A Review of “Jungle Cruise (2021)” | Movie review

Jungle Cruise (2021) is another attempt at making a movie franchise based on one of their rides at their theme parks. The only real success so far has been Pirates of the Caribbean. Most of the time it is Tomorrowland (2015) or The Haunted Mansion (2003). The premise is "Dr Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) enlists the aid of wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to take her down the Amazon in his ramshackle boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree that holds the power to heal -- a discovery that will change the future of medicine". So is this more close to Pirates of the Caribbean or Tomorrowland?

Jungle Cruise feels like a 90s movie but that is not quite a bad thing in this case. It is advertised as a fun family adventure movie and I do believe it succeeds in that aspect. There are some silly but fun jokes that mostly land and there are over the top action sequences that are fun to watch. We get the 90s comic relief guy and even over the top villains as well. For the most part, it does feel old fashioned but it works and I can definitely see families enjoying Jungle Cruise. There are also some really nice twists and revelations that genuinely surprised me as well.

However, the plot is a bit messy in its execution. For example, it takes quite a while for the Jungle Cruise to actually start and even when it has finally started, there is a lot of downtimes that don't advance the plot. The film's length is over 2 hours and it feels way too long. The movie could have easily cut 15-20 minutes of runtime and made it a better film, pacing wise. Dwayne's character, Frank Wolff, is the cliche cynical and shrewd character who is initially unlikeable but gets better later. Jungle Cruise takes almost over halfway in the movie before he actually becomes likeable which was way too long in my opinion. Jungle Cruise also has a villain problem as there are two villains in this film. Aguirre, the cursed Spanish conquistador, who wanted the tree's power to save his daughter but is now immortal and Prince Joachim who is some german guy. Both are chasing the protagonist but Prince Joachim himself feels like a giant waste of screen time even though he appears more than Aguirre. You could cut Prince Joachim and the plot is still the same, that is how irrelevant his character is.

Overall, Jungle Cruise is a fun action and adventure film that is reminiscent of classic 90s films such as The Mummy (1999) but never as good. Thanks to the chemistry of Dwayne and Emily, the Jungle Cruise manages to stay afloat to keep you engaged but it certainly ends up being a very generic and forgettable movie. Nevertheless, it is better than a lot of Disney's previous outings that were based on theme park rides. Not as good as Pirates of the Caribbean but better than Tomorrowland which is a huge step forward.

Regards : Hanan
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