Original artwork, not a still
This will not be an easy mission – monkeys slow the expedition.
— Jumanji · 1995
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The game talks in rhyming couplets and stays deadpan about disaster, and this is the first couplet that sounds like a joke: monkeys, of all things, as the thing that slows an expedition. The kids laugh, and then the room fills with them. Fans quote it as the standard way to blame small annoyances for a plan going wrong, and it fixes the film's tone of playful menace.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for JumanjiShow the scene
In Joe Johnston's 1995 film, orphaned siblings Judy and Peter Shepherd have just moved with their aunt Nora into the vacant Parrish mansion. Hearing drumbeats, they find the board game Jumanji in the attic and start to play. Their first roll brings giant mosquitoes. Next, a rhyme appears in the crystal ball at the centre of the board: this will not be an easy mission, and monkeys slow the expedition. A troop of monkeys appears. The rules say everything vanishes when the game is finished, so they play on; Peter's five then releases a lion and the grown-up Alan Parrish, trapped inside for twenty-six years.
Sources (2)
- Springfield! Springfield! script: JumanjiAttic game sceneReference checked
- Wikipedia: Jumanji (film)PlotReference checked
Context reviewed
