By IMP Awards / 2021 Movie Poster Gallery / Jungle Cruise Poster (#17 of 25), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62034749
And now, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the stupendous, amazing, colossal, first movie I’ve seen since before the pandemic!
Monday proved to be the first step toward normality I’ve taken since getting vaccinated in March, and boy was I excited. Of course, whether or not I’m able to see another in the near future, we’ll find out, but for now, I’m so pumped to be back at the theater!
We all know and love the Jungle Cruise attraction, and I’ve been looking forward to this movie for years! Of course I’ll see anything starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, so add in a Disney ride, and, well…
The greatest part about this movie is, by far, the cheese. It’s an incredibly cheesy movie, filled with puns and virtually non-stop action reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. A lot of critics are pretty harsh on the movie (63% Tomatometer score), but everything I’ve read seems to betray a complete lack of context on the part of the reviewers. Look, the Jungle Cruise ride is a pun-filled cheese fest, and the movie is 100% true to that (that’s probably why the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is 92%!).
Dwayne Johnson plays Frank Wolff, the quintessential Jungle Cruise skipper, thriving on the groans of his Amazon River Cruise passengers, causing one of them to mouth “Make it stop” to her mother. And, of course, he promptly tells her he can have her eaten by a python. I mean, come on, that’s classic Jungle Cruise! The first 15 or so minutes of the movie is dedicated to the nostalgia of the ride, telling all the standard jokes, culminating in the 8th Wonder of the World - the backside of water! Guests are predictably unimpressed, and the movie moves on. In this way, it’s a fantastic nod to the reason most opening-day viewers are seeing the movie, and then we promptly move on to the meat of the film.
Opposite Johnson is Emily Blunt’s Lily Houghton, daughter of a “society” member (more thoughts on this below) and a passionate doctor of botany. Ever the risk-taker, she convinces Wolff to take her up the river in search of the Tree of Life.
Rounding out the trio (yeah, I see what I did there) is Jack Whitehall’s MacGregor Houghton, Lily’s proper, very much NON-adventurous brother, begrudgingly joining his sister on the expedition out of a sense of familial obligation. His boisterous lack of enthusiasm for the entire undertaking is hilarious.
The movie is paced well, and the plot is relatively simple. It really rises and falls on Johnson and Blunt, relying on their star power to carry the film. They are both quite charming, and the poking/bickering chemistry ties the whole thing together. Jesse Plemons’ Prince Joachim - or as I like to call him, “definitely not Ernst Vogel from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” - is as over the top as you’d expect from a World War 1 German stereotype, and he plays the role perfectly.
Now, what I really love about this movie are the visual nods to the various versions of the Jungle Cruise attractions around the world. Some of them are obvious, like the gigantic python wrapped around a tree branch, or the cap gun he pulls on some “hippos.” But some of the scenes set pieces nod to Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of the ride, with craggy, smoking rocks similar to what we see in the finale of the ride. That attention to detail is what sets these attraction-based Disney movies apart, and I’m here for it!
Second, Disney Parks fans will notice the prominent role of the “society” shown at the beginning and end of the film, one that just happens to be comprised of “explorers” and “adventurers.” Could this be our first movie or TV reference to the mysterious Society of Explorers and Adventurers?! Not much is known about the S.E.A., apart from its founding in 1538 and a few mentions of members in various attractions around the world (my favorite member is, of course, Lord Henry Mystic!’s faithful companion, Albert!). Disney has already announced a Disney+ series about the S.E.A. is under development, so will it pick up where Jungle Cruise left off? Time will tell! I think I speak for all of us when I say Dr. Albert Falls better be part of it!
Look, the movie ain’t complicated - it’s a fun, relatively mindless Summer flick for virtually everyone. Though, I’d recommend you keep small kiddos home, because there are some graphic-for-a-Disney-movie scenes involving some dead guys. If you’re looking for a fun flick, head off to your local multiplex and check it out!