Parents' Guide to

Jumanji

Movie PG 1995 104 minutes
Jumanji Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

Charles Cassady Jr. By Charles Cassady Jr. , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 10+

Some thrills, but may be too much for little ones.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 10+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Jumanji Movie: Scene #1
  • Jumanji Movie: Scene #2
  • Jumanji Movie: Scene #3
  • Jumanji Movie: Scene #4

Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 8+

Based on 40 parent reviews

s3w47m88
s3w47m88 Adult
September 6, 2020
age 12+

All time favorite, but you guys didn't include some key notes!

Early in the movie a bat removal guy says the kids were murdered. And then the little girl says the boy was chopped into pieces and put in the wall! Horrible and should have been in the Language or Violence section,
jcmcdowell
jcmcdowell Adult
June 8, 2023
age 9+

Entertaining all the way through, but can be a bit scary.

This movie scared me the first time I saw it, but scared me less and less the older I have gotten. I just watched it again tonight, and I don’t know how many times I have seen the movie. The violence can be scary to very young kids, but it is appropriate for kids 9 and up with 9- and 10-year-olds watching it with an adult. Despite the violence, there are great messages, like overcoming fear, and even when you do not want to do something, you need to get it done. Alan, Sarah, Judy, and Peter are positive role models by persevering through the game, even though the game had the possibility of ending with devastating consequences. Judy, though, has the bad habit of being a chronic liar. That is not good for the youngest. Regarding language, the worst is one use of “damn”. Overall, this is a great film, and so is the picture book off of which it is based…but the movie is much better, just like the 2004 film “The Polar Express”, which is much better than the picture book on which it is based. Both picture books are still good, though, and they are both written by Chris Van Allsburg. I totally recommend this film to anyone who likes mystery/thriller films that are entertaining all the way through.
See all 40 parent reviews

What's the Story?

JUMANJI begins with a 19th century expedition to bury a board game of unexplained origin. In 1969, young Alan happens to dig up the game and plays it. The relic materializes multitudes of hostile African animals, and Alan gets sucked into the jungle-world of the game. More than 25 years later two orphans (Bradley Pierce, Kirsten Dunst) move into Alan's old house, find the game, and start playing, unleashing a fresh rampage of vicious beasts and Alan (Robin Williams). Alan is now a full-grown semi-wild man, being tracked by Van Pelt (Jonathan Hyde), a crazed, implacable, old-school safari hunter. The only way to return everything to normal is for the kids to continue playing the game to the end, even though each roll of the dice unleashes more attacking animals, from demonic bats to man-eating plants to a ghastly herd of giant spiders.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (40 ):
Kids say (80 ):

There's no sense of wonder, really, just one scare after another, and the fact that the killer Van Pelt is played by the same actor who embodied Alan's snooty father adds another dark note. Young viewers who aren't nightmare-prone might be diverted a little by the computer-generated beasts, which all have a slightly livid, unreal glaze that's fitting for how lurid engravings and drawings of the late 1800s might portray exotic beasts.

But Jumanji's script is weak, and Williams pretty much plays it straight as the time-displaced, long-marooned Alan. The young actors are good, but there's a heavy undercurrent of continual peril, death, and morbidity, with no breathing room. The ending, in which history is rewritten for all the characters even better than It's a Wonderful Life, seems a little forced, to say the least, and doesn't dispel the general unpleasantness.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what they think makes for a good fantasy adventure film. Was Jumanji 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?

Movie Details

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