BEFORE: The next logical film would be something like "Prince of Persia", or something else with another hero on a quest, but I'm planning on taking a few days off from the project for Comic-Con, so I've got to start my Robin Williams chain if I'm going to finish it in time. At least I'm staying in the fantasy genre.
Linking was tough tonight - but Liam Neeson was in "Schindler's List" with Embeth Davidtz, who was also in the (upcoming) film "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams (last seen in "Mrs. Doubtfire").
THE PLOT: When two kids play an old magic board-game they found, they release a man trapped for decades in it and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game.
AFTER: Another film for kids, I guess - it's a little harder to take as an adult. Watching a kid's board game destroy a house - that's a parent's worst nightmare, right?
It takes a lot to believe in a board-game that can generate bats, giant mosquitoes, elephants, rhinos, etc. and also one that can absorb a young boy into the game and keep him in some kind of jungle environment for 26 years. Are we supposed to take this literally, or is it intended as a metaphor for something?
Forget that, what kind of depraved entity created such a game - is it black magic, like the ouija board? How does it do what it does, and perhaps more importantly, WHY? Why jeopardize the lives of the people playing the game? It seems like the game wants, or needs, to be played - so why would it make it so difficult for the players to continue? Are you supposed to run around the room between turns, avoiding a hungry lion and killer insects?
The ending was sort of unexpected, the game can "reset" itself (and, apparently, all of reality) once someone's token reaches the end of the track. I often use the metaphor of the chess pieces being put in the box to describe the way a sitcom has to bring its characters back to a fixed point - here the scenario is literal, once the game is finished, the players are reset to their starting states - but with full knowledge of all that has occured, and I'm not sure I'm seeing the point of that.
The movie's intended takeaway at first seems to be something about facing one's fears, but really it's about how we should all tell the people we care about how we feel, because we never know how much time we'll have together. Or, if you're three years deep into a blogging project, perhaps the lesson is "Finish what you've started."
Also starring Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst (last seen in "Mother Night"), David Alan Grier (last heard in "Astro Boy"), Bebe Neuwirth (last seen in "Say Anything..."), Jonathan Hyde (last seen in "The Tailor of Panama") and Patricia Clarkson (last seen in "The Station Agent").
RATING: 4 out of 10 destructive monkeys
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