Zathura
There are some movies which, if you are at all self-aware, you know you enjoy more than the movie is worth. So I got a big kick out of Zathura, a kid’s movie which was rated Parental Guidance because it had, and I quote, “Imagination.” Two brothers are not getting along at all, probably because their parents are going through a typical divorce. When the 6-year old starts to play a game which he found in the basement of their old Greene & Greene-style house, his 10-year old brother must finally take notice: When the Zathura game’s card says beware of meteor showers, the living room is actually perforated with meteorites. Thereafter, the lovely Greene & Greene-style house becomes a space ship subject to destruction as the brothers—and their frosty teenage sister—go through a series of adventures that helps them grow up a lot. For fans of Greene and Greene architecture, this must be distressing: Hey, let’s watch Zorgons destroy this epitome of the Arts and Crafts movement in American architecture. But for kids it is a great lesson: Let’s set aside our petty jealousies which an affluent existence affords us, and treat each other with more respect, in the face of life and death. For me, I got such a kick out of the 6-year old and his interaction with his obnoxious 10-year old brother that I found this one of the most enjoyable—and in a way funny—movies I’ve seen in a long time. And I was happy that, when the film makers had to choose a house to be a star in the movie, the film executives chose a Greene & Greene-style house. You couldn’t ask for a better spaceship!
Jim Bell