In theaters

ZATHURA, Directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Koepp and John Kamps, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg, 113 minutes, rated PG.

So, the movie is toast. After only a week in theaters and a grim showing at the box office, the new Jon Favreau movie, “Zathura,” is ready for a quick exit to DVD.

That’s a shame, particularly since the film is superior in every way to that other recent children’s film, “Chicken Little,” which hopefully will find itself plucked bare, stuffed, roasted and carved on somebody’s table come Thursday.

What sank “Zathura” is its familiar hook. The movie hails from the beautifully illustrated book by Chris Van Allsburg, whose companion book, “Jumanji,” was turned into an inferior (yet popular) 1995 movie with Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt. Like “Zathura,” “Jumanji” featured a board game that wreaked havoc on the family that played it; the only way out of the chaos was to end the game – no easy feat when elephants and rhinos are bulldozing through your living room.

With the similarities so apparent, audiences stayed away from “Zathura,” a trend likely to continue since today it faces the opening of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” which likely will take whatever was left of “Zathura’s” intended audience and grip them firmly by the muggles until everyone’s allowance is spent.

Here’s a tip for those who might get shut out of “Goblet” due to this weekend’s inevitable sold-out shows – slip into “Zathura” instead. The movie is a rousing sci-fi tale that never panders, with a plot that takes unexpected directions into harrowing rooms. Mirroring the recent “Serenity,” the film has real gusto, delivering the sci-fi goods with an intelligent script and direction that are backed by swell special effects.

The core of the story is steeped in something real – the bickering sibling rivalry between 6-year-old Danny (Jonah Bobo) and his 10-year-old brother, Walter (Josh Hutcherson), who refuse to get along; the divorce that split their family apart; the distraction of an absent father (Tim Robbins) trying to do his best; and a teenage sister (Kristen Stewart) who is at that age when little brothers shouldn’t exist.

These elements ground the movie in something identifiable, which is key since the moment Danny finds the antique Zathura board game in the basement and pushes the bold red button on its side, the family house zips into outer space. There, hovering along the fringes of the galaxy, deadly meteor showers begin to pelt the roof, deep freezes have their way with certain siblings, and Zorgon alien attacks aren’t just the order of the day – they might end it.

In all, a fine, often genuinely exciting movie that trumps “Jumanji” and especially that other film based on an Allsburg book, the creepy Christmas horror movie with the Nazi undertones, “The Polar Express.”

Grade: A-

On video and DVD

THE SKELETON KEY, directed by Iain Softley, written by Ehren Kruger, 104 minutes, rated R.

Iain Softley’s “The Skeleton Key” is one hoodoo of a movie – literally. It’s a movie about hoodoo, voodoo and cheap thrills set in a Louisiana backwater.

The film is a ripe Southern Gothic, just this side of moldy, with Softley playing the first half of the story straight before smoking some homegrown hoodoo himself to deliver a final half that embraces, shall we say, its share of absurdity.

Based on Ehren Kruger’s script, the film stars Kate Hudson as Caroline, a Big Easy hospice worker who agrees to take a job on the aforementioned backwater, in spite of urgings from her friend, Hallie (Fahnlohnee Harris), not to do it. “Girl, crazy things happen out there,” Hallie says. “I don’t know, sugar – you better think twice.”

Or something like that.

Anyhoodoo, Caroline gets in her vintage VW Beetle and takes off for the job. On the rundown plantation, which looks peculiarly like the one in “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte,” she meets sketchy Violet (Gena Rowlands), who boldly likes to smoke long, thin cigarillos with flare; her lawyer, Luke (Peter Sarsgaard), who doesn’t; and Violet’s dying husband, Ben (John Hurt), who apparently had a massive stroke.

In this house of no mirrors, things get weird behind all its locked doors, the skeleton key to which Caroline was given by Violet. While she cares for Ben, curiosity leads her into every one of those rooms, particularly (and naturally) the attic, in which something appears to be trying to get out. Caroline tries like mad to get in, which leads to all sorts of problems, the likes of which won’t be revealed here because it’s at this point that the movie gets good – really good – in its own spectacularly cheap way.

“The Skeleton Key” isn’t a great movie by any stretch, but when a film’s actors obviously are having this much fun slumming – and that fun morphs into subversive entertainment for us – there isn’t a better remedy, Southern or otherwise.

Particularly good is venerable actress Rowlands, who apparently has reached that zenith in her career when its perfectly sane to go a little nuts onscreen. Indeed, in one scene that involves compound fractures, a foul, bourbon-soaked mouth and lots of low crawling, Rowlands sinks to the challenge and reveals that she never has been so mesmerizing.

Grade: B

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

THE VIDEO-DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl In 3-D – D-

The Amityville Horror – C-

Batman Anthology – A-

Batman Begins – A

Bride & Prejudice – B

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – A-

Crash – D

Cursed – C-

Cypher – C+

Desperate Housewives: Complete First Season – B+

The Devil’s Rejects – B

Empire Falls – C-

Fever Pitch – A-

Flight of the Phoenix – C-

Guess Who – C+

Gus Van Sant’s Last Days – B-

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – B-

Hostage – C-

House of Flying Daggers – A

Inside Deep Throat – B+

Ice Princess – B-

The Interpreter – B+

Kicking and Screaming – C

Kingdom of Heaven – B-

Kung Fu Hustle – A

A Lot Like Love – D

Madagascar – D

Melinda and Melinda – B

Million Dollar Baby – A

Millions – A-

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous – C+

Monster-in-Law – B-

The Notebook – B+

Office Space: Special Edition with Flair – B

The Perfect Man – D

Polar Express – C-

Ray – A

Rize – A-

The Ring Two – C-

Robots – C-

Sahara – C-

The Sea Inside – A-

Sin City – A-

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – B

The Skeleton Key – B

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – B+

The Upside of Anger – B

Unleashed – C-

Warner Holiday Collection – A

War of the Worlds – B+

The Wedding Date – B

Whoopi: Back to Broadway – C+