With Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle playing in theatres, let’s revisit the original film

Jumanji became a cult classic.

Dwayne Johnson and Karen Gillan starrer Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has, unexpectedly considering its premise, received rave reviews but most would agree that it cannot hold a candle to the original film starring the legend Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst.

The 1995 fantasy adventure film Jumanji was not received well but it has since then become a cult film, a favourite among adventure film fans. Now that the sequel Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is here, let us have a look at what the first film was all about.

Jumanji was an adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s book of the same name which was based on the titular board game that had ramifications in the real world. A kid, Alan, finds the game and invites his friend, Sarah, to play it. The interesting thing about the game is after rolling the dice, the pieces move by themselves. During the course of the game, a message appears that one of the kids will have to “wait” in the jungle until other player does not roll a 5 or 8 on the dice. The kid (whose grownup version was played by Robin Williams) is sucked into the game, which is a forest and also the setting of the sequel.