Jumanji – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Jumanji

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

movie1995

52%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Robin Williams plays a board game that tries to kill everyone—and the CGI monkeys from 1995 are here to haunt your dreams.

7.1/10

53%

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Jumanji

movie

PG, 1995

52%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Robin Williams plays a board game that tries to kill everyone—and the CGI monkeys from 1995 are here to haunt your dreams.

7.1

53%

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7.1/10

53%

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Screenwise Verdict

Here's the truth: Jumanji is a movie that lives much better in your memory than on your screen in 2025.

The premise is genuinely clever, and Robin Williams brings real pathos to a man trying to process 26 years of stolen childhood. But the execution is relentlessly intense—this isn't fun adventure peril, it's sustained 'a man is actively trying to murder children with a rifle' peril. The CGI monkeys look like cursed animatronics. The pacing is exhausting.

If you're a parent who loved this as a kid, you might be shocked at how scary it actually is when you watch it with your own children. And if you're trying to introduce it to kids who've grown up on modern action movies? They're going to wonder why everyone's screaming about effects that look like a PlayStation 2 cutscene.

It's not terrible—it's just very, very 1995. And that's a harder sell than you'd think.

Age Fit

Common Sense Media's age 10+ recommendation is spot-on. Kids younger than that will likely find Van Pelt (the hunter) and the sustained animal attacks genuinely traumatizing. Even at 10+, this works best for kids who've already built up some tolerance for movie scares. Teens and adults might appreciate it for nostalgia, but the dated effects and frenetic pacing make it a tough sell for modern kids who didn't grow up with it.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Shows sibling cooperation and the importance of finishing what you start, but features significant family trauma (Alan's 26-year disappearance, parents' grief, Judy and Peter's orphan status) and some mean-spirited behavior. The emotional tone is often intense and frightening rather than nurturing. Models perseverance but through sustained peril.

Imaginative

The magical board game concept is genuinely creative and sparked a franchise. Practical effects (for 1995) bring jungle animals into suburban settings in inventive ways. The premise invites 'what if' thinking about consequences and magical realism. However, it's more about reacting to chaos than building or exploring creatively.

Safe

Multiple significant safety concerns: intense and sustained peril including stampeding animals, giant spiders, carnivorous plants, a hunter shooting at children, quicksand scenes, and a man-eating lion. Features a scary antagonist (Van Pelt) actively trying to kill the protagonist. Includes some mild language and a brief moment with bats. The chaos is relentless and genuinely frightening—not 'Marvel movie' safe, more 'unexpected nightmare fuel' territory. Common Sense Media rates it 10+ for good reason.

Enriching

Explores themes of facing consequences, the importance of completing difficult tasks, and how childhood trauma affects adults. Shows how running from problems makes them worse. However, the moral lessons are somewhat buried under constant action, and the entertainment value relies heavily on jump scares and chaos rather than meaningful character development. It's more thrilling than thought-provoking.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Robin Williams delivers a genuinely heartfelt performance as a man-child dealing with decades of trauma
The central concept—a board game with real, deadly consequences—is legitimately creative and sparked conversations about responsibility
Practical effects mixed with early CGI create a specific nostalgic aesthetic if you grew up in the 90s
Explores how running from your problems (literally getting sucked into a board game) only makes them worse when you return

⚠

What to Watch For

This is genuinely scary—a hunter with a rifle chases and shoots at kids, giant spiders attack, and a lion stalks the house. It's not 'fun adventure scary,' it's 'why is this PG' scary
The 1995 CGI has not aged well and lands in uncanny valley territory, which might be more unsettling than the filmmakers intended
Heavy themes of parental loss, childhood trauma, and abandonment that aren't really resolved in satisfying ways
The pacing is relentless chaos with little breathing room—it's exhausting rather than exciting by modern standards

Conversation Starters

"If you could get sucked into any game for 26 years, which one would be the least terrible?"
"Alan's parents never stopped looking for him—what do you think that would be like for a family?"
"The game forces you to finish what you started—have you ever wanted to quit something but had to push through? How did that feel?"
"Why do you think the game exists? Is it trying to teach a lesson or is it just chaos?"

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