Starring: Emily Blunt, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramirez
My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Rotten Tomatoes: 63% Critics, 92% Audience
Description: “Join fan favorites Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt for the adventure of a lifetime on Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE, a rollicking thrill-ride down the Amazon with wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff and intrepid researcher Dr. Lily Houghton. Lily travels from London, England to the Amazon jungle and enlists Frank’s questionable services to guide her downriver on La Quila–his ramshackle-but-charming boat. Lily is determined to uncover an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities–possessing the power to change the future of medicine. Thrust on this epic quest together, the unlikely duo encounters innumerable dangers and supernatural forces, all lurking in the deceptive beauty of the lush rainforest. But as the secrets of the lost tree unfold, the stakes reach even higher for Lily and Frank and their fate–and mankind’s–hangs in the balance.”
Short Version:
Getting a small boost for the fact that it managed to surprise me, it is a movie that has a good balance of action and comedy. The dramatic Disney flare of the last decade falling in all the right places, though the lowered rank largely has to do with the shoehorned romance and cheapening of the plot by hinting toward more serious dialogues and plotlines, but never seeing them fulfilled. Overall, it is a fun movie to watch, with comedic elements, a strong female lead, and a magical backdrop to an adventure story, just lacking the final pieces to move from fun to fantastic.
Long Version:
Jungle Cruise was not a movie I thought I would go out of my way to see. From the previews, it already seemed a bit bland, a bit rehashed and washed up. It was more like a B-list Disney film, not a blockbuster like their Marvel movie or Cruella, and was marketed thusly. The only thing that pushes this movie over the B-list block is the cast, headliners that pull their own audiences in, but I was dubious when I walked into theaters with a friend. The potential for failure in this movie was high. It surprised me with the way it nailed its pacing, kept me laughing, and knocked out a pretty good storyline. Added bonus will come a little later with a little more depth but let’s dive into where the waters got a little rocky.
First, lets address the elephant in the room, the romance that Disney chose to include and the obvious omission from the film. Let’s talk cliches, like the one that if two characters, especially a male and a female, go on a grand adventure together they must inevitably end up romantically attached at the end of it. This relationship especially seemed undeveloped and inorganic, with only the moment with the film camera to predict their eventual romance, and the way it would impact the storyline. The cheap and easy plotline knows that writing romance is easier than writing friendships where characters would still be willing to sacrifice to the same degree. It cheapens the plot, and makes it that much more obvious that Lily was stretched to fit so nicely into a relationship with Frank, but her brother, who has a whole conversation about how being gay has made his life difficult, couldn’t be bothered to have so much as a flirtation throughout the movie. Token gay character can’t actually act on his sexuality, because that would be too much for Disney to handle. It just felt like the same story that I’ve seen a million times, and there were no new elements on the romantic side to make it new, nothing interesting or groundbreaking.
My second big issue is the movie hints at bigger theological and philosophical questions but then doesn’t see them fulfilled. Especially surrounding the monstrous conquistadors, who question if they have any soul left to save. I had hoped, that when Lily sacrificed the one petal she had to save Frank, the one curse that trapped all the conquistadors might be broken, and we might have an answer about if the other men had souls or not, or if in fact only some of them did. Instead, only Frank ever gets the chance at liberation, and the rest are left without an answer. The dialogue, both from Frank and his constant sparring with the others, and from the bee/honey monster was such an interesting moment, and easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention. It feels like it was a plotline that was tapered off throughout the movie, and just left largely hanging. Frank’s humanity was never in question, even after his past was revealed, the other characters could have been redeemed, but their redemption was deemed unimportant.
Keeping with Frank’s storyline, I will say that this movie did get a plot twist over on me. I am notoriously good at seeing twists coming, and this movie had me so happily engrossed and distracted that I marked the clues to Frank being more than a riverboat driver, but didn’t see what they were pointing to. Frank’s backstory provided a twist, comedy, and emotional depth to the plot. The best part being, it was so well foreshadowed, from Frank’s easy response to the Italian passenger on his first river tour to his extensive knowledge, his easy command of Latin, that looking back it is easy to see the twist coming. The pieces fit. My favorite detail of his plot, however, is Proxima, and how he sought companionship in each walk of life. Frank’s storyline added a lot of unexpected depth to the movie. Paired with the spitfire of Lily, it is a balance of dynamics that makes the movie pop in all the right ways, with MacGregor adding a more genuine form of comedy than Frank’s “Dad jokes”.
Ending, as always, with my favorite moments:
- Lily dropping onto the bus of soldiers without breaking a sweat.
- Frank’s trick with the hippo and the little girl trying to call him out on it.
- “Strong form.”
- “Frank owes me money.”
- Lily’s failed zipline.
- “You are deeply unpleasant.”
- “Do I smell?” “Horrendously.”
- Frank’s bad translating.
- The story of the Proximas.
- Lily crawling over Frank as she “learns” to swim.
- “Could you ask the bee for coordinates?”
- MacGregor telling the old white men to “shove their membership up their association.”
All images belong to Disney and the production companies. Have you seen anything new in theaters that you enjoyed? If so, let me know. I am always looking for movie recommendations.
Megan’s Musings 