There’s a reason why a movie such as chess wouldn’t be mentioned in this list and it’s because there A LOT of movies that are based on or around the game of chess, and to be certain, picking out the best would be a matter of opinion, just like the rest of these lists are on the internet. Some would point out that they go by how the movies that were inspired by board games did at the box office, but even that is kind of misleading since it would indicate that the number of ticket sales is what makes a movie worth anything. In reality, the ‘best’ of anything that can be put into a list is usually dependent on several factors, but personal bias can play a huge role. When it comes to movies that are based on board games, one of the biggest downfalls is how to make the movie actually work without having to abide by every single rule and yet still keeping the spirit of the game alive by clinging to the most important tenets so that people understand exactly what it is that they’re seeing. In other words, learning what to adhere to, what can be taken away, and what absolutely has to be kept is a balancing act that has to be taken into account with movies that follow this model.
Here are some of the best movies based on board games.
5. Battleship
Remember, ‘best’ is a relative term, since this movie offered up a good amount of action but was so loosely based on the actual game of Battleship that many people were left scratching their heads in confusion trying to think how this equated to the decades-old game that so many of us enjoyed as kids. Battleship was and still is a fun game, but this mess of a movie was fun in some aspects since it did give that very important punch in some cases that made it feel a little more personal when it came to being a human being. After all, there are moments of pride when a human being is actually the good guy and is able to lay the smackdown on a superior being.
4. Dungeons & Dragons
Whether D&D is really considered a board game kind of depends on the group that’s being observed and how they decide to play. Some groups play online, some actually enjoy LARPing instead, but the fact is that this game has been played as a board game, so we’ll go with that. The movie though had only a couple of saving graces, those being Jeremy Irons, Marlon Wayans, and Thora Birch, and even that wasn’t quite enough to lift it up from the state of ridiculousness that it became. If one has ever played D&D then they’ll know how nuts a session can get, but this movie was kind of underwhelming in a big way. Compared to the other movies that came later though it was definitely the best.
3. Ouija
This movie had a lot of potential to be absolutely creepy since it deals with a board ‘game’ that a lot of people take serious issue with since the idea of allowing spirits, especially those of the malevolent variety, into the world is never considered to be a good idea. One might wonder why a benevolent spirit is never brought through the board, but when you think about it, benevolent spirits are at peace and probably don’t want anything to do with the mortal world any longer. Just imagine the more benign spirits rolling their eyes at this foolishness and you might get a good laugh while trying to think of why they would bother.
2. Jumanji
Just so you’re aware, the Jumanji movie and game were inspired by a book written in 1981 and both came out in 1995, so they came out around the same time, but thankfully playing the game won’t summon any irritating, trouble-making monkeys or human-eating plants that can grow to the size of a couch. The evolution of this movie though as it was taken on by Dwayne Johnson and his fellow cast members was kind of impressive since the evolution of the game itself from an old-fashioned board game to a video game was kind of fun and was definitely in keeping with the times.
1. Clue
Without a doubt, this is one of the absolute best movies when it comes to following its source material since while it definitely deviated enough to be a fun and memorable movie it also managed to stick as close to the source as possible and provided a story that was a lot of fun for viewers and featured an all-star cast that worked together in a very interesting way. There’s no doubt that many people would agree with this assessment since the movie was one of those that has been lost to time, but it’s still easy to pull up and enjoy.
A movie doesn’t have to operate just like the game, but it’s wise to acknowledge the source material.
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