Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst and the Joe Johnston movie ‘Jumanji’

The movie Jumanji (1995), and the franchise that followed, began as the 1981 picture book Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg. We choose to look at the fantasy adventure movie from 1995, starring well known actors and a charming mix of twists and turns that many a family audience can enjoy.

(From left, Laura Bell Bundy as young Sarah Whittle and Adam Hann-Byrd as young Alan Parrish in the Joe Johnston movie Jumanji).

The story of Jumanji begins perhaps 10 or 15 years before the current day in 1995, with the game at the center of the movie beginning play with young Alan Parrish and young Sarah Whittle playing the board game Jumanji. Adam Hann-Byrd and Laura Bell Bundy portray Alan and Sarah as kids, with appearances by David Alan Grier as Carl Bentley and Jonathan Hyde as Samuel Parrish in the youth of Alan and Sarah.

(From left, Bonnie Hunt as Sarah Whittle, Bradley Pierce as Peter Shepherd, Kirsten Dunst as Judy Shepherd and Robin Williams as Alan Parrish in the Joe Johnston movie Jumanji).

The notion of Jumanji as a board game permits that story begun in the past to span many years into the modern day of 1995, wherein we are introduced to Judy Shepherd, Peter Shepherd and aunt Nora Shepherd as they begin moving into the Parrish house once occupied by Alan and his parents, Samuel and Carol Parrish. Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth portray Judy, Peter and Nora, respectively. Patricia Clarkson portrays Carol Parrish. It is the move into the home by the Shepherds, along with the initial uncertainty of a move into any neighborhood, that gets Judy and Peter playing the board game in the present day.

(From left, David Alan Grier as Carl Bentley and Bebe Neuwirth as Nora Shepherd in the Joe Johnston movie Jumanji).

The playing of the game introduces the fantasy of what Jumanji has to offer the audience and the characters of the movie. It takes the playing to introduce Bonnie Hunt as Sarah Whittle and Robin Williams as Alan Parrish, both as adults who have experienced much since the initial introduction of characters from the past. We get to be reintroduced to Carl Bentley in a new career as police officer, while Jonathan Hyde is reintroduced as Van Pelt.

(Jonathan Hyde as Samuel Parrish, left, and Van Pelt in the Joe Johnston movie Jumanji).

The shenanigans that ensue humorously entertain while offering engaging revelations about the interpersonal struggles experienced by the several characters. The struggles are shared in relatable ways that make for enjoyable entertainment that I recommend for many. A similar vein is used in the later franchise of movies that came along with a different cast, with an updated spin that makes the appeal here for a more recent audience.

(From left, actor Robin Williams and director Joe Johnston on the set of the Joe Johnston movie Jumanji).

The movie Jumanji as directed by Joe Johnston tells a story of adventure and fantasy. The mixture of family friendly humor and relatable experience makes the film work for most audiences. That I enjoyed the experience through multiple full and partial viewings, leads me to give Jumanji 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, May 29, 2021

Jake Gyllenhaal and the film ‘October Sky’

Based on the true story as written in the Homer H. Hickam Jr. book Rocket Boys, the film October Sky (1999) was adapted to film by Lewis Colick and directed by Joe Johnston about a year after the book was released. Given the film’s warm reception among critics and audiences, we queued this worthy film up for your consideration.

(Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickam in October Sky).

October Sky, the primary focus of this blog post, begins during the early days of the Space Race with the launch by the Soviet Union of the satellite called Sputnik. The story of the film October Sky is at first a brief capturing of the American response to the beginning of the Space Race, and much more broadly the implication of this on Homer Hickam, the people and mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia, and the story Hickam, a small group of friends, and the rocketry that informed the larger narrative of the film.

(Chris Cooper as John Hickam in October Sky).

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Homer Hickam, the real life subject and author of the book Rocket Boys, that is October Sky‘s story. Hickam is the younger of two brothers, and from the start we see that he and his father, real life John Hickam as portrayed by Chris Cooper, will have a contentious relationship built in part by being similarly hard headed. The two have a deeply separate world view wherein the John Hickam sees the pragmatic reality of sons who will get a football scholarship to college or work in the Coalwood mines. Homer Hickam takes a warming to rocketry with a determination equal to his father’s pragmatism, yet the aspiration is seen by his father as unrealistic dreaming.

(Laura Dern as Miss Riley in October Sky).

Miss Riley, as portrayed by Laura Dern in October Sky, shares an aspiration that bucks the trend of Homer’s father and the sensibility of the community of Coalwood as embodied by the principal of the high school in Coalwood. Miss Riley offers encouragement to Homer, and a group of three friends in Roy Lee, Quentin, and O’Dell who eventually join Homer in his amateur rocket making experiments. The rather tame drama that follows the relationship Miss Riley has with the Hickam family and the larger Coalwood community offers useful anchoring to the larger narrative of October Sky.

(From left to right, William Lee Scott as Roy Lee, Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickam, Chris Owen as Quentin, and Chad Lindberg as O’Dell in October Sky).

There is tension between Homer Hickam and primarily his father over whether the pursuit of rocketry and the encouragement Homer receives from his mother, Elsie Hickam, and the community of Coalwood is worthy. John Hickam, at least in Homer‘s telling, offers real support to Homer‘s football playing elder son while largely offering no emotional support to the second son. Elsie, as played by Natalie Canerday, serves as a tangible buffer between the two, defending her husband to her son in multiple ways over her father’s apparent love for the coal mines before all else. Through much real life drama that occurs over the course of the film, and the redeeming tale of overcoming that is the larger story of October Sky, father, son, and the people of Coalwood are portrayed with a narrative arc of change and redemption that is the larger story of the film.

(Natalie Canerday as Elsie Hickam, left, and Chris Cooper as John Hickam in October Sky).

October Sky sets out with some direct and straightforward storytelling goals around how to view life, generational differences between the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers, and family. The time period encapsulated by the Cold War and in part discussed through the lens of a West Virginia mining town following World War II might be a legacy of the 20th Century, at least in the United States. That this story is shared through one family, one community, and the outcome of a few people in that community through a redemption story ultimately works. These qualities are what I feel worked for critics and audiences alike. My rating for the film is 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Wednesday, May 8, 2019