October 31, 2024 • 52 mins
Released in 1995 and directed by Joe Johnston, "Jumanji" is a beloved family adventure film that captivates audiences with its imaginative premise and thrilling visual effects. Based on the 1981 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, the movie follows the story of two children who discover an ancient magical board game that brings its dangers to life.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the ned Palty.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello Roadie home, and welcome two house lights House of Johnston,
specifically Joe Johnston. And tonight is the night where we
roll the dice and we're talking about nineteen ninety five's Jumanji.
Not the one starring the rock but the one, the original,
starring the one and only Robin Williams. And I am
(00:43):
your co host, Tristan Rudel, and with me as they
always are, his John Mills and Darren Moser.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I am super.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Excited to talk about tonight because Johnston has been a
trip down memory lane for me and this it's it's
hard to explain, but so like these movies so far,
you're just like, man, I just I have forgotten how
much I love these movies, like you genuinely forget how
(01:11):
much of a good time they are. And I know
I'm giving myself away, but that's how I felt with Jumanji,
Like this one was something that I watched all the
time as a kid. I went and saw it in
the theater as as a kid with my family and
and Darren, I want to know, like, what was the
what was the first time you saw this? Was it
on VHS? Was it on TV. Did you get to
(01:31):
go to the theater? What was it?
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Oh? Yeah, ninety five, so I would have been yeah, no,
we probably saw this in theaters. But you know, this
is the kind that would be in the giant like
plastic clamshell case vhs and yeah, this one. What I
want to talk about more was showing it to my kids.
(01:54):
So my kids are now old enough that I could
scar them with this movie, like I was. So, now
this movie is actually really intense. There's a lot going on.
But okay, okay, I want to interject. I want to
inject real quick. So you call this intense like you
scar your children, you call this intense. So Ebert said
that this movie shouldn't have been marketed as a family
(02:17):
friendly film because it's too scary, and Robin Williams himself
didn't show it to his kids because it was too scary,
was it? Like John Darantee, you guys think it was
too scary. I wouldn't say it's scary. It's not a
scary movie. That's why I said intense, because there are
parts where you know you're just like you're not you know,
(02:37):
as a kid, you're not sure if the kids are
gonna make it, and that can be, you know, rather intense.
So it's an intense movie, not a bad movie, not
a scary movie, but it is. But I do see
what Ebert is saying where it it's not a take
you know, to quote, you know, Chronicles of Narnia. It's
not a tame movie.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah. I don't agree with ebert stance on this one.
God rest his soul. I think Ebert had a tendency
at times to overreact to things like this. It's not
the first time. There were a couple of different movies
in his career where he would talk about them and
he was justifiably outraged that kids would have been in
(03:19):
the theater while he was watching it. And it's like, hey, Roger,
think of the children. Yeah, you might be a little
out of touch here, Roger. You might want to just
call them down there a minute, because I obviously we
know I'm the old man in the group. I saw
this in the theater as well. Would I even think
twice about showing this to my kids.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
My kids would get.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Freaked out by parts of it, But the same parts
I'd get freaked out by because those spiders are awful.
They're terrible. Those things gave me nightmares. I hate spiders
as a rule, Like I am paralyzed afraid of spiders.
Like it took years to get to the point where
I could go up to and smush a spider that
was smaller than my thumbnail, Like that was years of
psyching myself out. I see a big enough spider. Now
(04:00):
just for context. Uh, there was a time where we
went on a family trip and it was like, oh,
we're gonna go you know, hey, we could go kayaking,
and I used my youngest as a get out of
jail free cars, like, ah, she's too young because I
read up on the kayaking adventure and they're like, oh,
you're gonna go through these mangrove fields and there are
banana spiders. I was like, no, hard pass. Look up
banana spiders. Kids, They're harmless quote unquote, but no. So
(04:23):
like that's the intense part of the movie, right, Like
I wouldn't want my kid might see that and be like, oh,
but like the monkeys.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Aren't turning into a monkey, Like that's kind of you.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I think sands spiders. Yeah, I think sand spiders.
This would be you could show this to any kid. Honestly,
in my opinion, especially that close up shot where they
cut the close up with the fangs and.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Yeah, and it's it's dripping. Yeah, that's that's a bit much.
Why they're always wet.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's like I feel like Ridley Scott ruined everything for
us with with with villains and like bad creatures because
of what he did with Alien where they're always wet,
they're always dripping, they're always drooling.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
Yes, yes, I agree with that assessment. Actually it's the
Alien effect. Everything's always got to be drooling all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I mean, do spiders even salivate? Nobody knows. We'll never know.
But one thing we do know is is that is
this movie has a lot of joy in it. And
I want to get this. I want to get I
want to tack this right off the bat. Robin Williams
is so full of joy with so many movies that
he does, and there was a lot of concern from
(05:36):
Johnston himself about casting Robin Williams. But I think the
production company was like, we'll give you the money if
you get Robin Williams, and Johnston was like, I don't
know if I want what Robin Williams because he tends
to improvise a lot, and this is a tight script
like that, you know, we have a lot of motivation.
We have like this, we got to get from point
(05:57):
A to point B to point seed point D. And
if you he's jumping all over the place, how are
we going to do that? And Robin Williams understood that, like.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
He sat down the assignment. Yeah, like he understood that.
He's like he's like okay, like he's I'll improvise when
it's appropriate. And apparently most of the time his improvisational
scenes was with Bunnie Hunt, like when they were ripping
and going back and forth and everything like that. So
I want to know, like there was a lot of
people in contention or thought of I mean, like I'm
(06:27):
not even go through the list because every movie is
like it's like everyone in the kitchen sink this list. Yeah,
it's ridiculous. It's it's about Schortzenegger's on the list, and
I'm like, no, no, I.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Mean the guy from Kindergarten.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Cope, that's true.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So, Darren, what did you think of Robin Williams in
this role because he doesn't show up until like the
half an hour mark.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
What did you think about the vibe that he brought.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
No, I think, I mean, man, this you're right in
that hook era. It's a hair's breadth from his role
really as Paan like, there are is a lot of
similarity in you know, maybe he was stuck in Neverland
instead of the jungle for you know, twenty something years.
But no, I think he you know, he pulled it
(07:13):
off in portraying a grown up kid. I mean, if
you think about it, it totally makes sense. It's Robin Williams
because you're going for a grown up kid that wasn't
raised by adults for the majority of his life, you know,
and that is Alan Parrish and so and then you
get you know, but he's also strong enough to carry
the dramatic parts, to carry the character growth, you know,
(07:35):
the revelation, as the as the story progresses. So I
it's one of those roles. I can't picture anyone else
doing it, anyone from the nineties or today. You know,
I'm sorry, Lance, You're not going to be Alan Parrish
when we get to that part of the podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
John so, Okay, So with Robin Williams, there's so many
times when people feel like they have to match his
energy or they have to like, you know, like rise
up to that or like be goofy or go crazy
like there's so many times you feel like uneven things
going up and down all over the place with a
Robin Williams picture because people want to compete with him.
(08:13):
I personally don't think this was the case. What did
you think of his interaction with the kids, interaction with
Bonnie Hunt, David ellen Greer, How did you feel how
the cast blended together.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
I think they blended fine. I think that you can
sense that Williams is much more under control quote unquote
in this movie. And I think that aside from it
being a you know, like you said, tight script and everything,
this is a groundbreaking scale for effects, for these types
of effects at the time. So Johnston would have been
petrified that Williams would have moved too much because we're
(08:51):
not in the Michael Bay. Things are transforming while they're
going seven hundred miles per hour, and things are flying
by and you can't even tell what's going on on
the screen while the camera is so cling around and
then you know, craning up and then zooming down into
the chest cavity of a giant robot or something like that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
This is.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
This is I have to lock the camera in position
and move it specifically, you know, twenty five centimeters this way,
so that the plate can match exactly what's being generated
in the computer. Because that's going to take a lot
of processing time. That's where we're at.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I always think about what Bob Hoskins said, uh with
a behind the scenes featurette with Rod with a Roger rabbit,
when he said he's like, He's like, listen, when I
grab the rabbit by the throat, if I separate my fingers,
they have to draw his throat in between the fingers.
But if I close my fingers, I just save them
ten grand Yep, you know it's it's one of those
(09:44):
things like this is one of those movies.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
Yeah, and the end, Robin Williams is such a professional
in the industry by this point of course, he's going
to understand the assignment. The director is going to say, hey,
you know, there are these considerations, and your Juilliard student,
Robin Williams will say, yes, I got your boss, I
got you. But he does still bring a very important
energy to it, and I think his interaction with the
(10:07):
kids very much carries that sort of necessary energy like
Robin Williams's true gift on screen was the ability to
interact with children, never upstage them, and never let them
upstage him. W. C. Fields hated kids on screen. Robin
Williams knew how to be a kid on screen so
(10:29):
that we never felt he was overshadowing those children. I
think he gave. I think he gave a true and
this is going to sound too far over, but I
mean this in the best sense I can. He gave
a true actor's performance here because he was part of
a group and he was giving to the other actors
as much as receiving from them. And so I think
this is one of his An actor of Robin Williams's stature,
(10:52):
especially in family films by this point, could have been
very selfish with everything it's about me, and instead you
see an actor saying, no, it's about the movie. I
want the whole reduction to do well. And so I
think this is one of his better performances in the nineties, honestly,
on those merits.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yeah, he could.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
He could have pulled us alone and you know, made
it all about him.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Yes, Yeah, the cobra cut of Jumanji would have been
very interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, Now, Darren. I have an affinity for David aled Greer.
He makes me laugh. I'm sorry he does. I don't
care what anybody else thinks of him or his style
of comedy, but I lose it every single time he
loses it. I want to know what you thought of
(11:39):
him in the movie, because he's kind of the fish
out of water scenario, like he's the one who is
reacting to all this craziness like you have Williams, you
have Hunt, you have the kids, and they're in the
thick of it, and David Allied Greer or DAG is
very much on the outside of it, along with bb Newarth.
So with Dag freaking out, was it too much?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Not enough? Just right?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
What did you think of that? Because like he definitely
he brings an absurdity to it, like this movie is
already chaotic, like this is the definition of chaos. But
how did you feel about Dag reacting to it?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
No, I think he nailed it because not only is
he kind of playing a dual role where he's you know,
part of the shoemaking business. So we saw him, you know,
in the past and the present. But yeah, in these
kind of movies, you need that kind of every man
who's reacting to what he's seeing in a realistic way
(12:39):
because they're not kind of in the plot. They're just
in the collateral of what's going on, and you know what,
his cars getting stolen or you know, pulled in by
the vines. He reacts like a normal person. He's like,
this is like supernatural, this is not normal. This doesn't happen,
instead of like I wonder if somebody's playing a game
(13:01):
or some you know, crazy thing that it's like no, no, no,
Like he's reacting how we would react. And yeah, he
he has, like you said, a way of dialing it
to eleven that is so funny where he's just wigging
out and you're just along for the.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Ride when he's seeing the gator go by and you
just like see like he has calm on his face
as it goes in front of him, and then as
soon as it's off screen, he's just like, can't handle it.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
I too, have a soft spot for David Allen Greer.
The first time I was aware of seeing him was
on the show in Living Color, and he was terrific.
Then I love the fact that his real start was
during the Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back radio dramas
for National Public Radio. He is a nameless X wing
pilot in both of them, I think, but like, you know,
(13:55):
he just does you know, background voices and everything. And
I I agree he's he's got a natural screen presence
that's so effortless that as an audience member you give
him permission to go up to eleven because he's starting
at an eight. Like the energy he brings just coming
on screen. He has this and there are certain actors
(14:18):
where they have this sort of thing where it's like
there's just this. It's different than what Robin Williams brings.
Robin Williams brings sort of like a firecracker, unpredictability sort
of energy with him, whereas a David Allen Greer, he
comes on screen and you just immediately feel like a giggle.
You're like, oh, this is gonna be silly, right. And
I know he's also done dramatic work and he's obviously
(14:39):
very capable of it as an actor, but when he's
in his comedic roles, it's it's always it's always a
joy I'm and I've always been happy to see him.
I was really happy to see him in this So
did you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Ever see the movie the two thousand movie that was
actually directed by Bonnie Hunt called Return to Me Storing
David to company the hearty right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it
was starting David.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
One of my favorite movies. We watch it. I've seen
that movie many many times. Really good movie.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's a really solid movie. We should do a one
off house of Hunt just so we can talk about
that movie.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
And David Allen Greer was on her. There was like
an ABC sitcom Life with Bonnie that last time.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Oh yeah, they must.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Have a friendship, like they must have a connection because yeah,
like they they.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Worked on because yeah, that's why I brought it up her.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
But yeah, because it's it's quite possible that they that
they they came together at this time. So I do
want to talk about Jonathan Hyde real quick since we're
on the cast now, Darren, did you have any idea
that Jonathan Hyde played two roles in this movie?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
You you know the answer to this as we spoke before,
trying to set me up. No, no, I got maybe
it's just such good makeup and mustaches and the hat,
but I did not recognize him as Van Pelt as
well as the father maybe also because he's like, he
(16:11):
doesn't have a lot of screen time in either role.
He's like barely on screen. So I thought it was
cool that it was kind of a Peter Pan esque.
The father is the trauma, you know, in a dual role,
but you choose to mock me, sir, and we'll just
go with that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, because I was sorry, but I was nine in
the theater and I was like, oh cool, they did
like a Peter Pan.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
I was looking at the Rhinos. Okay, I could talk
to you about Sneezy the Rhino if you want. I
know all about him.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Now. See, this is the one thing where I'll throw it,
because you know, and to his credit, the actor in
just two years was going to appear in both Titanic
and Anaconda, and then later in nineteen ninety nine's delightful
romp The Mummy. So like, that's for me. I hear
his voice or I see his eyes, and I'm like,
(17:02):
I instantly know who that is sort of thing, no
matter how much you bury him under, right, Just like
when I'm watching Missus Doubtfire, if I look at Robin
Williams's I mean, you know, facial structure too, but like
you can tell, you know, in there and everything. But
I think that this is actually one part where I'm
going to sort of pseudo ding the movie a little
bit where it trips on itself here where they go
(17:26):
back to the factory and you find out the father
was so distressed about Alan's disappearance that you know, he
lost his fortune, went searching off, died of a broken
heart sort of thing. And then it goes back and
it's like and then he's the Hunter, and it's like
the resolution for the audience has already happened, and there
(17:47):
doesn't feel like there's a you know, like it just
it telegraphs it too early. Like once I have that scene,
I get what they're going for with Oh, his dad
is the Hunter teaching him to face his fears. That's
where you get your one to one. But we as
the audience have already resolved that about the dad. We
know who he was really inside, instead of having a
moment later, whether it's in the game or something like
(18:09):
that where he stands up to him and the Hunter's like,
that's all I was looking for, son, You know, like
a moment like that if you will, and I would,
Actually I don't know how you resolve that necessarily, you know,
outside of like rewriting some stuff. But it's just it's
one of those things where it's never really particularly worked
well for me because that earlier scene, the audience doesn't
(18:31):
have to go through that emotional journey. We've already gotten
to the end of it, and then we go through
this chase and it's like, oh, well, I already know
that the dad loves him for real.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
That's interesting. I can't really argue with that. But at
the same time, I never really thought of it that way,
like it never bothered me, like it didn't stick out
to me, because I feel like it's it's one of
those things where it's the journey of the protagonist that
the diagonist has to figure it out himself, and I
(19:03):
think that's kind of what we established because I feel like,
you know, when your kid is gone, it's easy, I
should say, it's easier to say that you always love
them because there's no effort to it. You know, like
there's no work that's involved. You know, like you love
somebody that's not there, there's no work. It's one sided.
(19:24):
But when you love somebody that's in front of you,
it takes work. It takes effort and time and stuff
that he struggled with.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So I think maybe that's why I kind of qualified it.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
But again I'm not saying that that's not a flaw,
but that's interesting that I never really thought of that before. Now, Darren,
we have some really great female performances in this movie.
You know, we have Patricia Clarkson in a thinkless role,
you know, as Carol Parrish Allan's mom. And we have
(19:56):
bb Newworth who is fantastic and every single thing she
does and it is a stone cold fox. And we
have Kirsten Dunst who is on fire in the nineties.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Ar Trek the Next Generations. Kirsten Dunst, Yeah, that one.
She's on fire in the nineties. She's doing everything she
I think gets a little sidelined in this movie, Like
I feel like watching this like as opposed to other
things that she's been in, you know, where she's a
big focus. She kind of plays second fiddle to her
(20:31):
brother who becomes the monkey and you know, has the
relationship issues with Alan and everything like that. And then
of course we have Bonnie Hunt. I want to know,
you know, with do you feel like Bonnie Hunt kind
of delivered next to Robin Williams because I personally feel
like they had a great arrested development thing going on,
where Williams was a kid emotionally because he was raised
(20:54):
in the jungle by himself, and then Bonnie Hunt was
kind of a kid because she was stunted early on
from having that traumatic event. How did you think about
the pairing, No, I think yeah, to answer kind of
both questions, Yeah, I think Bunny Hunt and Rob Williams
played off each other really well, like you had stated,
(21:15):
you know, when they the fact that he could improvise
a bit in those scenes, those are really kind of
the only scenes are that works, because otherwise they're in
like peril it. I think my favorite scenes are when
he's convincing her, like at the very beginning, not not
the beginning when she's young, but the beginning when he's
back out of the game and she he's got to
convince her to play. I think those are the most
(21:38):
dynamic of the scenes. Later, when she comes around, it's
less interesting because she doesn't need to be convinced over
and over to play the game. But to your other
point on Kristen Dun's kind of being overshadowed by you know,
the brother Peter. Yeah, it has kind of a Chronicles
of Darnia vibe of like Susan, Like Susan's always like
(22:00):
the plane one and and the adventure doesn't really happen
to Susan. It happens to all the other kids. And
they have the interaction with mister Tumnus or they you know,
meet Aslan or all the and so she is just
kind of the older sister and that's kind of the tone. Yeah,
I think that they give her character for for better
(22:22):
or words. I don't think it's bad because it definitely
feels like she and her brother are in it together.
But yeah, she there's almost too many cooks at one
point of I mean, there's only four players. But what
do you think, John, do you think that he just
gave it a question?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Wait?
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Wait, wait, John, don what do you what do you say?
What do you say?
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Hello, Fry, It's a pleasure to meet you. I think
that I don't think Dunce gets overshadowed. I think that
what happens is that you have just too much going
on at one point nobody gets he gets in the
time at a certain point, like once we get into
the last stretch of the movie. There's just so much happening.
(23:07):
There aren't enough moments for anybody, and so I think
it sort of erases some of the good will you
build up beforehand. I think that there's just too much
they're trying to tie up. And does more screen time
get away with it? Does that solve it? Yeah, maybe
another couple of minutes with somebody having a you know,
the brothers, sister having a couple more minutes together, and
(23:27):
and those sorts of things, because I think early on
in the film, she and the brother are definitely co
stars of the storyline because they you know, she's the
inventive one telling lies about what happened in their lives,
and then you know he's the quiet boy. But then
he talks to her when they're alone together and everything.
(23:48):
And I think that the issue here is I think
it was a very fair criticism of the critics at
the time that I think the focus was so much
on making sure those effects worked because of the money
at stake and the groundbreaking nature of what they were doing,
that I think as a result, you have a director
too focused on the technical then on the personal, and
(24:11):
I think that's what happens to the character. I think
that's what happens to all of the characters by the
end of it, is that it resolves nicely enough. But
it's one of those things where you get the sense
of the movie. I mean I was older, keep in mind,
but as somebody who was older in the audience, I'd
never felt particularly connected to the characters. I might have
(24:33):
been wowed by the effects on screen from time to time,
I might have gotten swept up in different aspects of
it because it's up there on the big screen and
I'm sitting in the audience, but there was never a
point where I really felt like I connected with those
characters or I really understood what they.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Were going on.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
They're more living set pieces moving through the CG jungle
of effects, as it were, including some just wonderfully, wonderfully
animated monkeys. Yeah, I just look perfectly photorealistic. Even back
in nineteen ninety five, I remember sitting there going, my gosh,
(25:09):
did they train real monkeys to do this movie?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
We know the monkeys look bad. They didn't look that great,
So okay, the spiders, the picture plants, the vines, the lion, yeah,
which was a mix some.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, it was a mix. Yeah, like this stampede.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
The stampede I think was the Peers results, like that
part all fantastic, looked completely real.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Joey hated the stampede. He thought it looked dumb.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Dang it, I knew, I knew, Joey. Yeah, but like
I like what you said though, John about uh yeah,
room for character growth, because really the last moment of
growth was kind of when Peter realizes I shouldn't have
cheated and and moves past that. And then after that
(25:58):
it's literally buckling up to the end of the movie,
like there's no there's no pause to the die has
been cast and these are the characters we're going to
get through the rest of the film, and the Russian
towards the finish line. So yeah, there's or to to
bring it to. It's it's sequel, which I mean, isn't
(26:18):
isn't the topic. But you know Jumanji, was it Enter
the Jungle? Yeah, welcome to the jungle. Welcome to the jungle.
And in that one, because you're in the jungle and
it's just the four characters. I mean, yeah, there's the
side characters, but it's way more focused on them and
their peril. So you kind of there's so much going
(26:40):
on in the first Jumanji movie because it's the plot
of bringing the jungle into our world, which is cool.
It's a really cool technique. I mean, the splitting of
the house and and all of that is is fantastical
but so much fun.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
The splitting of the house specifically, that looks so cool.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
It looked, you know, better than the monkeys. So but yeah,
but all that to say, yeah, I think we're all
kind of on the same page that that is one
of the weaker aspects of the movie is the largeness
of the cast or the scatteredness of the plot.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Like see, this is the sort of thing where and
it wasn't in vogue back then, but this is the
sort of thing where I think that if Jumanji, this
version of Jumanji were made today, they would have had,
you know, like the I forget their name right now,
the brothers who did Endgame, the Russo brothers. You'd have
a brother team, right or some sort of combo team
(27:35):
working on it where one person is sitting there and
they're like, Okay, I'm going to go work with the actors.
You go talk to the cameraman and the DP and
you talk about where the camera needs to move. I'm
going to get the motivations out of them, and then.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Like it does.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Really this really feels like a movie that would have
benefited from that.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Is that how they work? Is that how the Russo
brothers work.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
I have no idea. I'm just presuming that they do.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Remember, it's a fictional future where the Russo brothers work.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
I'm saying, I'm the Russo brothers were the only ones
that I could I could bring to mind of Like,
I think a duo would have worked better for this
incarnation of Jumanji because of the fact that, I mean,
it is easy to forget even though the monkeys look terrible,
exactly how hard they were pushing the envelope with this movie.
(28:26):
Like you look at this and you're like, oh, that
looks kind of dated. It's like you don't understand, right.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Like ninety five folks, this.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Were years after Jurassic Park, and Jurassic Park had the
benefit of a couple of things dinosaurs and shooting in
the jungle and night scenes and all of this type
of stuff. This is broad daylight elephants walking on a
car and lions jumping around and giant mosquitos and stuff
like that. This was literally two years later saying Okay, well,
(28:59):
Jurassic Park broke that limit. We're just going to absolutely
trash it. Like it really is a very bold experiment.
My question is, like, I know, Johnston has shown me
as the pedigree for the technical stuff, but what really
makes Jurassic Park sing is Spielberg was very much in
(29:19):
his you know, he was still very much in the
feelings with the actors and stuff like that. So I mean,
maybe my whole argument about a you know, a duo
is shot down. You just needed a Spielberg who was you.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Know, yeah, you just need the most famous you.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Know, I mean, you know, I mean, somebody so accomplished
at it and has been doing this for so long
that like when he says, oh I want to do this,
everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, sure, no, we know exactly
what you're saying. As opposed to you know, I I
have a feeling that Johnston might have been just i
mean ready for it. Yes, but there's no way this
(29:57):
isn't overwhelming, Like you you're really behind the eight ball
from the beginning with this movie, because it's really, really,
really pushing, pushing, the boundaries and.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
If those effects don't work, like half your shots are gone,
like you have no story, right, you know, if if
the elephant doesn't come out and squash the you know,
if none of that comes together, you're done. It's not
getting released.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
And that's why Joey didn't like the movie as those shots,
those shots came together.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So I just just sentra killed joy.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
I know, tell me about it. I've known him for
many years. That's that's an accurate way, and he occasionally
might listen to the show. So Joey, here's looking at you, babe.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
You're going to have a sound effect whenever we're disappointed
in Joey.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Oh oh, price is right, Faiale Horn, that's the way.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
So we've pointed out a few few things that work,
a few things that don't, and obviously the monkeys, I
mean that's I mean, I'm probably gonna make that though
the artwork.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Of absolutely no other choice.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
The only choice of.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
This episode is the monkey. One thing that really impressed
me was the pacing of this film, And I would
love to know what you guys think about that, because
I really feel like.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
You know, like so many movies feel.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Like set piece to set piece to set piece, and
that to be fair, to be fair, that's what this
movie is, set piece to set piece.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
But there was the.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Emotional connection along the way and it just it felt
like in appropriate nineteen ninety five CGI fun fest that
moves you along. I can't think of a single thing
that I would cut. Maybe that's my question pacing wise, Darren,
is there anything that you would cut? Is there anything
that you would remove? Or do you think the pacing
(31:47):
is good enough?
Speaker 4 (31:50):
I mean, the only thing I think about is because
it's constructed well enough that you kind of need all
of it, Like may there's a little you could trim
in the past section in the very beginning, like there's
a lot of time spent getting to know young Allan
and that is not who we end up spending the
(32:12):
majority of the movie with. So there's a little bit
of like you have to bow. Maybe it's a little
misbalanced in my mind, like maybe ten minutes less of
the past Young Allen to give us more present Allan
that we're going to actually connect with that. But I mean,
you're you're really just fine tuning the dials at that
(32:33):
point because you do need some you need to make
that connection with the plight of the character. Otherwise you
aren't going to care that he's been stuck in the jungle,
because it's literally going to be like new person, new
actor playing this character. Oh, I've been stuck in the jungle.
It's like, well, great, I don't know who you are. Like,
we've all seen these movies where you have two actors
(32:55):
play you know, different ages of a character. And that's
where I would maybe take a little bit out of
the front because I think they made the point very
quickly on how his parents are, how he's feeling, and
so any extra minutes there. I mean, movies one hundred
and four minutes long. It's not very long, but to
like what you said, Tristan, it doesn't feel like a
(33:17):
break neck pace. Maybe like the last bit, but that's
the climax of the movie. It's supposed to feel like that.
Would you think, John, where's the what's ending up on
the cutting room floor?
Speaker 3 (33:28):
You know?
Speaker 5 (33:28):
I don't know. I mean because of the fact that,
in all honesty, some of the stuff without the effects
I enjoy more than some of the stuff with the effects.
I like building Allen's character. I like that you see
a lot of what he's going through. I like that
you establish what it was like to be a boy
like him in that time period. You very much feel
like Johnston understands what Alan's going through in some sense,
(33:52):
even if it was in his life story. You know,
it's something understandable in a way. And I think that, like,
that's good stuff. And I don't know what I would
cut specifically, because for all of the spectacle that it has,
it's almost a blessing that it's that restrained, because when
(34:15):
the effects get a little easier to do later down
the road, a movie like this easily balloons because they
fall in love with how much they can put in
each shot, and they're like, oh, no, no, push it, no, no,
we'll ship this shot overseas. Let's insert some more elephants
and stuff like that. Oh they don't need that much detail.
Just insert some background monkeys back there, that sort of thing.
So I think that the benefit of it is, even
(34:36):
if you don't love Jumanji, it's over quickly enough that
you don't ever run the risk of hating Jumanji. If
this movie goes too long, there's gonna be a lot
of hate for this movie, as especially the younger demo
that it's going for. You know, you got to you know,
they're getting antsy at the end of one hundred and
four minutes. That's sort of a limit there that you
(34:58):
got to target.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
That's a really solid point.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Yeah, I think, oh man, that is something that I'm
gonna sound like an old man here, but I feel
like they don't make movies like this anymore, Like they
don't make family movies where and I feel like family
movie turned into kids movie. Like no, Like, I'm talking
about a family movie where something where the adults and
(35:22):
the kids would enjoy it together, not just something that
the adults can put up with for.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
An hour and a half.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
And this is that. This is in ninety five. This
is a family film. This is something where you know,
parents and two point five kids can go to the
theater and and get the experience that they want, the
entertainment that they want, and they're not It's none of
that two and a half hour BS that's been shoved
(35:50):
down our throats for the past ten years. I don't
know where I'm going with this, but I just like,
I feel like ninety God, dang it, I missed the
nineties where the this is the this is the This
is a cgi fest, it's an adventure film, it's nineteen
ninety five, it's short, and it's fun. You can bring
(36:10):
grandma and you can bring your five year old.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
I think that is the largest reason why Johnston would
have made the most sense for a movie like this
is if you're trying to make a movie like this,
you look at Honey, I shrunk the kids, and you
look at the rocketeer and you go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
he he gets what we're going for here, and this
is very much in his in his wheelhouse in almost
every respect. I would just like to welcome you, Tristan
(36:36):
to the old Man Club at this point, because you
really do sound like a gen x er at that
point where it's like, don't make movie like The Stray anymore.
Joey hates it, but everybody else love it. So why
can't everybody else Rossia's movie? Why can't they make more
movies like Jumanji?
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Like I'm I'm the youngest one of the group, but
I'm getting there. I'm starting to starting to get a
little rickety as I move around my shoulders and my knees.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
There you go, there you go. You can hear the
pops and crackles as he moves his shoulders demonstrably. We'll
fix that in post though, So that's okay.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
So, Darren, I have a loose question for you. So
this was shot in Keene, New Hampshire, and the Paris
Shoes sign is still on the factory building. And when
Robin Williams was so beloved by Keen that they gave
him the keys to the city because he just he
(37:31):
he was Robin Williams. He entertained everybody, you know, like
he you know, he talked with extras, he talked with
people in the around the town. You know, he was
like an ambassador.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
For the movie.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
And when he died, they had a makeshift memorial underneath
the sign for pair of shoes and they had a
showing of Jumanji around it. And I've already forgotten my question.
I think my question was.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
It's beautiful. It's just all that is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Yeah, it's yeah, I don't even question.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I just want to talk about that, like it's just
it's my heart aches every single time I watch a
Williams movie. No, he's a favorite son of that community.
I can totally see that. And yeah, and especially after
because of his death and the tragedy of that, you can.
I mean, that's human nature to gather to touchstones like
(38:21):
that of like, oh, that's where he stood, that's where
he brought us laughter. And it's a place where people
can leave flowers and leave notes and leave probably some
VHS cassettes of Jumanti like and that's just human nature.
We love doing that when we're mourning. So that's but
that's a good part of the story of Jumanji because
(38:42):
it's been gosh, is it almost time for guys? It's
gonna be what thirty thirtieth anniversary in twenty five right there?
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Yeah, oh my god, yep, I am going to join
the Old Man Group.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
Hey, you get past it.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Don't worry.
Speaker 5 (38:58):
The movies I Love ourselves bringing their fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries. Okay,
that's fine, O, you know, no big deal. Say, I'm
the same age as the Godfather part too, so you know,
that's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
It's pretty good.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
In the conversation in Texas, Chainsaw Masacer and Black Christmas,
I mean, come on, that's a pedigree right there.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
I have done and voyage home for me? Eh yeah?
Speaker 5 (39:18):
No, oh well, and Transformers the movie. I mean, that's
please don't sleep on the true classic of that bunch,
thank you very much. I you know, I think that
I would love to go to a place like Keene,
New Hampshire that respects and understands like they're claim to
fame as it were, Like what a cool thing to be. Like, No,
(39:39):
we're going to preserve this because there are going to
be people that will come to our town and they
will be delighted to see. Oh yeah, that was from Jumanji.
You know, Like I like places that respect and understand
those important cultural touchstones that people have, you know, like
it it's always nice too. Like I took the boat
(40:00):
tour Chicago, and you know, of course they were very
sure to point out it was like, well, you know
and Patman, it begins right over there and in the
dark night right over there, and you're like, oh, hey,
I'm seeing a historical town. But you know Batman was
here too.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
But what about Transformers Revenge of the Fallen.
Speaker 5 (40:16):
Right, you know, I'm not going to show that as
much love as I showed Transformers, the movie from nineteen
eighty six. I was gonna say that, Jesus.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
I remember when they were filming that that was such
a pain in the ass.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
Living the giant robots flying around had to be difficult.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
So many god dang helicopters, so many helicopters.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Buzzing my apart for sound.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
Old, hold, hold, I just want to interview this guy. Well,
there's fifty five helicopters in the skyline right now.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
It sounds like Psychoon in nineteen seventy five and Michael
Bay was the last fitting somehow fitting.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
All right, Yeah, we haven't we haven't gone too long
on this, but I feel like before we wrap up,
we need to talk about the music. Horner Jumanji. Obviously
he added some flutes.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
This was here there there were a few.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
This was pre.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Avatar drums, flutes. Yeah, Horner was your guy, Darren. What
do you think where does this rank on the Horner scale?
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (41:24):
I was just looking up trying to think, like around
this era. I mean, it wasn't It's funny because I
know we talked about it last week with the Rocketeer,
but I was re listening again to the Rocketeer soundtrack,
and I'm like, dear God, is this wrath of Khan
with a fl with with a motif added to it?
(41:46):
Like it is like ninety percent Wrath of Khan and
like ten percent oh yeah, Rocketeer Dad. This though, was
better balanced. I think it was, you know, and you know,
there wasn't a lot of jungle noise. You know, we
all know those specific instruments they play when we're in
(42:08):
the jungle. It's like, no, no, we're the Jungles coming
to us. But yeah, it's a fantasy movie. It really is,
and I think he captured it really well. So, I mean,
you can't go wrong with Horner. It's one of the greats.
Speaker 5 (42:24):
I think it's a mid tier Horner in all honesty,
because you know, yeah, I have it pulled up here
and I'm looking at it. But when you're talking about
the guy that did, you know, Feel the Dreams and
Brave Heart and Star Trek two and Good Lord Apocalypto
and even I mean the main theme on Willow and
like that, those are like the top tier Horner. And
(42:45):
of course you got Aliens, okay, but like you you
have all of that stuff. And then Jumanji is a
good score, but it's not a score where I hear
it and I'm like, oh, that's a Horner. I hear
it and I'm like, that's a serviceable score.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
You know, I feel the year this came out, Apollo
thirteen takes the cake, that is the that is the
gem of nineteen. That's ninety five for Foreigner.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
And that's why Tom Hanks couldn't be Allen Parrish in
this movie. No joke, no joke just wouldn't have worked.
It's good that it was Williams. To be fair to Jumanji,
a serviceable horner is probably freaking Beethoven to most other
serviceable scores.
Speaker 5 (43:31):
Oh oh yeah, I know. I I apologize how I
was coming off as like dismissive. I was saying, like,
you know, when when when you know?
Speaker 3 (43:39):
It was like, oh you know, is it Braveheart? Yeah?
You know?
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Also is it one of his Oscar winners or one
of the one of the theme songs like Willow that
makes me cry when I listened to it?
Speaker 3 (43:50):
No, was it Aliens? Now? Was it?
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Was it the time that I bawled my eyes out
when he fell in love with his with his wife
for the first time in Braveheart?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Knew but you know that's Jumanji.
Speaker 5 (44:02):
If I must make do with a score, this one
will be fine.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (44:06):
I wasn't meaning to come across as dismissing.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
You are right, though, like, is it Aliens is a
brave heart? No, but it's it's good, it's servable, it
gets the job done.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
No, you're I'm ragging on you, but you're You're not wrong,
You're not wrong.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
So this is the time of the podcast where we
talk about Lance Reddick, one of our favorite actors, and
it's become habit tradition, whatever you want to call it,
where we take Lance Reddick at any time and we
do blind casting and figure out where we would like
to put him in the movie. And this is in
no disrespect to anybody involved, especially the actor that we're replacing,
(44:43):
but this is one of my favorite parts of the episode.
I'm going to go first, and I Am not going
to be racist and replace them with the only black
person in the movie Fair, which would be easy. But
I would put Lance Reddick in Jonathan Hyde's role with
(45:04):
the Dad and Van Pelt. I feel like that would
be an easy place for him because I feel like
he could very much play that elegant but distant individual
who's posh but stern at the same time. I think
that would work. John, where would you put Reddick.
Speaker 5 (45:19):
Same place exactly. That's exactly where I saw him was.
I could see him playing that dual role really well
and accentuating the necessary parts of both of those characters.
So I completely agree with you as much as I
love Jonathan Hyde in this you know.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Oh yeah again, that's why we always have to say,
like Jonathan, I'd nailed it, did a fantastic job. We're
just trying to think where we could put Reddick, Darren,
what about you? Yeah, I was actually thinking the same way.
I was almost thinking of splitting it where Van Pelt
was not played by the Father, Like I don't think
they need to need to be the same actor, but
(45:54):
he could also do, you know, get double the screen
time and also play the father as well. So yeah,
I think we're we're three for three across the board.
Three for three.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
That I love it when that happens. That's so fun,
all right, folks. Okay, So now is the time when
we rank childhood nostalgia and we judge each other for
how much we'd love or hate this film. Darren, because
I'm hosting and I love to do this to you,
I'm making you go first, as is tradition.
Speaker 4 (46:22):
Yeah, that's a great tradition. Yeah, no, I'm I'm giving
this a solid four. It's a it's a fun movie.
It does I don't have I don't watch it as often,
you know, even re sharing it with my kids. It's hard.
I mean, it's it's not gonna top the nostalgia factor
that Rocketeer had, like and the joy that that brought.
(46:43):
But you know, honestly, I would probably if I had
to pick how to spend a Saturday night with a
Jumanji movie, I would probably actually go with like Welcome
to the Jungle, which I think is a better constructed
singular story. But yes, yes, I know. But as far
as nineties goodness, this movie takes the cake. Like it
(47:06):
for its special effects.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
For.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Balancing, you know, Robin Williams in it, for continuing down,
you know, the Joe Johnston train. So I'm giving it.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Four, all right, John Beaucephalus Mills, what are you giving
this movie?
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Well?
Speaker 5 (47:28):
I didn't love it when it first came out, but
I still have a certain nostalgic pull for it. This
is It's very strange because there are some movies where
you're not nuts about them and you'll never watch them again,
And there are other movies where you're not nuts about them,
but there's enough about it that works. And like I
think you were saying this last week Tristan, where it's
(47:49):
been years since I've seen this, but I remembered every
single moment, and I think that is to the movie's credit.
I think that's to Johnston's credit, is he obviously makes
things that burn themselves into your brain, regardless of whether
you love them or not. You're you can go back
decades later watch a movie and you're like, I remember
everything that happened because of the pacing, because of the
(48:12):
shot composition, because of how it comes together, and James
Horner's score, And I think that I'm gonna wind up
with a solid three for Jumanji. Not terrific, but it's good.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Yeah I did he bribed you?
Speaker 5 (48:29):
No? No, If Joey had gotten to me, this had
have been a one.
Speaker 3 (48:33):
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
This is this is This is a movie that I
h I always forget how much I love this is
a movie that is reeks of nostalgia. And it's so
hard for me to be objective with this one because
it and man, we didn't even talk about the cinematography
on this one.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
I feel like that's been a really solid progression of
Johnston is relying on his cinematographer to do what needs
to be done. And I really felt a much more
mature filmmaker, not just in this CGI execution, but in
the shot selection and how it moved across the screen
and how he's able to craft relationships just on the
(49:16):
shot selection, specifically between Alan and Peter, and also speaking
which like Peter's fourth wall break when he needed to
find the acts in the woodshed and he grabs the
action to break down to open the woodshed and then
looks at the camera. That could be my favorite fourth
(49:37):
wall break in cinematic history. I lost in the theater
as a young lad. I lost it today when I
watched it. So I think this is this is a
really the shows Johnston's growth from Rocketeer in terms of cinematography,
what he can get from the actors, pacing. I think
(49:58):
this is better pace than Rocketeer. But I feel like John,
I think you brought me down a little bit, as
you do lots of the times, even in even in our.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
Day to day life. It's my superpower.
Speaker 4 (50:10):
People don't know this, but John and I talk every day,
and you often bring me down to your level.
Speaker 5 (50:16):
I make it my mission. I pop out of bed
and I'm like, how can I ruin Tristan's life? Don't
ask for this noise in your life, Darren. All I
will do is make you cry. Trust me, and so
I I you know rock Deery game.
Speaker 4 (50:28):
You're waking up? Ding? Ding?
Speaker 5 (50:29):
Is that my alarm?
Speaker 4 (50:30):
No, it's John texting six.
Speaker 5 (50:32):
Am more accurate than you realize it.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Before I'm awake.
Speaker 5 (50:43):
This is what sucks about today, Tristan.
Speaker 3 (50:49):
This is why I'm pissed off. And you should.
Speaker 5 (50:54):
Yeah, pretty much, pretty much, pretty much. Well, listen, they
never should have changed the rescue McDonald's French fries. I'm
not gonna let go with that one.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
You guys got a little window in my world.
Speaker 4 (51:08):
Person Yeah, like Rocket here was five stars because it's
just so it can't be fun enjoyment. And even though
I like I loved Jumanji, I really do, there is
a few things I feel like we could get a
little bit more emotional connection with the characters. I think John,
you were absolutely right about that, and I didn't even
realize that until you know what you said, And so like,
(51:29):
I'm really only I'm not even going to bring it
down a full start. I'm just bringing it out a
house stars, So I'm giving it four and a half stars.
I truly love this movie. I just I was grinning
like an idiot the entire time I was watching it.
So I think this is fantastic. I think this is fun,
and I'm going to show this to my kift and
I'm going to fast forward the you know, I'm gonna
do the old David Riddell fast forward during the Spider part.
(51:51):
But other than that, it's gonna be solid. So Darren,
what are we doing next week? Well, next week we're
putting the special effects on the back burner as we
go to a more personal story. In nineteen ninety nine's
October Sky Here on house Lights, join
Speaker 1 (52:08):
The Revolution, Join the nerd Party.
Welcome to the ned Palty.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello Roadie home, and welcome two house lights House of Johnston,
specifically Joe Johnston. And tonight is the night where we
roll the dice and we're talking about nineteen ninety five's Jumanji.
Not the one starring the rock but the one, the original,
starring the one and only Robin Williams. And I am
(00:43):
your co host, Tristan Rudel, and with me as they
always are, his John Mills and Darren Moser.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I am super.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Excited to talk about tonight because Johnston has been a
trip down memory lane for me and this it's it's
hard to explain, but so like these movies so far,
you're just like, man, I just I have forgotten how
much I love these movies, like you genuinely forget how
(01:11):
much of a good time they are. And I know
I'm giving myself away, but that's how I felt with Jumanji,
Like this one was something that I watched all the
time as a kid. I went and saw it in
the theater as as a kid with my family and
and Darren, I want to know, like, what was the
what was the first time you saw this? Was it
on VHS? Was it on TV. Did you get to
(01:31):
go to the theater? What was it?
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Oh? Yeah, ninety five, so I would have been yeah, no,
we probably saw this in theaters. But you know, this
is the kind that would be in the giant like
plastic clamshell case vhs and yeah, this one. What I
want to talk about more was showing it to my kids.
(01:54):
So my kids are now old enough that I could
scar them with this movie, like I was. So, now
this movie is actually really intense. There's a lot going on.
But okay, okay, I want to interject. I want to
inject real quick. So you call this intense like you
scar your children, you call this intense. So Ebert said
that this movie shouldn't have been marketed as a family
(02:17):
friendly film because it's too scary, and Robin Williams himself
didn't show it to his kids because it was too scary,
was it? Like John Darantee, you guys think it was
too scary. I wouldn't say it's scary. It's not a
scary movie. That's why I said intense, because there are
parts where you know you're just like you're not you know,
(02:37):
as a kid, you're not sure if the kids are
gonna make it, and that can be, you know, rather intense.
So it's an intense movie, not a bad movie, not
a scary movie, but it is. But I do see
what Ebert is saying where it it's not a take
you know, to quote, you know, Chronicles of Narnia. It's
not a tame movie.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah. I don't agree with ebert stance on this one.
God rest his soul. I think Ebert had a tendency
at times to overreact to things like this. It's not
the first time. There were a couple of different movies
in his career where he would talk about them and
he was justifiably outraged that kids would have been in
(03:19):
the theater while he was watching it. And it's like, hey, Roger,
think of the children. Yeah, you might be a little
out of touch here, Roger. You might want to just
call them down there a minute, because I obviously we
know I'm the old man in the group. I saw
this in the theater as well. Would I even think
twice about showing this to my kids.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
My kids would get.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Freaked out by parts of it, But the same parts
I'd get freaked out by because those spiders are awful.
They're terrible. Those things gave me nightmares. I hate spiders
as a rule, Like I am paralyzed afraid of spiders.
Like it took years to get to the point where
I could go up to and smush a spider that
was smaller than my thumbnail, Like that was years of
psyching myself out. I see a big enough spider. Now
(04:00):
just for context. Uh, there was a time where we
went on a family trip and it was like, oh,
we're gonna go you know, hey, we could go kayaking,
and I used my youngest as a get out of
jail free cars, like, ah, she's too young because I
read up on the kayaking adventure and they're like, oh,
you're gonna go through these mangrove fields and there are
banana spiders. I was like, no, hard pass. Look up
banana spiders. Kids, They're harmless quote unquote, but no. So
(04:23):
like that's the intense part of the movie, right, Like
I wouldn't want my kid might see that and be like, oh,
but like the monkeys.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Aren't turning into a monkey, Like that's kind of you.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I think sands spiders. Yeah, I think sand spiders.
This would be you could show this to any kid. Honestly,
in my opinion, especially that close up shot where they
cut the close up with the fangs and.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Yeah, and it's it's dripping. Yeah, that's that's a bit much.
Why they're always wet.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's like I feel like Ridley Scott ruined everything for
us with with with villains and like bad creatures because
of what he did with Alien where they're always wet,
they're always dripping, they're always drooling.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
Yes, yes, I agree with that assessment. Actually it's the
Alien effect. Everything's always got to be drooling all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I mean, do spiders even salivate? Nobody knows. We'll never know.
But one thing we do know is is that is
this movie has a lot of joy in it. And
I want to get this. I want to get I
want to tack this right off the bat. Robin Williams
is so full of joy with so many movies that
he does, and there was a lot of concern from
(05:36):
Johnston himself about casting Robin Williams. But I think the
production company was like, we'll give you the money if
you get Robin Williams, and Johnston was like, I don't
know if I want what Robin Williams because he tends
to improvise a lot, and this is a tight script
like that, you know, we have a lot of motivation.
We have like this, we got to get from point
(05:57):
A to point B to point seed point D. And
if you he's jumping all over the place, how are
we going to do that? And Robin Williams understood that, like.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
He sat down the assignment. Yeah, like he understood that.
He's like he's like okay, like he's I'll improvise when
it's appropriate. And apparently most of the time his improvisational
scenes was with Bunnie Hunt, like when they were ripping
and going back and forth and everything like that. So
I want to know, like there was a lot of
people in contention or thought of I mean, like I'm
(06:27):
not even go through the list because every movie is
like it's like everyone in the kitchen sink this list. Yeah,
it's ridiculous. It's it's about Schortzenegger's on the list, and
I'm like, no, no, I.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Mean the guy from Kindergarten.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Cope, that's true.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So, Darren, what did you think of Robin Williams in
this role because he doesn't show up until like the
half an hour mark.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
What did you think about the vibe that he brought.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
No, I think, I mean, man, this you're right in
that hook era. It's a hair's breadth from his role
really as Paan like, there are is a lot of
similarity in you know, maybe he was stuck in Neverland
instead of the jungle for you know, twenty something years.
But no, I think he you know, he pulled it
(07:13):
off in portraying a grown up kid. I mean, if
you think about it, it totally makes sense. It's Robin Williams
because you're going for a grown up kid that wasn't
raised by adults for the majority of his life, you know,
and that is Alan Parrish and so and then you
get you know, but he's also strong enough to carry
the dramatic parts, to carry the character growth, you know,
(07:35):
the revelation, as the as the story progresses. So I
it's one of those roles. I can't picture anyone else
doing it, anyone from the nineties or today. You know,
I'm sorry, Lance, You're not going to be Alan Parrish
when we get to that part of the podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
John so, Okay, So with Robin Williams, there's so many
times when people feel like they have to match his
energy or they have to like, you know, like rise
up to that or like be goofy or go crazy
like there's so many times you feel like uneven things
going up and down all over the place with a
Robin Williams picture because people want to compete with him.
(08:13):
I personally don't think this was the case. What did
you think of his interaction with the kids, interaction with
Bonnie Hunt, David ellen Greer, How did you feel how
the cast blended together.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
I think they blended fine. I think that you can
sense that Williams is much more under control quote unquote
in this movie. And I think that aside from it
being a you know, like you said, tight script and everything,
this is a groundbreaking scale for effects, for these types
of effects at the time. So Johnston would have been
petrified that Williams would have moved too much because we're
(08:51):
not in the Michael Bay. Things are transforming while they're
going seven hundred miles per hour, and things are flying
by and you can't even tell what's going on on
the screen while the camera is so cling around and
then you know, craning up and then zooming down into
the chest cavity of a giant robot or something like that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
This is.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
This is I have to lock the camera in position
and move it specifically, you know, twenty five centimeters this way,
so that the plate can match exactly what's being generated
in the computer. Because that's going to take a lot
of processing time. That's where we're at.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I always think about what Bob Hoskins said, uh with
a behind the scenes featurette with Rod with a Roger rabbit,
when he said he's like, He's like, listen, when I
grab the rabbit by the throat, if I separate my fingers,
they have to draw his throat in between the fingers.
But if I close my fingers, I just save them
ten grand Yep, you know it's it's one of those
(09:44):
things like this is one of those movies.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
Yeah, and the end, Robin Williams is such a professional
in the industry by this point of course, he's going
to understand the assignment. The director is going to say, hey,
you know, there are these considerations, and your Juilliard student,
Robin Williams will say, yes, I got your boss, I
got you. But he does still bring a very important
energy to it, and I think his interaction with the
(10:07):
kids very much carries that sort of necessary energy like
Robin Williams's true gift on screen was the ability to
interact with children, never upstage them, and never let them
upstage him. W. C. Fields hated kids on screen. Robin
Williams knew how to be a kid on screen so
(10:29):
that we never felt he was overshadowing those children. I
think he gave. I think he gave a true and
this is going to sound too far over, but I
mean this in the best sense I can. He gave
a true actor's performance here because he was part of
a group and he was giving to the other actors
as much as receiving from them. And so I think
this is one of his An actor of Robin Williams's stature,
(10:52):
especially in family films by this point, could have been
very selfish with everything it's about me, and instead you
see an actor saying, no, it's about the movie. I
want the whole reduction to do well. And so I
think this is one of his better performances in the nineties, honestly,
on those merits.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yeah, he could.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
He could have pulled us alone and you know, made
it all about him.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Yes, Yeah, the cobra cut of Jumanji would have been
very interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, Now, Darren. I have an affinity for David aled Greer.
He makes me laugh. I'm sorry he does. I don't
care what anybody else thinks of him or his style
of comedy, but I lose it every single time he
loses it. I want to know what you thought of
(11:39):
him in the movie, because he's kind of the fish
out of water scenario, like he's the one who is
reacting to all this craziness like you have Williams, you
have Hunt, you have the kids, and they're in the
thick of it, and David Allied Greer or DAG is
very much on the outside of it, along with bb Newarth.
So with Dag freaking out, was it too much?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Not enough? Just right?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
What did you think of that? Because like he definitely
he brings an absurdity to it, like this movie is
already chaotic, like this is the definition of chaos. But
how did you feel about Dag reacting to it?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
No, I think he nailed it because not only is
he kind of playing a dual role where he's you know,
part of the shoemaking business. So we saw him, you know,
in the past and the present. But yeah, in these
kind of movies, you need that kind of every man
who's reacting to what he's seeing in a realistic way
(12:39):
because they're not kind of in the plot. They're just
in the collateral of what's going on, and you know what,
his cars getting stolen or you know, pulled in by
the vines. He reacts like a normal person. He's like,
this is like supernatural, this is not normal. This doesn't happen,
instead of like I wonder if somebody's playing a game
(13:01):
or some you know, crazy thing that it's like no, no, no,
Like he's reacting how we would react. And yeah, he
he has, like you said, a way of dialing it
to eleven that is so funny where he's just wigging
out and you're just along for the.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Ride when he's seeing the gator go by and you
just like see like he has calm on his face
as it goes in front of him, and then as
soon as it's off screen, he's just like, can't handle it.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
I too, have a soft spot for David Allen Greer.
The first time I was aware of seeing him was
on the show in Living Color, and he was terrific.
Then I love the fact that his real start was
during the Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back radio dramas
for National Public Radio. He is a nameless X wing
pilot in both of them, I think, but like, you know,
(13:55):
he just does you know, background voices and everything. And
I I agree he's he's got a natural screen presence
that's so effortless that as an audience member you give
him permission to go up to eleven because he's starting
at an eight. Like the energy he brings just coming
on screen. He has this and there are certain actors
(14:18):
where they have this sort of thing where it's like
there's just this. It's different than what Robin Williams brings.
Robin Williams brings sort of like a firecracker, unpredictability sort
of energy with him, whereas a David Allen Greer, he
comes on screen and you just immediately feel like a giggle.
You're like, oh, this is gonna be silly, right. And
I know he's also done dramatic work and he's obviously
(14:39):
very capable of it as an actor, but when he's
in his comedic roles, it's it's always it's always a
joy I'm and I've always been happy to see him.
I was really happy to see him in this So
did you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Ever see the movie the two thousand movie that was
actually directed by Bonnie Hunt called Return to Me Storing
David to company the hearty right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it
was starting David.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
One of my favorite movies. We watch it. I've seen
that movie many many times. Really good movie.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's a really solid movie. We should do a one
off house of Hunt just so we can talk about
that movie.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
And David Allen Greer was on her. There was like
an ABC sitcom Life with Bonnie that last time.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Oh yeah, they must.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Have a friendship, like they must have a connection because yeah,
like they they.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Worked on because yeah, that's why I brought it up her.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
But yeah, because it's it's quite possible that they that
they they came together at this time. So I do
want to talk about Jonathan Hyde real quick since we're
on the cast now, Darren, did you have any idea
that Jonathan Hyde played two roles in this movie?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
You you know the answer to this as we spoke before,
trying to set me up. No, no, I got maybe
it's just such good makeup and mustaches and the hat,
but I did not recognize him as Van Pelt as
well as the father maybe also because he's like, he
(16:11):
doesn't have a lot of screen time in either role.
He's like barely on screen. So I thought it was
cool that it was kind of a Peter Pan esque.
The father is the trauma, you know, in a dual role,
but you choose to mock me, sir, and we'll just
go with that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, because I was sorry, but I was nine in
the theater and I was like, oh cool, they did
like a Peter Pan.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
I was looking at the Rhinos. Okay, I could talk
to you about Sneezy the Rhino if you want. I
know all about him.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Now. See, this is the one thing where I'll throw it,
because you know, and to his credit, the actor in
just two years was going to appear in both Titanic
and Anaconda, and then later in nineteen ninety nine's delightful
romp The Mummy. So like, that's for me. I hear
his voice or I see his eyes, and I'm like,
(17:02):
I instantly know who that is sort of thing, no
matter how much you bury him under, right, Just like
when I'm watching Missus Doubtfire, if I look at Robin
Williams's I mean, you know, facial structure too, but like
you can tell, you know, in there and everything. But
I think that this is actually one part where I'm
going to sort of pseudo ding the movie a little
bit where it trips on itself here where they go
(17:26):
back to the factory and you find out the father
was so distressed about Alan's disappearance that you know, he
lost his fortune, went searching off, died of a broken
heart sort of thing. And then it goes back and
it's like and then he's the Hunter, and it's like
the resolution for the audience has already happened, and there
(17:47):
doesn't feel like there's a you know, like it just
it telegraphs it too early. Like once I have that scene,
I get what they're going for with Oh, his dad
is the Hunter teaching him to face his fears. That's
where you get your one to one. But we as
the audience have already resolved that about the dad. We
know who he was really inside, instead of having a
moment later, whether it's in the game or something like
(18:09):
that where he stands up to him and the Hunter's like,
that's all I was looking for, son, You know, like
a moment like that if you will, and I would,
Actually I don't know how you resolve that necessarily, you know,
outside of like rewriting some stuff. But it's just it's
one of those things where it's never really particularly worked
well for me because that earlier scene, the audience doesn't
(18:31):
have to go through that emotional journey. We've already gotten
to the end of it, and then we go through
this chase and it's like, oh, well, I already know
that the dad loves him for real.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
That's interesting. I can't really argue with that. But at
the same time, I never really thought of it that way,
like it never bothered me, like it didn't stick out
to me, because I feel like it's it's one of
those things where it's the journey of the protagonist that
the diagonist has to figure it out himself, and I
(19:03):
think that's kind of what we established because I feel like,
you know, when your kid is gone, it's easy, I
should say, it's easier to say that you always love
them because there's no effort to it. You know, like
there's no work that's involved. You know, like you love
somebody that's not there, there's no work. It's one sided.
(19:24):
But when you love somebody that's in front of you,
it takes work. It takes effort and time and stuff
that he struggled with.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So I think maybe that's why I kind of qualified it.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
But again I'm not saying that that's not a flaw,
but that's interesting that I never really thought of that before. Now, Darren,
we have some really great female performances in this movie.
You know, we have Patricia Clarkson in a thinkless role,
you know, as Carol Parrish Allan's mom. And we have
(19:56):
bb Newworth who is fantastic and every single thing she
does and it is a stone cold fox. And we
have Kirsten Dunst who is on fire in the nineties.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Ar Trek the Next Generations. Kirsten Dunst, Yeah, that one.
She's on fire in the nineties. She's doing everything she
I think gets a little sidelined in this movie, Like
I feel like watching this like as opposed to other
things that she's been in, you know, where she's a
big focus. She kind of plays second fiddle to her
(20:31):
brother who becomes the monkey and you know, has the
relationship issues with Alan and everything like that. And then
of course we have Bonnie Hunt. I want to know,
you know, with do you feel like Bonnie Hunt kind
of delivered next to Robin Williams because I personally feel
like they had a great arrested development thing going on,
where Williams was a kid emotionally because he was raised
(20:54):
in the jungle by himself, and then Bonnie Hunt was
kind of a kid because she was stunted early on
from having that traumatic event. How did you think about
the pairing, No, I think yeah, to answer kind of
both questions, Yeah, I think Bunny Hunt and Rob Williams
played off each other really well, like you had stated,
(21:15):
you know, when they the fact that he could improvise
a bit in those scenes, those are really kind of
the only scenes are that works, because otherwise they're in
like peril it. I think my favorite scenes are when
he's convincing her, like at the very beginning, not not
the beginning when she's young, but the beginning when he's
back out of the game and she he's got to
convince her to play. I think those are the most
(21:38):
dynamic of the scenes. Later, when she comes around, it's
less interesting because she doesn't need to be convinced over
and over to play the game. But to your other
point on Kristen Dun's kind of being overshadowed by you know,
the brother Peter. Yeah, it has kind of a Chronicles
of Darnia vibe of like Susan, Like Susan's always like
(22:00):
the plane one and and the adventure doesn't really happen
to Susan. It happens to all the other kids. And
they have the interaction with mister Tumnus or they you know,
meet Aslan or all the and so she is just
kind of the older sister and that's kind of the tone. Yeah,
I think that they give her character for for better
(22:22):
or words. I don't think it's bad because it definitely
feels like she and her brother are in it together.
But yeah, she there's almost too many cooks at one
point of I mean, there's only four players. But what
do you think, John, do you think that he just
gave it a question?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Wait?
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Wait, wait, John, don what do you what do you say?
What do you say?
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Hello, Fry, It's a pleasure to meet you. I think
that I don't think Dunce gets overshadowed. I think that
what happens is that you have just too much going
on at one point nobody gets he gets in the
time at a certain point, like once we get into
the last stretch of the movie. There's just so much happening.
(23:07):
There aren't enough moments for anybody, and so I think
it sort of erases some of the good will you
build up beforehand. I think that there's just too much
they're trying to tie up. And does more screen time
get away with it? Does that solve it? Yeah, maybe
another couple of minutes with somebody having a you know,
the brothers, sister having a couple more minutes together, and
(23:27):
and those sorts of things, because I think early on
in the film, she and the brother are definitely co
stars of the storyline because they you know, she's the
inventive one telling lies about what happened in their lives,
and then you know he's the quiet boy. But then
he talks to her when they're alone together and everything.
(23:48):
And I think that the issue here is I think
it was a very fair criticism of the critics at
the time that I think the focus was so much
on making sure those effects worked because of the money
at stake and the groundbreaking nature of what they were doing,
that I think as a result, you have a director
too focused on the technical then on the personal, and
(24:11):
I think that's what happens to the character. I think
that's what happens to all of the characters by the
end of it, is that it resolves nicely enough. But
it's one of those things where you get the sense
of the movie. I mean I was older, keep in mind,
but as somebody who was older in the audience, I'd
never felt particularly connected to the characters. I might have
(24:33):
been wowed by the effects on screen from time to time,
I might have gotten swept up in different aspects of
it because it's up there on the big screen and
I'm sitting in the audience, but there was never a
point where I really felt like I connected with those
characters or I really understood what they.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Were going on.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
They're more living set pieces moving through the CG jungle
of effects, as it were, including some just wonderfully, wonderfully
animated monkeys. Yeah, I just look perfectly photorealistic. Even back
in nineteen ninety five, I remember sitting there going, my gosh,
(25:09):
did they train real monkeys to do this movie?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
We know the monkeys look bad. They didn't look that great,
So okay, the spiders, the picture plants, the vines, the lion, yeah,
which was a mix some.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, it was a mix. Yeah, like this stampede.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
The stampede I think was the Peers results, like that
part all fantastic, looked completely real.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Joey hated the stampede. He thought it looked dumb.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Dang it, I knew, I knew, Joey. Yeah, but like
I like what you said though, John about uh yeah,
room for character growth, because really the last moment of
growth was kind of when Peter realizes I shouldn't have
cheated and and moves past that. And then after that
(25:58):
it's literally buckling up to the end of the movie,
like there's no there's no pause to the die has
been cast and these are the characters we're going to
get through the rest of the film, and the Russian
towards the finish line. So yeah, there's or to to
bring it to. It's it's sequel, which I mean, isn't
(26:18):
isn't the topic. But you know Jumanji, was it Enter
the Jungle? Yeah, welcome to the jungle. Welcome to the jungle.
And in that one, because you're in the jungle and
it's just the four characters. I mean, yeah, there's the
side characters, but it's way more focused on them and
their peril. So you kind of there's so much going
(26:40):
on in the first Jumanji movie because it's the plot
of bringing the jungle into our world, which is cool.
It's a really cool technique. I mean, the splitting of
the house and and all of that is is fantastical
but so much fun.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
The splitting of the house specifically, that looks so cool.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
It looked, you know, better than the monkeys. So but yeah,
but all that to say, yeah, I think we're all
kind of on the same page that that is one
of the weaker aspects of the movie is the largeness
of the cast or the scatteredness of the plot.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Like see, this is the sort of thing where and
it wasn't in vogue back then, but this is the
sort of thing where I think that if Jumanji, this
version of Jumanji were made today, they would have had,
you know, like the I forget their name right now,
the brothers who did Endgame, the Russo brothers. You'd have
a brother team, right or some sort of combo team
(27:35):
working on it where one person is sitting there and
they're like, Okay, I'm going to go work with the actors.
You go talk to the cameraman and the DP and
you talk about where the camera needs to move. I'm
going to get the motivations out of them, and then.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Like it does.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Really this really feels like a movie that would have
benefited from that.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Is that how they work? Is that how the Russo
brothers work.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
I have no idea. I'm just presuming that they do.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Remember, it's a fictional future where the Russo brothers work.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
I'm saying, I'm the Russo brothers were the only ones
that I could I could bring to mind of Like,
I think a duo would have worked better for this
incarnation of Jumanji because of the fact that, I mean,
it is easy to forget even though the monkeys look terrible,
exactly how hard they were pushing the envelope with this movie.
(28:26):
Like you look at this and you're like, oh, that
looks kind of dated. It's like you don't understand, right.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Like ninety five folks, this.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Were years after Jurassic Park, and Jurassic Park had the
benefit of a couple of things dinosaurs and shooting in
the jungle and night scenes and all of this type
of stuff. This is broad daylight elephants walking on a
car and lions jumping around and giant mosquitos and stuff
like that. This was literally two years later saying Okay, well,
(28:59):
Jurassic Park broke that limit. We're just going to absolutely
trash it. Like it really is a very bold experiment.
My question is, like, I know, Johnston has shown me
as the pedigree for the technical stuff, but what really
makes Jurassic Park sing is Spielberg was very much in
(29:19):
his you know, he was still very much in the
feelings with the actors and stuff like that. So I mean,
maybe my whole argument about a you know, a duo
is shot down. You just needed a Spielberg who was you.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Know, yeah, you just need the most famous you.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Know, I mean, you know, I mean, somebody so accomplished
at it and has been doing this for so long
that like when he says, oh I want to do this,
everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, sure, no, we know exactly
what you're saying. As opposed to you know, I I
have a feeling that Johnston might have been just i
mean ready for it. Yes, but there's no way this
(29:57):
isn't overwhelming, Like you you're really behind the eight ball
from the beginning with this movie, because it's really, really,
really pushing, pushing, the boundaries and.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
If those effects don't work, like half your shots are gone,
like you have no story, right, you know, if if
the elephant doesn't come out and squash the you know,
if none of that comes together, you're done. It's not
getting released.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
And that's why Joey didn't like the movie as those shots,
those shots came together.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So I just just sentra killed joy.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
I know, tell me about it. I've known him for
many years. That's that's an accurate way, and he occasionally
might listen to the show. So Joey, here's looking at you, babe.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
You're going to have a sound effect whenever we're disappointed
in Joey.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Oh oh, price is right, Faiale Horn, that's the way.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
So we've pointed out a few few things that work,
a few things that don't, and obviously the monkeys, I
mean that's I mean, I'm probably gonna make that though
the artwork.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Of absolutely no other choice.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
The only choice of.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
This episode is the monkey. One thing that really impressed
me was the pacing of this film, And I would
love to know what you guys think about that, because
I really feel like.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
You know, like so many movies feel.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Like set piece to set piece to set piece, and
that to be fair, to be fair, that's what this
movie is, set piece to set piece.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
But there was the.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Emotional connection along the way and it just it felt
like in appropriate nineteen ninety five CGI fun fest that
moves you along. I can't think of a single thing
that I would cut. Maybe that's my question pacing wise, Darren,
is there anything that you would cut? Is there anything
that you would remove? Or do you think the pacing
(31:47):
is good enough?
Speaker 4 (31:50):
I mean, the only thing I think about is because
it's constructed well enough that you kind of need all
of it, Like may there's a little you could trim
in the past section in the very beginning, like there's
a lot of time spent getting to know young Allan
and that is not who we end up spending the
(32:12):
majority of the movie with. So there's a little bit
of like you have to bow. Maybe it's a little
misbalanced in my mind, like maybe ten minutes less of
the past Young Allen to give us more present Allan
that we're going to actually connect with that. But I mean,
you're you're really just fine tuning the dials at that
(32:33):
point because you do need some you need to make
that connection with the plight of the character. Otherwise you
aren't going to care that he's been stuck in the jungle,
because it's literally going to be like new person, new
actor playing this character. Oh, I've been stuck in the jungle.
It's like, well, great, I don't know who you are. Like,
we've all seen these movies where you have two actors
(32:55):
play you know, different ages of a character. And that's
where I would maybe take a little bit out of
the front because I think they made the point very
quickly on how his parents are, how he's feeling, and
so any extra minutes there. I mean, movies one hundred
and four minutes long. It's not very long, but to
like what you said, Tristan, it doesn't feel like a
(33:17):
break neck pace. Maybe like the last bit, but that's
the climax of the movie. It's supposed to feel like that.
Would you think, John, where's the what's ending up on
the cutting room floor?
Speaker 3 (33:28):
You know?
Speaker 5 (33:28):
I don't know. I mean because of the fact that,
in all honesty, some of the stuff without the effects
I enjoy more than some of the stuff with the effects.
I like building Allen's character. I like that you see
a lot of what he's going through. I like that
you establish what it was like to be a boy
like him in that time period. You very much feel
like Johnston understands what Alan's going through in some sense,
(33:52):
even if it was in his life story. You know,
it's something understandable in a way. And I think that, like,
that's good stuff. And I don't know what I would
cut specifically, because for all of the spectacle that it has,
it's almost a blessing that it's that restrained, because when
(34:15):
the effects get a little easier to do later down
the road, a movie like this easily balloons because they
fall in love with how much they can put in
each shot, and they're like, oh, no, no, push it, no, no,
we'll ship this shot overseas. Let's insert some more elephants
and stuff like that. Oh they don't need that much detail.
Just insert some background monkeys back there, that sort of thing.
So I think that the benefit of it is, even
(34:36):
if you don't love Jumanji, it's over quickly enough that
you don't ever run the risk of hating Jumanji. If
this movie goes too long, there's gonna be a lot
of hate for this movie, as especially the younger demo
that it's going for. You know, you got to you know,
they're getting antsy at the end of one hundred and
four minutes. That's sort of a limit there that you
(34:58):
got to target.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
That's a really solid point.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Yeah, I think, oh man, that is something that I'm
gonna sound like an old man here, but I feel
like they don't make movies like this anymore, Like they
don't make family movies where and I feel like family
movie turned into kids movie. Like no, Like, I'm talking
about a family movie where something where the adults and
(35:22):
the kids would enjoy it together, not just something that
the adults can put up with for.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
An hour and a half.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
And this is that. This is in ninety five. This
is a family film. This is something where you know,
parents and two point five kids can go to the
theater and and get the experience that they want, the
entertainment that they want, and they're not It's none of
that two and a half hour BS that's been shoved
(35:50):
down our throats for the past ten years. I don't
know where I'm going with this, but I just like,
I feel like ninety God, dang it, I missed the
nineties where the this is the this is the This
is a cgi fest, it's an adventure film, it's nineteen
ninety five, it's short, and it's fun. You can bring
(36:10):
grandma and you can bring your five year old.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
I think that is the largest reason why Johnston would
have made the most sense for a movie like this
is if you're trying to make a movie like this,
you look at Honey, I shrunk the kids, and you
look at the rocketeer and you go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
he he gets what we're going for here, and this
is very much in his in his wheelhouse in almost
every respect. I would just like to welcome you, Tristan
(36:36):
to the old Man Club at this point, because you
really do sound like a gen x er at that
point where it's like, don't make movie like The Stray anymore.
Joey hates it, but everybody else love it. So why
can't everybody else Rossia's movie? Why can't they make more
movies like Jumanji?
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Like I'm I'm the youngest one of the group, but
I'm getting there. I'm starting to starting to get a
little rickety as I move around my shoulders and my knees.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
There you go, there you go. You can hear the
pops and crackles as he moves his shoulders demonstrably. We'll
fix that in post though, So that's okay.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
So, Darren, I have a loose question for you. So
this was shot in Keene, New Hampshire, and the Paris
Shoes sign is still on the factory building. And when
Robin Williams was so beloved by Keen that they gave
him the keys to the city because he just he
(37:31):
he was Robin Williams. He entertained everybody, you know, like
he you know, he talked with extras, he talked with
people in the around the town. You know, he was
like an ambassador.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
For the movie.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
And when he died, they had a makeshift memorial underneath
the sign for pair of shoes and they had a
showing of Jumanji around it. And I've already forgotten my question.
I think my question was.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
It's beautiful. It's just all that is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Yeah, it's yeah, I don't even question.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I just want to talk about that, like it's just
it's my heart aches every single time I watch a
Williams movie. No, he's a favorite son of that community.
I can totally see that. And yeah, and especially after
because of his death and the tragedy of that, you can.
I mean, that's human nature to gather to touchstones like
(38:21):
that of like, oh, that's where he stood, that's where
he brought us laughter. And it's a place where people
can leave flowers and leave notes and leave probably some
VHS cassettes of Jumanti like and that's just human nature.
We love doing that when we're mourning. So that's but
that's a good part of the story of Jumanji because
(38:42):
it's been gosh, is it almost time for guys? It's
gonna be what thirty thirtieth anniversary in twenty five right there?
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Yeah, oh my god, yep, I am going to join
the Old Man Group.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
Hey, you get past it.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Don't worry.
Speaker 5 (38:58):
The movies I Love ourselves bringing their fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries. Okay,
that's fine, O, you know, no big deal. Say, I'm
the same age as the Godfather part too, so you know,
that's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
It's pretty good.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
In the conversation in Texas, Chainsaw Masacer and Black Christmas,
I mean, come on, that's a pedigree right there.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
I have done and voyage home for me? Eh yeah?
Speaker 5 (39:18):
No, oh well, and Transformers the movie. I mean, that's
please don't sleep on the true classic of that bunch,
thank you very much. I you know, I think that
I would love to go to a place like Keene,
New Hampshire that respects and understands like they're claim to
fame as it were, Like what a cool thing to be. Like, No,
(39:39):
we're going to preserve this because there are going to
be people that will come to our town and they
will be delighted to see. Oh yeah, that was from Jumanji.
You know, Like I like places that respect and understand
those important cultural touchstones that people have, you know, like
it it's always nice too. Like I took the boat
(40:00):
tour Chicago, and you know, of course they were very
sure to point out it was like, well, you know
and Patman, it begins right over there and in the
dark night right over there, and you're like, oh, hey,
I'm seeing a historical town. But you know Batman was
here too.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
But what about Transformers Revenge of the Fallen.
Speaker 5 (40:16):
Right, you know, I'm not going to show that as
much love as I showed Transformers, the movie from nineteen
eighty six. I was gonna say that, Jesus.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
I remember when they were filming that that was such
a pain in the ass.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
Living the giant robots flying around had to be difficult.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
So many god dang helicopters, so many helicopters.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Buzzing my apart for sound.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
Old, hold, hold, I just want to interview this guy. Well,
there's fifty five helicopters in the skyline right now.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
It sounds like Psychoon in nineteen seventy five and Michael
Bay was the last fitting somehow fitting.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
All right, Yeah, we haven't we haven't gone too long
on this, but I feel like before we wrap up,
we need to talk about the music. Horner Jumanji. Obviously
he added some flutes.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
This was here there there were a few.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
This was pre.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Avatar drums, flutes. Yeah, Horner was your guy, Darren. What
do you think where does this rank on the Horner scale?
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (41:24):
I was just looking up trying to think, like around
this era. I mean, it wasn't It's funny because I
know we talked about it last week with the Rocketeer,
but I was re listening again to the Rocketeer soundtrack,
and I'm like, dear God, is this wrath of Khan
with a fl with with a motif added to it?
(41:46):
Like it is like ninety percent Wrath of Khan and
like ten percent oh yeah, Rocketeer Dad. This though, was
better balanced. I think it was, you know, and you know,
there wasn't a lot of jungle noise. You know, we
all know those specific instruments they play when we're in
(42:08):
the jungle. It's like, no, no, we're the Jungles coming
to us. But yeah, it's a fantasy movie. It really is,
and I think he captured it really well. So, I mean,
you can't go wrong with Horner. It's one of the greats.
Speaker 5 (42:24):
I think it's a mid tier Horner in all honesty,
because you know, yeah, I have it pulled up here
and I'm looking at it. But when you're talking about
the guy that did, you know, Feel the Dreams and
Brave Heart and Star Trek two and Good Lord Apocalypto
and even I mean the main theme on Willow and
like that, those are like the top tier Horner. And
(42:45):
of course you got Aliens, okay, but like you you
have all of that stuff. And then Jumanji is a
good score, but it's not a score where I hear
it and I'm like, oh, that's a Horner. I hear
it and I'm like, that's a serviceable score.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
You know, I feel the year this came out, Apollo
thirteen takes the cake, that is the that is the
gem of nineteen. That's ninety five for Foreigner.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
And that's why Tom Hanks couldn't be Allen Parrish in
this movie. No joke, no joke just wouldn't have worked.
It's good that it was Williams. To be fair to Jumanji,
a serviceable horner is probably freaking Beethoven to most other
serviceable scores.
Speaker 5 (43:31):
Oh oh yeah, I know. I I apologize how I
was coming off as like dismissive. I was saying, like,
you know, when when when you know?
Speaker 3 (43:39):
It was like, oh you know, is it Braveheart? Yeah?
You know?
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Also is it one of his Oscar winners or one
of the one of the theme songs like Willow that
makes me cry when I listened to it?
Speaker 3 (43:50):
No, was it Aliens? Now? Was it?
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Was it the time that I bawled my eyes out
when he fell in love with his with his wife
for the first time in Braveheart?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Knew but you know that's Jumanji.
Speaker 5 (44:02):
If I must make do with a score, this one
will be fine.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (44:06):
I wasn't meaning to come across as dismissing.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
You are right, though, like, is it Aliens is a
brave heart? No, but it's it's good, it's servable, it
gets the job done.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
No, you're I'm ragging on you, but you're You're not wrong,
You're not wrong.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
So this is the time of the podcast where we
talk about Lance Reddick, one of our favorite actors, and
it's become habit tradition, whatever you want to call it,
where we take Lance Reddick at any time and we
do blind casting and figure out where we would like
to put him in the movie. And this is in
no disrespect to anybody involved, especially the actor that we're replacing,
(44:43):
but this is one of my favorite parts of the episode.
I'm going to go first, and I Am not going
to be racist and replace them with the only black
person in the movie Fair, which would be easy. But
I would put Lance Reddick in Jonathan Hyde's role with
(45:04):
the Dad and Van Pelt. I feel like that would
be an easy place for him because I feel like
he could very much play that elegant but distant individual
who's posh but stern at the same time. I think
that would work. John, where would you put Reddick.
Speaker 5 (45:19):
Same place exactly. That's exactly where I saw him was.
I could see him playing that dual role really well
and accentuating the necessary parts of both of those characters.
So I completely agree with you as much as I
love Jonathan Hyde in this you know.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Oh yeah again, that's why we always have to say,
like Jonathan, I'd nailed it, did a fantastic job. We're
just trying to think where we could put Reddick, Darren,
what about you? Yeah, I was actually thinking the same way.
I was almost thinking of splitting it where Van Pelt
was not played by the Father, Like I don't think
they need to need to be the same actor, but
(45:54):
he could also do, you know, get double the screen
time and also play the father as well. So yeah,
I think we're we're three for three across the board.
Three for three.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
That I love it when that happens. That's so fun,
all right, folks. Okay, So now is the time when
we rank childhood nostalgia and we judge each other for
how much we'd love or hate this film. Darren, because
I'm hosting and I love to do this to you,
I'm making you go first, as is tradition.
Speaker 4 (46:22):
Yeah, that's a great tradition. Yeah, no, I'm I'm giving
this a solid four. It's a it's a fun movie.
It does I don't have I don't watch it as often,
you know, even re sharing it with my kids. It's hard.
I mean, it's it's not gonna top the nostalgia factor
that Rocketeer had, like and the joy that that brought.
(46:43):
But you know, honestly, I would probably if I had
to pick how to spend a Saturday night with a
Jumanji movie, I would probably actually go with like Welcome
to the Jungle, which I think is a better constructed
singular story. But yes, yes, I know. But as far
as nineties goodness, this movie takes the cake. Like it
(47:06):
for its special effects.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
For.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Balancing, you know, Robin Williams in it, for continuing down,
you know, the Joe Johnston train. So I'm giving it.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Four, all right, John Beaucephalus Mills, what are you giving
this movie?
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Well?
Speaker 5 (47:28):
I didn't love it when it first came out, but
I still have a certain nostalgic pull for it. This
is It's very strange because there are some movies where
you're not nuts about them and you'll never watch them again,
And there are other movies where you're not nuts about them,
but there's enough about it that works. And like I
think you were saying this last week Tristan, where it's
(47:49):
been years since I've seen this, but I remembered every
single moment, and I think that is to the movie's credit.
I think that's to Johnston's credit, is he obviously makes
things that burn themselves into your brain, regardless of whether
you love them or not. You're you can go back
decades later watch a movie and you're like, I remember
everything that happened because of the pacing, because of the
(48:12):
shot composition, because of how it comes together, and James
Horner's score, And I think that I'm gonna wind up
with a solid three for Jumanji. Not terrific, but it's good.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Yeah I did he bribed you?
Speaker 5 (48:29):
No? No, If Joey had gotten to me, this had
have been a one.
Speaker 3 (48:33):
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
This is this is This is a movie that I
h I always forget how much I love this is
a movie that is reeks of nostalgia. And it's so
hard for me to be objective with this one because
it and man, we didn't even talk about the cinematography
on this one.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
I feel like that's been a really solid progression of
Johnston is relying on his cinematographer to do what needs
to be done. And I really felt a much more
mature filmmaker, not just in this CGI execution, but in
the shot selection and how it moved across the screen
and how he's able to craft relationships just on the
(49:16):
shot selection, specifically between Alan and Peter, and also speaking
which like Peter's fourth wall break when he needed to
find the acts in the woodshed and he grabs the
action to break down to open the woodshed and then
looks at the camera. That could be my favorite fourth
(49:37):
wall break in cinematic history. I lost in the theater
as a young lad. I lost it today when I
watched it. So I think this is this is a
really the shows Johnston's growth from Rocketeer in terms of cinematography,
what he can get from the actors, pacing. I think
(49:58):
this is better pace than Rocketeer. But I feel like John,
I think you brought me down a little bit, as
you do lots of the times, even in even in our.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
Day to day life. It's my superpower.
Speaker 4 (50:10):
People don't know this, but John and I talk every day,
and you often bring me down to your level.
Speaker 5 (50:16):
I make it my mission. I pop out of bed
and I'm like, how can I ruin Tristan's life? Don't
ask for this noise in your life, Darren. All I
will do is make you cry. Trust me, and so
I I you know rock Deery game.
Speaker 4 (50:28):
You're waking up? Ding? Ding?
Speaker 5 (50:29):
Is that my alarm?
Speaker 4 (50:30):
No, it's John texting six.
Speaker 5 (50:32):
Am more accurate than you realize it.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Before I'm awake.
Speaker 5 (50:43):
This is what sucks about today, Tristan.
Speaker 3 (50:49):
This is why I'm pissed off. And you should.
Speaker 5 (50:54):
Yeah, pretty much, pretty much, pretty much. Well, listen, they
never should have changed the rescue McDonald's French fries. I'm
not gonna let go with that one.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
You guys got a little window in my world.
Speaker 4 (51:08):
Person Yeah, like Rocket here was five stars because it's
just so it can't be fun enjoyment. And even though
I like I loved Jumanji, I really do, there is
a few things I feel like we could get a
little bit more emotional connection with the characters. I think John,
you were absolutely right about that, and I didn't even
realize that until you know what you said, And so like,
(51:29):
I'm really only I'm not even going to bring it
down a full start. I'm just bringing it out a
house stars, So I'm giving it four and a half stars.
I truly love this movie. I just I was grinning
like an idiot the entire time I was watching it.
So I think this is fantastic. I think this is fun,
and I'm going to show this to my kift and
I'm going to fast forward the you know, I'm gonna
do the old David Riddell fast forward during the Spider part.
(51:51):
But other than that, it's gonna be solid. So Darren,
what are we doing next week? Well, next week we're
putting the special effects on the back burner as we
go to a more personal story. In nineteen ninety nine's
October Sky Here on house Lights, join
Speaker 1 (52:08):
The Revolution, Join the nerd Party.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.