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Jungle Cruise Movie Review

Jungle Cruise is a 2021 fantasy adventure film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. It’s a disappointing movie that could have been so much better.

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“Had a girlfriend once, she was cross-eyed.

Didn’t work out. We could never see eye to eye!“

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This film is based on Disneyland’s theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element. This is obviously another one of Disney’s attempts to profit on their theme park rides just as they did with the ‘Pirates’ franchise, and they just might do that, but for now, this is a rather pedestrian start.

There are many aspects here that I genuinely enjoyed, but they all belong in the first half, which was exciting and fun and charming. The second half was anything but that. This is where the energy significantly petered out and the movie gradually made me lose my interest. It was way too long for such a simple plot.

Let’s talk about the stars. I was concerned that The Rock would drag Emily Blunt down with him, but thankfully he was quite solid. This is actually one of his best performances so far in his career and he is very endearing in the role. But of course Blunt entirely steals the show from him in another turn with the British accent, but this time in the role of an intrepid adventurer.

Their romance was definitely fun at first and reminiscent of screwball comedies from the thirties and forties, but the chemistry should have been stronger and eventually even their dynamic somewhat diminished in its effect. Jesse Plemons is fun, but too silly as this crazy German villain while Jack Whitehall is okay in the role of Blunt’s gay brother, but Disney being congratulated for having an openly gay, feminine, disposable character in 2021 is honestly ridiculous.

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Jungle Cruise looks just fine. The over-reliance on CGI hurt the whole picture in my opinion and most of the imagery is only serviceable. The direction and even the score should have also been stronger and more impactful. Overall, the movie just needed to bring it more in all of the aspects, but this way it is just okay unfortunately.

Jungle Cruise is a disappointing Disney adventure that may start a franchise, but subsequent entries need to be improved. The first half is quite good, but the movie’s energy petered out in the second half. Dwayne Johnson is surprisingly solid, but of course Emily Blunt entirely steals the show here. The movie can be adventurous, but also way too silly in certain plot points. The score, CGI and direction all needed to have been stronger.

My Rating – 3