Jungle Cruise

 

Jungle Cruise is an original story inspired by the Disneyland theme park ride, of the same name, where riders are on a riverboat going through a jungle filled with dangerous animals. The story is set in 1916, during the World War 1 era and follows Dr. Lily Houghton, played by Emily Blunt. She is in search of the Tears of the Moon, a tree whose petals hold the power to heal; which would be a revolution in modern medicine and would help in the war effort. After being rejected by the Royal Society, she and her brother reluctantly enlist the aid of a shady skipper, Frank Wolff, played by Dwayne Johnson, to take her down the Amazon in search of the ancient tree.

I thought that the story was fun, family friendly and easy to follow. The script was funny and the fight choreography was clever and cheeky at times.

I liked the costumes and thought that they were perfect for the era.

The casting was great. Dwayne Johnson churns out a lot of content and not all of it is that good but thankfully this wasn’t one of those roles. He was complex and likable as Frank. I think he and Emily had a great banter and chemistry that even played well off screen, when they promoted the move. I didn’t know much about Jack Whitehall, who played MacGregor Houghton, Lily’s brother, but thought that he was hilarious and played so well off of the larger than life personalities of Johnson and Blunt.

For me this was a very enjoyable film. One that I think would have been great as a stand-alone movie but unfortunately it has been greenlit for a sequel. Hopefully, it will live up to the quality of the original.