Jumanji
by Chris Van Allsburg
illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
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Houghton Mifflin (Boston): 1981. Hardcover: 32 pages. ISBN-10: 0-395-30448-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-395-30448-8 Suggested retail price: $18.95 (US) Award: 1982 Caldecot Medal Tags: board games; Juvenile; lions; made into movie; monkeys; snakes Tactical strength: [9/10] |
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Of course I had heard of Chris Van Allsburg as the author of Jumanji, Zathura, and, of course, The Polar Express, but somehow I had only watched the movie adaptations and hadn't actually read any of his printed works. As a first impression, I would have to say that the movie adaptation of Jumanji creates a sloppy reflection of the artistic precision in Van Allsburg's illustrated story about two children who find a reality-altering game in the park.
Bored, Judy and Peter go for a walk in the park where they find an abandoned board game, and they take the game home to try it out. Judy, the older sibling, carefully reads the rules before starting. The most important rule states, "Once a game of Jumanji is started it will not be over until one player reaches the [end]." Peter rolls first and lands on "Lion attacks, move back two spaces." A lion appears on the piano just above Peter and chases him around the house until Peter manages to lock the lion in a bedroom. As the children continue to play, they experiences thieving monkeys, a drenching monsoon, a lost guide, a rhinoceros stampede, a python, and a volcano before Judy wins the game. No longer bored, the children take the game back to the park where someone else can experience Jumanji.
Van Allsburg draws with the precision of a draftsman and seems capable of creating any shade of grey between white and black. I wouldn't call his illustrations photorealistic because he simplifies his backgrounds to simple fields of grey, but the figures have incredible details that express both character and tone. Van Allsburg pays particular attention to Peter's shirt. Although this shirt probably started out clean and pressed, by the time we meet Peter, we see numerous wrinkles from active play and the shirt has almost come untucked. In contrast, Judy's clothes and hair show that she takes much more care with her appearance. Because of this attention to these details, it comes as no surprise that Judy wants to read the rules from beginning to end before starting the game. The characterization in the illustrations works synergistically with the text.
After experiencing the clean simplicity of Van Allsburg's illustrations, Joe Johnston's movie adaptation seems blurry and undefined. You have to give credit to Van Allsburg that the detail in just fourteen illustrations and fourteen pages of text could produce a feature-length film. Unfortunately I think that the movie version clouds some of the fine lines of the beautiful artwork. The movie over enhances the elements of comedy and danger and introduces an entire father-son relationship problem not found in the original. The movie clearly tries to stay loyal to Van Allsburg's story, but I prefer the fine, controlled artwork, to the frenzy of the film.
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