‘Jungle Cruise’ Review: An Adventure Film Homage That (Almost) Hits The Mark
Courtesy of Disney.
A perfect family film for the summer, but does it live up to the expectations?
Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE is the newest vehicle for the mega-company, built around and inspired by the real-life Jungle Cruise ride in their Disneyland parks. The ride has its origins back to the park’s opening in 1955, and after many shuffles of potential cast and crew, as well as several redesigns to the ride—including, but not limited to trying to eradicate elements of the ride that were outdated, offensive, and insensitive—star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his production company partnered with Disney back in 2017 to re-imagine the ride and launch a potential film franchise.
The ride was initially inspired by the 1951 hit THE AFRICAN QUEEN (starring dream-pairing Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn), and much of JUNGLE CRUISE retains that inspiration, all the way down to the matching hat that Johnson wears in nod to Bogart. The ride itself is pretty self-explanatory in the title: you get in a boat and you cruise through the jungle. The scene in the film where we are first introduced to Johnson’s character, Frank Wolff, is virtually a play-by-play of the ride. As skipper of the ship, both on the ride and in the film, Frank loads his boat full of tourists and enlightens them on all things in the jungle—plants, animals, and the occasional cheesy-yet-charming interactive special effect that allows the riders to briefly suspend their disbelief. Also similar to the ride is Johnson’s string of dad jokes and puns—all of which are done during the actual ride, too, but presumably without nearly as much of the charm and spot-on delivery offered by Johnson.
Courtesy of Disney.
Everything else that happens after this initial scene was conjured up by a team of writers, who took evident inspiration from past adventure films and franchises such as PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, THE MUMMY, INDIANA JONES, and ROMANCING THE STONE. The unfortunate problem with JUNGLE CRUISE, though, is that it seems to miss the mark when it comes to hitting the classic elements of these films that came before it. While Johnson and co-star Emily Blunt have an incredible, palpable chemistry that at times saves the film, it almost feels like it’s overcompensating for a story that isn’t fleshed out and seemed more concerned with checking off boxes than it did in building the foundation of a potential new franchise.
While Blunt’s character, Lily Houghton, is very charming and likeable, the filmmakers seem to push too hard on the idea of the “strong, independent woman” trope and consequently, what could have been turned into a major strength of the character is instead played off like a personality trait. Johnson has a little less character work to do as he’s mostly just playing into the archetype of the brute, bulky, questionably trustworthy, and quick-witted hero of the film—but to his credit, he does well with what he’s given. A character that is sure to be the topic of conversation is that of Lily’s brother, MacGregor, played by Jack Whitehall. MacGregor has a scene where he comes out to Frank as gay, but he doesn’t say it directly rather than in so many words by stating that his interests lie “elsewhere.” He continues to reveal that his family essentially ostracized him for this, and that Lily was the only one to embrace him and stick by his side, which is why he won’t leave hers. To some, this is worth celebrating, as the fact that MacGregor is gay is actually a relevant and legitimate part of his backstory as well as that it elevates the platform for the LGBTQ+ community to have representation in a leading role in a Disney film. The problem comes when the filmmakers quickly diminish this achievement by writing the character in a very stereotypical way (prudish, vain, self-obsessed, and arriving on board with an abundance of cargo), as well as having cast a straight actor for the role.
The story itself is a bit messy and quite hard to follow at times, with the general idea centering around a mythical tree called the “Tears of the Moon” whose petals are said to have incredible healing powers. The film takes place in the early 1900s, and Lily and MacGregor seek to find the tree, as they believe its healing abilities can advance medicine and serve as an aid in the war. An equally mythical arrowhead is sought out by the pair as they believe it to be a key component in locating the tree, and Lily eventually has to steal it after being denied professional access, and it is this event which launches the “cat and mouse” chase element of the film, propelled by Jesse Plemons playing an excellent, albeit comical villain.
Courtesy of Disney.
A twist involving Frank arrives around the midway point of the film and is intended to be the turning point and beginning of growth for the characters. While the twist itself is unexpected and compelling enough, the subsequent backstory that comes with it (and the physical and metaphorical baggage which follow) only adds to the gruelling plot audiences are already forging through. There are multiple occasions throughout the film where what seems to be an important moment or valuable piece of information is introduced to the audience, but ultimately has no payoff. This could either just be a failure in storytelling or could be withheld intentionally to circle back to in future films. Either way, it leaves the audience feeling confused and about as rocky as the boat they’re traveling on if they think too much about it.
Though the film could easily have 35 minutes shaved off, and aside from some truly laughably bad visual effects in the film, what works in the movie works well and often carries enough weight to overpower the storytelling issues. Once more, Johnson and Blunt are just delightfully magic on screen together, and the on-location filming in Hawaii paired with the grand-scale set pieces effectively works to put the audiences head-first into the adventure. With easy-flowing dialogue and a hearty balance of intimate character moments to big action sequences, there’s something in this film for everyone and therefore makes it the perfect candidate for a splashy, summer family film.
Will this film—especially in an era of filmmakers still trying to slowly encourage audiences back into theaters—make enough at the box office to launch a series of movies with these characters? Only time will tell. For now, it’s a decent entry into the library of summer blockbusters as we slowly roll in towards the big awards season contenders this fall.