There are certain films from one's childhood that hold up. Like, say, Home Alone. Matilda. Hocus Pocus. Then there are those, well, other movies. The ones that you remember fondly, but upon a second look, are... well, kind of problematic. Jungle 2 Jungle is one such film. Though the film features Tim Allen as a self-obsessed dad — much like in his iconic flick The Santa Clause — the 1997 Jungle 2 Jungle's premise isn't quite as cutesy as the aforementioned Christmas movie. Here, Allen's character learns that he has a 13-year-old son who was raised in a tribe in the Venezuelan jungle. That son then comes to New York (the concrete jungle where dreams are made of), where he climbs the Statue of Liberty to steal her "fire," threatens to eat his father's girlfriend's cat, and considers poison blow darts amongst his most prized possessions.
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It's... not exactly PC, but considering that the movie turned 20 years old this week, that's not entirely unexpected. Not everything gets better with age, but one person who is looking good these days? Sam Huntington, who portrayed the 13-year-old Mimi-Suku in the film.
Allie Gemmill at Bustle reminds us that you've actually seen the real-life Mimi-Suku (affectionately known as "Mitsubishi" by his dad, because sure) long after Jungle 2 Jungle came out on VHS. While the actor has appeared in movies like Sleepover and Not Another Teen Movie (another problematic fave of mine) teen drama fans may know him best from his time on a certain CW show. Huntington played Luke on Veronica Mars for two episodes, then reprised his role for the 2014 film.
Today, Huntington is a TV actor: he most recently starred on Rosewood as Mitchie Mendelson and in an episode of The Expanse. Prior to that, Huntington starred on the American version of supernatural series Being Human, in which he played werewolf Josh.
Here's what the actor looks like today:
Who knew that one could move from jungle, to jungle, to TV stardom?