History YMMV / Jumanji

* {{Narm}}: "You miserable coward, come back and face me like a man!" is hard to take seriously since it's implying that the unarmed Alan should take on Van Pelt, who's wielding a {{BFG}}.

* RetroactiveRecognition: It turns out Judy is a very young Creator/KirstenDunst.

** None of the CGI has aged well. However, the monkeys are arguably the most glaring example. They stood out even during the time of release due to their poorly rendered fur. Then again most of the animals (CGI or otherwise) have a slightly stylised look, as opposed to photo-realistic, so maybe they're supposed to look a little off.

*** The blu-ray release of Jumanji features a gag reel. At one point, Robin Williams rolls the dice, removes a playing piece from its spot, and places it somewhere else before telling a joke. So the game pieces jumping around has been solved: Robin Williams thought it was funny to mess with them and nobody bothered to put them back!

** The game itself regarding how much Jumanji has control over the dice. One has to wonder if it has some direct control over the dice rolls as Judy and Peter would have been stuck had Peter not been lucky enough to roll a 5 to finally get Alan out of the jungle. The game purposefully makes it a 5 knowing that Judy and Peter would have been stuck.

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/RobinWilliams' character here has spent his whole life surviving in the jungle inside the game, without a toilet in sight; so when he finally sees one again after so long he's close to tears of joy for no longer resorting to "banana leaves". In 2006, his highly-urbanized character in ''{{Film/RV}}'' is impressed with resorting to fern leaves, "nature's broom", during his family's outdoor adventure. The fact that his character on that film [[spoiler:is probably just making an act and still hasn't experienced doing it out in the wild, and if such is the case then he doesn't really know what he's saying]] just adds to the humor. Also ironic because both movies were produced by Creator/SonyPictures.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Van Pelt is fondly remembered for his costume design, ambiguous origins and function within the game (see above), and Creator/JonathanHyde's delightful performance. He falls a bit short of EvilIsCool what with getting outsmarted by preteens, but such is life sometimes.

* {{Narm}}: "You miserable coward, come back and face me like a man!" is hard to take seriously since it's implying that the unarmed Alan should take on Van Pelt, who's wielding a BFG.

* {{Narm}}: "You miserable coward, come back and face me like a man!" is hard to take seriously since it's implying that the unarmed Alan should take on Van Pelt, who's wielding a gun.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Nora is doing her best to be the CoolAunt to Peter and Judy, while grieving her brother and sister-in-law. The third-quel [[spoiler: reveals that in the new timeline she's a successful businesswoman and just plain content to have her family alive]].
* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/RobinWilliams' character here has spent his whole life surviving in the jungle inside the game, without a toilet in sight; so when he finally sees one again after so long he's close-to-tears of joy for no longer resorting to "banana leaves". In 2006, his highly-urbanized character in ''{{Film/RV}}'' is impressed with resorting to fern leaves, "nature's broom", during his family's outdoor adventure. The fact that his character on that film [[spoiler:is probably just making an act and still hasn't experienced doing it out in the wild, and if such is the case then he doesn't really know what he's saying]] just adds to the humor. Also ironic because both movies were produced by Creator/SonyPictures.

** In a scene that shouldn't even have required special effects, when Van Pelt hands over the gold coins mentioned in ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney, his arm and the coins falling have a very strange after-image look to them, as if they're made of sand.

** The spiders toward the end of the film. The film was dangerously close to going over-budget so they had to cut back and rely on puppets for the scene. It's incredibly obvious once they appear, especially since they move in a very jerky, wooden way. Never stops them from being any less [[NightmareFuel terrifying]]... actually, it might make them even ''scarier'', since it gives the impression that they're very unnatural spiders more dangerous than the norm.
** Several times throughout the film, the game pieces will not be on their proper lanes. A prime example is when Alan opens the game for Sarah to see after they have reunited in the present, and you'll see, clear as day, that two pieces are on the same lane. Similarly the dice rolls do not coincide with where the game pieces should be on the game board. In fact, the game ends too early considering that a lot of the dice rolls are low and the rolls that aren't seen wouldn't be enough to make up the difference even if they rolled an eleven.[[note]]Rolling a twelve would be impossible since no one gets doubles after Peter's first roll.[[/note]]
*** The blu-ray release of Jumanji features a gag reel. At one point, Robin Williams rolls the dice, removes a playing piece from its spot and places it somewhere else before telling a joke. So the game pieces jumping around has been solved: Robin Williams thought it was funny to mess with them and nobody bothered to put them back!

*** The stampede goes from one side of the house to the other without damaging the front door, but that does not stop the house from flooding even though there are two gaping holes at either end.

*** The stampede goes from one side of the house to the other without damaging the front door, but this still applies when the house floods even though there are two gaping holes at either end.

* UncannyValley: Thanks to some special effects not aging well, almost all of the hazards of the game look a little... off. The fur on the monkeys, the jerky movements of the spiders, almost everything about the lion. However, this can occasionally make the creatures even more unsettling, making them look even more "not of this world".

* HarsherInHindsight:
** At the end of the book, Judy and Peter's neighbor Mrs. Budwig laments that her sons, Danny and Walter, often start games without finishing -- shortly before the boys take Jumanji from the park. In the ''Zathura'' book, [[spoiler:the game indeed gets cut short, but not because the boys lose interest in it; instead a black hole sucks up Walter before he can finish bringing Danny back to Earth (although after the black hole sends Walter back to the ending of ''Jumanji'', he convinces Danny not to bring the game home at all).]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Nora is doing her best to be the CoolAunt to Peter and Judy, while grieving her brother and sister-in-law. [[spoiler: The third-quel reveals that in the new timeline she's a successful businesswoman and just plain content to have her family alive]].

* HeartwarmingHindsight: Nora is doing her best to be the CoolAunt to Peter and Judy, while grieving her brother and sister-in-law. [[spoiler: The third-quel reveals that in the new timeline she's a successful businesswoman and just plain content to have her family alive]].

*** Actually it destroys the side wall of a living room, not the front door. Though it still leaves a massive hole in the mansion... one can assume that [[AWizardDidIt the vines covered it up]].

* WhatAnIdiot:
** After getting the game back, the group could have chosen anywhere else to finish the game, and yet, for no justified reason, they choose to return to the jungle-infested Parrish house.
*** Then again, Alan does say as they're setting the game back up that he knows the house and that it's "out there [he's] afraid of," so this only so much applies to the rest of them for not arguing it.
** And for another matter, no one decides to destroy the game for good measure, rather, they decide to hide it away, in hopes it will never be found, which it inevitably ends up being found by other people.
*** Of course, it's possible the game can't be destroyed, as undoubtedly previous people who owned it attempted to smash or dismantle it before resorting to burial. The sequels [[spoiler:confirm that the game can't stay destroyed]].

* UncannyValley: Thanks to some special effects not aging well, almost all of the hazards of the game look a little... off. The fur on the monkeys, the jerky movements of the spiders, almost everything about the lion. However, this can occasionally make the creatures even more unsettling, making them look even more "not of this world."

*** Of course, it's possible the game can't be destroyed, as undoubtedly previous people who owned it attempted to smash or dismantle it before resorting to burial. The sequels [[spoiler:confirm that the game can't stay destroyed]].

** The background scenes describing the effects of the giant mosquito bites to unsuspecting victims make it all the more scary when one thinks of diseases such as the West Nile and Zika virus.
** Given that Jumanji appears to be directly inspired by DarkestAfrica tropes, the mosquitos were already this if the viewer realized the damage that mosquito-transmitted malaria can do.
** In-universe, the last words Alan scream at his father are, "I'm never talking to you ''again''!"
** After the quicksand effect is undone, we get a close-up shot of the floorboards becoming solid again and tightening around Alan's head. It's quite chilling after Creator/RobinWilliams committed suicide by hanging in 2014.
** What about the process Van Pelt goes through to get his new gun from the gun shop, ie. all he does is drop some gold coins, and the owner offers to fill out the paperwork and shows Van Pelt a particularly nasty semiautomatic shotgun. Considering the ''countless'' mass shootings that have happened since then, that scene is incredibly uneasy to watch; while Van Pelt says he's only after Alan, he only shoots once at Alan and [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety the rest of his shots are fired haphazardly in the store]] when he's trying to kidnap Sarah to bait Alan, whom he ''knows'' isn't there. There actually is a joke about this in the movie, when the owner gets concerned and asks if he's a postal worker in reference to several mass shootings by postal workers in the 80s and 90s.

** What about the process Van Pelt goes through to get his new gun from the gun shop, ie. all he does is drop some gold coins, and the owner offers to fill out the paperwork and shows Van Pelt a particularly nasty semiautomatic shotgun. Considering the ''multiple'' mass shootings that have happened since then, that scene is incredibly uneasy to watch; while Van Pelt says he's only after Alan, he only shoots once at Alan and [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety the rest of his shots are fired haphazardly in the store]] when he's trying to kidnap Sarah to bait Alan, whom he ''knows'' isn't there. There actually is a joke about this in the movie, when the owner gets concerned and asks if he's a postal worker in reference to several mass shootings by postal workers in the 80s and 90s.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Creator/RobinWilliams' character here has spent his whole life surviving in the jungle inside the game, without a toilet in sight; so when he finally sees one again after so long he's close-to-tears of joy for no longer resorting to "banana leaves". In 2006, his highly-urbanized character in ''{{Film/RV}}'' is impressed with resorting to fern leaves, "nature's broom", during his family's outdoor adventure. The fact that his character on that film [[spoiler:is probably just making an act and still hasn't experienced doing it out in the wild, and if such is the case then he doesn't really know what he's saying]] just adds to the humor. Also ironic because both movies were produced by Creator/SonyPictures.
** In 1991, Robin Williams [[Film/{{Hook}} played a character]] whose ArchEnemy is usually in theatrical productions [[ActingForTwo played by the same actor as the father of said character's love interest]]. Here, Williams' character's ArchEnemy is played by the same actor playing ''his'' character's father.

* NarmCharm: For many, the effects of the creatures nowadays could fall into {{Narm}} territory due to the CGI not aging well. However, it falls into the NarmCharm territory if one is to just assume that the reason the creatures look weird is because they're created from a magic board-game.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: About Van Pelt. Is he perhaps a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who hunts human beings just for pure sadism, or maybe he's a NobleDemon who just follows the game's rules and could also be redeemable if he had the chance? There's also another, infinitely more horrifying interpretation. What if Van Pelt was just another poor soul trapped in Jumanji like Alan was, but was either ''never'' rescued or was killed before finishing the game, leading to him becoming [[WasOnceAMan twisted into part of the game itself]]?
** The animated series suggests the latter is certainly possible, as whoever kills Van Pelt risks [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt taking his place]].
** Given his single-mindedness in targeting Alan and only Alan since he's the one who rolled the dice, he might not be a person in any meaningful sense; he could just be a construct created by the game with as much free will as a videogame enemy. This is given more credibility by the fact that he resembles Alan's father, making it possible that whomever Van Pelt's human quarry is, he will always be made by the game to resemble whomever that person has the most psychological damage in relation to.
** Van Pelt is also on the box itself, depicted alongside an elephant, a monkey, and a rhino, the other "signature" threats of the game, implying that the Hunter is generated by the game itself just like the other threats.

** Peter uses ReversePsychology to get Alan to continue the game, much as Aladdin had previously done with Genie, another Robin Williams role, to escape the cave without using a wish.