Jumanji Book & Movie Essays - Jumanji, Television, Film, Fiction

Jumanji Book & Movie Jumanji, a classic story which started out as a children's book has also been converted into the movie media form. Jumanji, a children's picture book which was written and illustrated by Chris Van Ellsberg in 1981, Jumanji was the Caldecott Medal Winner of 1982, with some of the most detailed pictures I personally have ever seen done by a free hand illustrator. The book Jumanji is about two children, Peter and Judy, whose parents go out to the opera one night. Peter and Judy decide that they are bored and go for a walk outside in the park across the street. Peter finds a board game lying by a tree named Jumanji. The children bring Jumanji home to play to play with it. After setting Jumanji up on the card table in the living room, Judy reads the directions, ?Jumanji, a young people's jungle adventure especially designed for the bored and restless. A.) Player selects piece and places it in the deepest jungle. B.) Player rolls dice and moves piece along path through the dangers of the jungle. C.) First player to reach Jumanji and yell the city's name aloud is the winner. D.) VERY IMPORTANT: ONCE THE GAME IS STARTED IT WILL NOT BE OVER UNTIL ONE PLAYER REACHES THE GOLDEN CITY.' When Judy finishes reading the directions aloud, the children start playing Jumanji. Peter wanted to roll the dice first, he rolled a seven. Suddenly Judy saw a lion sitting on the piano and the lion started to walk toward the children. Peter jumped up from the chair, ran up stairs into a bedroom, crawled under a bed, the lion got his head caught under the bed, and Peter locked the lion in there. Peter wanted to give up at this point, but Judy said that they must finish the game so it would go away. As the game went on, more and more wild animals were appearing in the house along with torrential rains and even a lost tour guide sitting on a dollhouse looking at his map. The animals were tearing apart the house and it was a big, old mess!!! Peter looked behind Judy and saw a snake creeping from the mantle going straight at her. It was now her turn to roll, Judy had to roll quickly to end the game and save her life. Judy rolls what she needs and screams, Jumanji!!!!. All of a sudden, the room fills up with and when it clears, the house is as clean as it was before their parents left. Soon Peter and Judy's parents came home and did not suspect a thing. The two children washed up for bed and then worked on finishing up a puzzle. Jumanji, the movie was on the big screen around December of 1995. This movie is a little different from Chris Van Ellsberg's Jumanji, but the basic story is still the same just with a little more background information of the game. Jumanji starts with two children burying a game deep into the earth, years later to be discovered by Alan Parrish, the young boy of an (seems to be) uncaring shoe factory owner. No sooner does Alan get home and get the game set up, his friend Sarah comes over to see Alan. The two of them sit down to play the game. No sooner does Alan roll, it's a 13 and he is sucked into the game. Sarah cannot explain what she has seen to anyone who believes her. The next scene is 26 years later and two children, Peter and Judy move into a huge old house. After settling in, the two children go up into the attic to explore, and this is where they find a board game named Jumanji. Peter sets the game up and Judy reads the directions aloud. The directions were almost word for word from the book. When Peter tosses the dice, the game pieces move along the board by themselves. Judy and Peter hear a noise from downstairs in one of the rooms. They go to look and see a lion walking around downstairs. Both scared, retreat back up into the attic. Judy says that they must finish