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A Review of “Jungle Cruise (2021)”

 

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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?

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Firstly, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt truly carry this film. Dwayne’s scoundrel and charismatic performance surprisingly works well with Emily’s posh and outgoing performance. Both have great chemistry together and when they are both bantering with one another, it is enjoyable to watch. The majority of the movie is about the characters on the boat which is what the ride is about. So I do appreciate the fact that they did attempt to keep it faithful to the ride it was inspired by.

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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.

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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.

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Jungle Cruise (2021) has an abundant amount of CGI. It feels like CGI was the first solution to everything by the director and it shows. It wouldn’t be as jarring if the CGI itself was good. Unfortunately, this is not the case as the CGI is very noticeable and not great by 2021 standards. The shots, editing and cinematography are also disappointing average and never feel like it tries to do more with it despite it being a big blockbuster. However, the music score by James Newton Howard has got to be the most disappointing aspect of Jungle Cruise. James has done scores for many great films such as King Kong (2005), Unbreakable (2000), Fantastic Beast franchise etc. For some reason, James gives a very weak score for Jungle Cruise (2021). There is no soundtrack here that sticks in my mind and it has no iconic theme like Pirates of the Caribbean.

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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. 


 

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