Zilo: A Space Robot Adventure (2005)

Zilo: A Space Robot Adventure (also known simply as Zilo) is a 2005 American science fiction adventure film directed by Jon Favreau. It is an adaptation of the 2002 children's book Zilo by Chris Van Allsburg, author of the 1981 children's book Jumanji. It is a standalone spin-off of the 1995 film Jumanji and the second installment of the Jumanji franchise. The film stars Chloe Kate, Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Ryan Newman, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, and Tim Robbins.

The story is about two squabbling brothers, Danny and Walter Budwing (portrayed by Bobo and Hutcherson, respectively) who find a mysterious robot in the basement named Zilo (Kate) who befriends Danny and his good friend Chloe (Newman) and discover a game console which transports their house into outer space. Along with their older sister Lisa (Stewart) and an astronaut (Shepard), they try to survive the game so they can return home.

Synopsis
Brothers Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) can never seem to get along with each other, or with their older cantankerous teen-aged sister, Lisa (Kristen Stewart). While staying at their divorced father's home while he is away at work and Lisa is asleep, Danny discover an old clockwork-driven space-themed robot named "Zilo" in the basement. Zilo than awakes and gives a friendly meeting to Danny and wants to be his loyal devoted friend no matter what and goes after Walter as revenge for putting him in the basement on purpose, and when he stops attacking him by Danny and says he can entertain them at home while keeping Zilo secret from their dad, and soon their sister finds out as well. After knocking his brother Walter out by accident, Danny than find an old game console in the box he found Zilo from and he and his good friend Chole (Ryan Newman) begin to play the game, the goal to be the first one of two players to reach the final level (Level 10) named Zathura Sector 10 (The Black Hole). During each turn, the game provides a card that pops out of the console with instructions, but the two quickly realize the cards affect reality. They soon discover the house is floating on a small rock in outer space. Meanwhile, Lisa looks out the window, and believing it is merely dark, goes to shower for her date. When the two kids try to warn Lisa about what has happened, they find she is frozen in cryonic sleep as a result of one of the cards. Danny and Chloe soon realizes that the only way to end the game and hopefully return to Earth is to reach the end level of Zathura.

Cast

 * Chole Kate as the voice of (Zilo)
 * Jonah Bobo as Danny
 * Josh Hutcherson as Walter
 * Ryan Newman as Chole
 * Kristen Stewart as Lisa
 * Dax Shepard as Astronaut (Older Danny)
 * Tim Robbins as Dad
 * Frank Oz as the voice of (The Robot)

Minor Cast

 * TBA as Violet (Danny & Chloe's friend 1)
 * TBA as Freddy (Danny & Chloe's friend 2)
 * TBA as Pete the Neighbor (Next door neighbor)
 * TBA as Danny's old school principle (Minor scene)

Additionally, Alex Jefferson performed as Zilo in the suit, John Alexander performed as the Robot, Derek Mears as Lead Zorgon, and Douglas Tait, Joe Bucaro, and Jeff Wolfe, portray individual Zorgons.

Production
Director Jon Favreau acknowledged the influence of other films saying Zathura had some bits like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Superman. Favreau was aware of Dax Shepard from the TV series Punk'd but was convinced to cast him because Mike Judge put him in Idiocracy and because of his background in improvisation with The Groundlings that Will Ferrell had also come out of.

Favreau preferred to use practical effects instead of computer generated imagery (CGI) in the film. He said, "it's so fun to actually shoot real spaceships or have a real robot running around on the set, or real Zorgons built by Stan Winston. It gives the actors, especially young actors, so much to work off of". Dax Shepard, who plays the astronaut, said he would not have been interested in doing the film if the effects had been CGI-based. Actress Kristen Stewart enjoyed the on-set effects, saying, "When we harpooned walls and ripped them out, we were really doing it. When there was a fire on set, there was really fire," and that "[t]he only green screen I was ever involved with was for getting sucked out into the black hole." The exteriors for the house were filmed at Oaklawn Avenue, South Pasadena.

Trivia

 * Kristen Stewart is only two years older than Josh Hutcherson.
 * Kristen Stewart admitted she was disturbed to see the life-size replica made of her for the scenes where Lisa is frozen.
 * Jonah Bobo lost 4 teeth during filming, so the filmmakers made him fake teeth.
 * A child actor was used to be inside of the Zilo robot suit while Chloe Kate provided the voice for Zilo.
 * Originally conceived as a direct sequel to Jumanji (1995). The visual effects supervisor on that film, Ken Ralston, was lined up to direct before Columbia abandoned the project in favor of adapting Zathura.
 * In every Chris Van Allsburg book, there is a bull terrier named Fritz. Jon Favreau put Fritz in the movie - look for a Beanie Baby bull terrier behind Walter near the end of the movie.
 * Filmed in the same house that would later be used in Disturbia (2007).
 * Near the beginning of the film, Tim Robbins walks into Kristen Stewart's room. When he walks in, a "Tenacious D" poster can be seen behind him on the wall. Tim Robbins starred in the film "Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny" a year later.
 * The kid who played Zilo in the robot suit actually can move and dance mechically like a robot in a fascinating way that brought in the idea for Jon Favreau to play Zilo in the movie.