Two young brothers are playing catch with their dad. There is Walter, who is 10 and more skilled. And there is Danny, who is 6 and still struggles.

Danny gets upset about not being able to catch the ball. He tries to convince Walter to play with him more. But Walter refuses.

Their father is talking on the phone with somebody from his job. But Walter and Danny fight and end up damaging something important to their dad.

The dad is now called in for a meeting at work. So, he wakes up his teenage daughter, Lisa, and tells her to watch her brothers.

Danny tries to play catch with Walter in the living room. But he accidentally hits him with the ball, which greatly angers him. He sends Danny into the basement.

While there, Danny discovers a board game called Zathura. He begs Walter to play it with him. After some resistance, Walter is willing to play the game.

At some point, it releases a card that says that there will be a meteor shower. Little do the boys know that it actually happens inside their living room. Even wilder, they discover that their house is now in outer space.

Lisa wakes up and thinks that she is late for her date. Danny and Walter try to warn her that she is in outer space thanks to their board game, which causes peril. But she won’t believe them. So, they use it to release a card. Yet it causes no effects. Therefore, Lisa dismisses their message.

Walter and Danny continue the game, because that is the only way they can return to Earth. The next card reveals that Walter has a robot. Walter rudely demands it to get him a juice box—which causes it to grow and try to hurt him.

Other effects occur, such as freezing the bathroom, including Lisa, and an astronaut coming. The astronaut was stranded and eats the food in the refrigerator.

Walter demands that the astronaut leave. Feeling unappreciated, he almost goes. But Danny successfully convinces him to stay and protect him and Walter from some dangerous aliens.

Later, a card tells Walter to make a wish on a shooting star. He wishes for an autographed football, which annoys Danny. Danny reminds him that he had the option to wish the game was over. But Walter said he was under a lot of pressure thanks to the astronaut.

Not long after, Walter and Danny bicker. The astronaut begs them to stop. Then he reveals that 15 years ago, he played the same game and also fought with his little brother. He got so angry that he wished his sibling was never born. But then he felt awful and tried to wish him back. However, the game wouldn’t let him because it wasn’t his turn.

Sometime later, Walter gets another wish card. He wishes that the astronaut had his brother back.

However, danger is rising thanks to the extraterrestrials. What will happen next?

I was surprised with how engaging this film was. It kept my interest all the way through. In fact, I used to watch this when I was a kid.

The pacing was fast and the tension levels were high. The worldbuilding itself was strong, as well. I especially admire the premise of the story. Some people say it’s like Jumanji, but in outer space.

The execution of the space entities was creative. There was a scene where Danny thought he saw a goat—but it had 4 eyes that hung out of its face.

And the game itself was particularly a major strength. I loved how it played a role in the plot.

Walter and Danny were quite believable as they fought and argued a lot. Lisa was also credible with how she didn’t want to deal with her brothers. Many teenage girls don’t.

That being said, the siblings did look out for each other at times. It shows that they don’t exactly hate one another.

As a PG-rated movie, the violence levels weren’t too intense. However, there were some occasions of profanity. I would recommend viewers be at least 8 years old to see this film.

Like any good movie, this one did have a lot of twists and turns. See it to find out what they are.

Overall, I enjoyed Zathura: A Space Adventure. It was a fun watch with adventure and competition in one.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.