predators pour out of an enchanted board game to overwhelm hapless kids and adults in a depressed New England town. It may be too intense for some kids, although young viewers who aren't nightmare-prone will be diverted by the creatures, computer-generated by the same Hollywood whizzes who brought to life the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.
  • Families can talk about what they think makes for a good fantasy adventure film.  Was this movie funny, or more on the darker side?
  • If you were going to make this movie, is there anything you'd change, and if so, what?
  • Which game would you like to see come alive?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: A distinctly unfriendly community is the setting, with kids who defy and mouth off to adults and pull pranks (though everything comes out right at the end thanks to their intervention).
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Much-threatened and occasionally carried out, in the form of beatings, bitings, stingings, and stompings mostly by nastied-up members of the animal kingdom. Shooting also threatened by a maniacal hunter.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false3 Language: "Damn" here and there.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue

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