OC LIVE : ‘Jumanji’: Unintended Special Effects on Younger Audiences : In “Jumanji,” a magical board game unleashes a strange adventure when a menagerie of special effects-generated jungle animals invade a peaceful home. Robin Williams stars at the center of this wild ride. (Rated PG)

Does “Jumanji” veer from the fantastic into the terrifying?

Not for Deborah Fraser, a spunky 9-year-old from Costa Mesa. Fraser, who was at the Edwards Town Center theater in Costa Mesa with her brother, Billy, grinned and said she loved how bizarre and whimsical the movie was.

“The animals were great, the way they just showed up and then ran all around,” she explained. “It was a little scary [when the man-eating plant showed up], but most of it was just right.”

Billy, two years older, just laughed at the way many grown-up critics have deemed “Jumanji” more frightening than entertaining. “You know it isn’t real, so why be stupid about it?” he asked. “I’ve seen lots scarier movies this year.”

Deborah and Billy may have giggled in the face of danger, but Tom Roberts, a 32-year-old father from Fountain Valley, wasn’t so relaxed. He brought his 6-year-old daughter, Rachel, to the screening and noticed how nervous she was during several passages.

The girl cringed when the plant attacked, when the stampede of critters started down Main Street, when the lion chased Robin Williams and when he had to wrestle an alligator.

“The technology was super, [and] everything looked so lifelike; I think that’s what scared her,” Roberts said. “It wasn’t like a cartoon where the kids know that it’s all make-believe from the very start.”

Did he regret bringing Rachel? “Well, it’s a pretty good flick, but I’m not sure she enjoyed herself, so yeah.”

Persuaded to speak up, Rachel clung to her dad and mumbled, “I didn’t like it too much.”

But 8-year-old Philip Townsend of Irvine liked the intense parts and especially enjoyed when the boy (played as an adult by Williams) was sucked into the game board and ended up in “Jumanji’s” crazy jungle.

“It was great the way he went there,” he said, meaning how the special effects turned the boy into a wisp as it pulled him in. “It looked really weird.”

But would he like to live in Jumanji-land himself?

Philip had to mull that over, “Yeah, I guess so,” he finally said. “I mean, not for a long time, but just for a while.”

Most boys felt the same as Philip, but most girls, especially young ones, shared Rachel’s misgivings.

Sonia Fernandez, 10, of Costa Mesa said she liked all the gee-whiz technology that gave the movie such an otherworldly appearance but found the action a little intense.

“There was so much going on that I got nervous,” she confided after a little coaxing.

Her mother, Carol, 37, wondered if her daughter was too sensitive.

“I wouldn’t take a real young child to see this, but it should be great fun for someone Sonia’s age,” she said.

“I’m surprised by her reaction. I won’t take her to anything like this again, at least not until she’s older.”