Array stored in a string type : PHP

Today i faced weird problem it is

$stringvar = '["image_link1","Image_link2"]';

Now i want to covert it into type array. <br />
like <br />
Array => [0] Image_link1,<br />
 [1] Image_link2

I tried to juggling the type but it's giving me <br />
Array => [0] '["image_link1","Image_link2"]'

Right now I am using
str_replace() to replace '[', ']' with blank. then explode.

Is there any best workaround for it ???