Danny Budwing is one of the two main characters of Zathura. At the beginning of the movie, he did not get along with his older brother, Walter. Then he got along with him when he was nice and a better brother. Danny seemed very innocent compared to Walter. Despite lacking the ability to correctly read, and not understanding the meaning of certain words, including "rescue" and "shower", Danny has been logical and competent, and wished to establish a peaceful relationship with Walter. He is voiced and portrayed by Jonah Bobo.
Personality:[]
Danny is one of the two main protagonists of the book, "Zathura", and film, "Zathura: A Space Adventure", and the younger of two sons and the youngest of the three children, which is counting on a teenage sister, who is named Lisa, while the older one is being Walter. He disliked being treated like a baby or anything, but a brother, and enjoyed playing video games and watching "SpongeBob SquarePants", which is much to his older brother's dismay. At the beginning, he does not get along with his older brother, Walter, and older sister, Lisa, although when their father said that he is going to wake up Lisa, the boys secretly seemed to get with her as they tried to persuade him to let her sleep.
Appearance:[]
Danny has slender white skin, curly golden brown hair, and dark brown eyes and wore red shirt with a one-eyed blue creature on the chest, blue button up shirt, camouflaged pants, two red bandaids on his right arm, brown and yellow striped bracelet around his left wrist, and black tennis shoes with yellow and red stripes on their sides.
Biography:[]
Danny Budwing is one of two main protagonists of the book Zathura and film Zathura: A Space Adventure. He is the younger of two sons, and one of the three children in the film, counting a teenage sister, named Lisa, while the older one is being Walter. He does not like being treated like a baby or anything but a brother, and he enjoyed playing games. At the beginning, he does not get along with his brother or his sister, though when their father said that he is going to wake up Lisa, the boys secretly seemed to get along with her as they tried to persuade him to let her sleep. He even enjoyed watching SpongeBob SquarePants, much to his brother's dismay. Then he later wanted to play catch with Walter, but he refused, so he threw the ball to Walter a few times before accidentally knocking his face with the ball. Walter then angrily chased him for hitting his face with the ball. He hid in the dumbwaiter, but Walter found him. Danny antagonized Walter by saying that he is jealous because their dad thought that he is smarter than him, before being banished to the basement, where Danny discovered an old space-themed board game called "Zathura". He convinced Walter to play the game with him, the goal which is going to become the first player to reach the final space on the board. Each turn, a player turned a key and pressed a button, causing the board to move the player's piece a random number of spaces and spit out an event card. When Danny's first turn caused a meteor shower inside the living room, Walter and Danny realized that playing the game has altered reality. The boys discovered that their father's house is floating in space. Lisa, who is unaware of the situation, woke up and began preparing for her date that evening, but she is frozen stiff when another card turned her own bathroom into a cryonic chamber. Walter concluded the only way to end the game and return everything to normal is that they would have to win the game. As they continued to play, Walter and Danny must overcome the dangers, which are presented by the game cards, including the appearance of a defective robot and an attack on the house by a race of reptilian aliens called Zorgons. Another of Danny's turns produced an astronaut, who methodically eliminated the house's heat sources and lured the Zorgons' ship away by ejecting the boys' father's nap couch after setting it on fire. Walter asked the astronaut to leave, but Danny chose to let him stay. Growing increasingly agitated, Walter accused Danny of cheating by moving his piece prematurely, but when Walter tried to move the piece back and took his next turn, the game accused Walter of cheating and ejected him from the house into the vacuum of space, but the astronaut retrieved him. On Walter's next turn, he received a card that allowed him to make a wish. The astronaut warned Walter not to make a wish out of anger. Fearing the worst, he is relieved to discover that Walter wished merely for an autographed football. He explained that he and his brother had played the game fifteen years before, and that he wished his brother away, causing him to be stuck in the game without a second player. Lisa, who is still oblivious to the situation, awakened from her stasis and turned up the heat, which caused the Zorgons to return and anchor their ships to the house. Lisa finally discovered their predicament, and the four hid upstairs, but they realized that they has left the game behind. The astronaut used the house's dumbwaiter to lower Danny to retrieve the game. Danny found the game aboard one of the Zorgon ships, but he is seen by the Zorgons. Walter used a "Reprogram" card that he drew earlier to fix the malfunctioning robot, who attacked the Zorgons instead, and the aliens retreated. Walter received another wish card, which he used to bring back the astronaut's brother, causing a doppelgänger of Danny to appear. The astronaut revealed that he is actually Walter, and commended his younger self for making a better choice than he did fifteen years ago of his timeline, and the astronaut and the alternate Danny disappeared. The Zorgons returned to the house with a large fleet, intent on destroying it. Danny made a final move, landing on Zathura, and won, creating a black hole that sucked up the Zorgon fleet and the house. The siblings awakened in the house as it was before the brothers started the game, just as their father arrived home. Their bond renewed, and after they left with their mother, Danny's bicycle, which had been orbiting their house, fell from the sky.
Relationships:[]
Walter Budwing[]
Danny fought with his older brother, Walter a lot at first. Walter would have to often call him a “baby“ until at the end, Walter learned to be a good brother and trusted him better.
The Astronaut[]
The Astronaut and Danny are very royal to each other and Astronaut called Danny "The Big Man" even though Walter is older.
Lisa Budwing[]
Danny and Lisa did not seem to come in contact much. She got mad at her younger brothers, Walter and Danny, for setting the house on fire, but they still cared for each other.
Zorgons[]
Danny did not like the Zorgons because they had stolen the game from him and tried to eat him and his brother.
Trivia:[]
- Danny is played by Jonah Bobo who also voiced Austin the kangaroo from Nickelodeon’s The Backyardigans.
- In the Zathura board game most of his turns led to bad outcomes. The exceptions for this include the astronaut card and the card, which brought Danny 9 spaces ahead and he finished the game.