Jungle Cruise movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Jungle Cruise

This lighthearted action-adventure is now playing in theaters and on Disney+. If you watch the movie on Disney+, you’ll get to see a fun preshow.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 2 hours 8 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

In honor of Disneyland’s popular Jungle Cruise ride at their theme parks, this fun movie has all of the magic and wonder you would hope from Disney. The movie has the ambiance and humor of the ride and more. To better coordinate with the new movie, Disneyland California and Florida have updated their rides two weeks prior to the movie’s premiere. If you love the ride and want to gain an even greater appreciation for it, check out “Behind the Attraction”, a fantastic series on Disney+ that shares a great behind-the-scenes look at some of the most popular rides in the Disney theme parks.

It’s family-friendly for all ages. The film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

THINGS I LIKED:

The opening sequence is absolutely gorgeous to look at. You immediately feel engaged and excited to begin the adventure.
Emily Blunt is beautiful and so talented. She and Dwayne Johnson have great chemistry together and fill the movie with fun energy. She also has great physicality to be believable. If you want to see her look really fierce and strong, watch her in Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow.
I get such a kick out of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He’s great in this movie, as expected. One of the characters looks at him and says, “Gosh, there’s a lot of you, isn’t there?!” Emily Blunt’s character says to him, “You are deeply unpleasant.” Dwayne Johnson’s character loves puns, which I actually think are funny. Many of them come straight from the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland by the “skippers”! His character says, “I can’t turn it off.” Dwayne Johnson is also a producer of the film. He tried really hard to get Emily Blunt in the role of Lily Houghton. She’s perfect and an even match for his strong presence and personality.
Paul Giamatti is awesome in every movie he’s in too. All around great casting.
I love that many of the little details come from lines used in the actual Jungle Cruise ride itself. Some come from other Disneyland attractions. For example, Nilo’s bird is Rosita, which comes from a line spoken in the Enchanted Tiki Room when one of the birds asks, “Whatever happened to Rosita?”
Older audiences will recognize the look and feel of The African Queen, which was the movie that actually inspired Disney to add the Jungle Cruise to his park attractions in the first place. The film also has a feeling of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
There’s a lot of visual and spoken humor.
Really great set pieces and production design.
It has the Disney magic you want it to have. The musical score by James Newton Howard is classic Disney. I heard another film critic say it wasn’t up to par but I completely disagree.
Almost non-stop action with slapstick stunts and gags.
Keep watching during the end credits to see some beautiful, stylish artwork. Unfortunately, there are no end-credit scenes.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Some of the CGI animals look really fake.
There’s a super long scene full of exposition to explain a complicated backstory. There’s a supernatural element that might confuse kids, despite its long explanation.
Act 3 gets darker, both visually and thematically.
The villain disappears for a large part of the movie. That didn’t bother me that much because it felt like the dangerous South American jungle and Amazon river were other villains.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

No profanity except “hell.”
Lots of destruction.
Bloodless deaths.
Violence, sometimes surprisingly brutal.
German, Portuguese, and Spanish are spoken without subtitles. Normally, it’s not a big deal but there were a few times when it actually would have helped the audience to know what was being said, especially some lines spoken by Edgar Ramirez. There’s a joke about the thick German accent.
One of the characters admits he is gay. He doesn’t actually say “gay” but talks about his love is “elsewhere.” Come on, Disney. Really? Do you have to insert that little political nugget in a children’s movie? It just didn’t need to be in the story and felt like Disney was pushing an agenda.
Lots of snakes and other creepy crawlies.
The villain is a Nazi. Young kids may not know what that is. Jesse Plemons gives an over-the-top, entertaining performance as German Prince Joachim.
There are some scary images that might frighten very young children.
My 4 sons would have loved this when they were little.

THEMES:

Environmentalism
Female empowerment
Magic
Trust
Dishonesty
Hope
Healing
Love
Sacrifice for others
Medicine and herbal cures.

FUNNY LINES:

“If I wanted to go to a primitive backwater where I couldn’t understand a thing people were saying, I’d visit our relatives in Scotland.” – MacGregor Houghton (Jack Whitehall)
“What fresh hell is this?” – MacGregor Houghton (Jack Whitehall)
“I have an idea. Please go away.” – Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson)
“Is there a single thing about you I can trust?” – Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) “Not a thing.” – Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson)

INTERESTING LINES:

“Know this about the jungle. Everything wants to kill you and can.” – Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson)
“If you believe in legends, you should believe in curses too.” – Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson)
“They’re so much fun and you can experience being anywhere in the world.” – Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) talking about moving pictures. I agree! That’s one of the reasons why I love movies so much!
“It’s only a scam if you fall for it.” – Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson)