10 Movies You Were Shocked To See Didn’t Totally Suck
10. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
Who among us didn't groan when Sony first announced a new Jumanji?
The 1995 adventure movie classic has an especially fond place in many fans' hearts due to the starring presence of the late Robin Williams, with many simply feeling that a reboot-sequel would be nothing short of sacrilege.
The trailers didn't really dissuade from this sentiment, yet when Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle finally hit cinemas, it turned out to be an unexpectedly charming adventure flick packed with great performances - especially Jack Black - and fun, knowingly OTT action sequences.
More to the point, it found a smart way to update the Jumanji formula for a new generation while paying sly tribute to Williams' original protagonist Alan Parrish, whose treehouse is featured during the movie complete with the carving, "Alan Parrish was here."
There was so much potential for Jumanji to be a soulless, cynical rehash of the original minus all the charm, but it's clear that everyone involved wanted to tell a story worthy of its predecessor.
Ultimately, it not only went over unexpectedly well with critics, scoring 76% on the Tomatometer, but fended off huge box office competition from Star Wars: The Last Jedi to gross a stonking $962.2 million worldwide.
And you know what? The impending sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level, looks pretty damn fun too.