Zathura

 
Sony, PG, 101 min. plus supplements, widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1, Street: Feb. 14, DVD and UMD $28.95; First Run: W, Nov. 2005, $28 mil.

In Zathura's meet-the-cast featurette, one of the stars of this fabulous adventure casually takes out his two sets of dentures to show what he looks like without four of his front teeth. You're not likely to see that again, Hollywood egos being what they are, but Jonah Bobo can be forgiven for being so candid—he's 7 years old. It's just one delightful moment among many found in the slew of bonuses Sony has included on the DVD of this extremely worthwhile film. In several of the extras, director Jon Favreau shows how the plethora of special effects was accomplished and explains his decisions to use digitally altered costumed actors as opposed to rendering them all in sterile CGI. Those decisions create much of the nostalgic charm of the comical adventure, which involves a killer robot, reptilian aliens and vibrant outer space visuals. The career of Zathura author Chris Van Allsburg—who had a good run with last year's The Polar Express—is illustrated in a comprehensive chapter. Favreau and co-producer Peter Billingsly also provide a free-wheeling, insightful commentary track. "I wanted to capture the charm of the early Amblin movies," Favreau says at one point. And we have to say that he succeeded.


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