The Plot
Jungle Cruise, set in 1917, is an adventure romp where a British scientist (Emily Blunt) hires a riverboat captain (Dwayne Johnson) to take her and her brother (Jack Whitehall) through the jungle to try and discover a tree of life she wants to use to advance medicine. Meanwhile, a German aristocrat (Jesse Plemons) has more evil intentions, and the cursed conquistadors want their piece as well.
My Take
Jungle cruise is the latest film by Disney that attempts to resurrect the high adventure flicks of old that for some reason or another have gone by the wayside as of late. It definitely succeeds. No matter how cheesy and old fashioned they are, I’ve always been a fan of adventure films that go to the ends of the earth to places I’ll probably never see. This one plays out kind of like a Romancing the Stone (minus the romance) meets The Mummy meets Indiana Jones, with a little Pirates of the Caribbean thrown in for good measure.
This is a very fun adventure with stars that have awesome chemistry and play off of each other to make for some great action and some hilarious scenes. Dwayne Johnson plays a wise cracking, swashbuckling, dad joke telling Captain of a shoddy tour boat that takes customers on a sight seeing ride through the jungle rivers. I’ve personally never met a Dwayne Johnson movie I didn’t like and this is no different. Emily Blunt is the adventure seeking scientist looking for the Tears of the Moon, a mythical tree whose petals can cure any illness, heal any injury, or lift any curse. Jack Whitehall is the hilarious, not so courageous brother to Blunt. All three of them are great together and make for a great group of protagonists.
The one real misgiving I have is in the German villain Prince Joachim, who is after the Tears for himself. He seems very misplaced and most of his dialogue and scenes just seem a little awkward. It’s like they didn’t consider everything else in the jungle and the cursed conquistadors enough, so they decided to throw him in.
The Verdict
Wonderful effects, a great musical score, and an epic feel of adventure and danger, this is a welcome return to a genre that seems to have been forgotten with the likes of Marvel and Fast and Furious movies. Not that I don’t like them, they’re awesome films, but I do miss the days of watching films like The Mummy and hopefully this will be a start for more of its type. Head on over to Disney+ and check this one out!
9/10
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