10 Things You Didn't Know About Jumanji
3. Critics Claimed Jumanji Was Too Scary For Children
Jumanji is considered to be a family classic when viewed by audiences today, but would it surprise you to hear that upon its initial release in 1995 the film was panned by critics because it was deemed too scary for younger audiences?
In a review published in December of the same year, critic Roger Ebert described Jumanji as being "Likely to send younger children fleeing from the theatre, or hiding in their parents' arms."
He continued "Those who do sit all the way through it are likely to toss and turn with nightmares inspired by its frightening images." In Ebert's opinion, the MPAA had lost its mind by only rating Jumanji as a PG, insisting that it should have been a PG-13.
This sounds ridiculous now, and for those of us who were of age and actually saw Jumanji during its initial cinematic run it's difficult to see what all the fuss was about. However, this didn't stop star of the movie Robin Williams from agreeing with Ebert, outright refusing to let his kids watch the film until years after its release.