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"Some days you have to grow up all at once," says Tim Robbins to his bickering sons in Zathura: A Space Adventure. It's a lesson 10-year-old Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and six-year-old Danny (Jonah Bobo) learn the hard way after they are propelled into outer space by an antique board game with magical properties. A sci-fi spin on 1995's Jumanji, Jon Favreau's fast-paced fantasy is an enthralling, imaginative romp that does everything its predecessor did and more.

In the jungle-based Jumanji, each roll of the dice saw ravenous lions, stampeding elephants and carnivorous plants summoned out of the ether. The same principle applies in Zathura, which finds its young heroes, their teenage sister (Kristen Stewart) and their entire suburban home transported to Saturn to face such futuristic hazards as meteor showers, defective robots, black holes and deadly aliens. "Every time we play, bad things happen!" cries Danny in exasperation. But unless he and his brother set aside their differences long enough to complete the game, they'll never set foot on Earth again.

"PERFECT FAMILY FODDER"

Though some of the intergalactic mayhem may be too intense for very young viewers, this exciting frolic is perfect family fodder with a pleasingly retro feel and a sly wit that ensures grown-ups will be as entertained as their children. ("I knew we shouldn't have rented Thirteen!" mutters Stewart after Robbins questions her wild child lifestyle.) And if the closing stages come with some rather sickly sentimentality attached, just be grateful Jumanji star Robin Williams isn't along for the ride.