In this adaptation of a book by children’s author Chris Van Allsburg, two brothers play a board game that takes
them on a real-life journey into space. The side story is that the brothers
don’t get along, and the game brings them together even as it threatens to kill
them. This could be corny, but I liked that they seemed like real kids. The
younger one has to ask the older one for help reading the instructions, for
example.
The game is mostly an excuse to present the boys with all manner of
happenings and/or special effects. If it were a real board game, it wouldn’t be
a very good one, and the space world presented in the movie doesn’t represent a
coherent vision. But that’s a quibble. Overall, it’s an appealing fantasy,
reminding me of 1980s movies like Flight of the Navigator and The
Last Starfighter.
circulated via email 11/17/05 and posted 9/25/13
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