10 Massively Underrated 1990s Movie Performances

It’s pretty common knowledge that Robin Williams gave some of his greatest performances when he left the safety of comedy superstardom for the riskier and more rewarding territory of serious drama in the late eighties. From Good Morning Vietnam to Dead Poet’s Society to Good Will Hunting, the funnyman’s later career is filled with dramatic turns that illustrate the diverse range of his talents.

Which makes Jumanji even more worth revisiting. The mid-nineties adventure is primarily a family film and succeeds admirably as a madcap kids flick in its own right thanks to a brilliant turn from Kirsten Dunst and a game villain in the form of Jonathan Hyde.

What is sure to shock you upon a re-watch, however, is the depth of Williams’ performance. The actor has to juggle a lot of tones in a script which switches from him finally escaping a game after decades of isolation, catatonic, to learning of his parents’ death, devastated, to dealing with a pack of marauding zoo animals wreaking havoc on his small hometown immediately afterward.

It’s a funny, sad, and surprisingly human performance given the goofy nature of the material, and Williams gives the potentially lightweight flick real heart in his innocent romance with a traumatised, if gradually won over, childhood sweetheart Bonnie Hunt.