Zathura's director Jon Favreau says he went into this project wanting to..."Make this like a movie we missed growing up and just now found". Well, the space adventure Zathura does sorta remind us of The Goonies or Gremlins or one of those other 80's and early '90's Spielberg style adventures.

In Zathura, an overworked father (Tim Robbins) leaves the house and 6-year old son, Danny (Jonah Bobo) and 10-year-old son, Walter (Josh Hutcherson) in the care of their couldn't-care-less teen sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart). Both boys are vying for the attention of their dad and Walter is pretty mean to his younger brother. Bored when Walter won't play with him, Danny discovers the game, Zathura in the basement of their house. When his brother won't play, Danny starts playing the game himself. The game is magic and various moves lead to a meteor shower and finally the launching of the entire house into space!

Instructions let the boys know that they can't go back home to Earth until they play the whole game and each boys' turn brings a new dangerous space adventure. Sis has already been "frozen" by one game move and making things more interesting are an astronaut also trapped in the game (Dax Shephard), a giant robot and a threatening lizard race called Zorgons. Will the guys finish the game and return home, will they learn to get along?