Film

JUNGLE CRUISE

When Disney isn’t making live-action remakes of its animated classics, it seems like it’s mining its IP (i.e., intellectual property) by making feature films inspired by beloved attractions at its theme parks. Such is the case with the latest film to arrive in theaters and, for a premium fee, streaming on Disney+, Jungle Cruise.

And on the spectrum of theme-parkattraction-inspired films, Jungle Cruise falls much closer to the joyous thrills of Pirates of the Caribbean than to the abject horror of The Haunted Mansion or Country Bears.

Set in the Amazon during WWI, Jungle Cruise is a fun throwback to old-fashioned adventure films and the kind of world where a little derring-do never hurt anybody. Treading in very familiar waters, it is a shameless pastiche of superior movies — The Mummy, Indiana Jones (Raiders and a little Temple of Doom thrown in for good measure), and The African Queen — but with a goofy sensibility all its own. It even draws inspiration from one of the more unlikely bedfellows for the House of Mouse, Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog, and their collaborations on Aquirre, the Wrath of God, and Fitzcarraldo.

Emily Blunt, as effervescent and charming as ever, stars as upper-crust, trouser-wearing lady doctor Lily Houghton. After being shut out of adventurer and academic circles, Dr. Houghton boldly heads to the Amazon in search of the mythical Tears of the Moon. Ostensibly a plant with the power to basically heal every illness ever, it is also the film’s MacGuffin, and I wish they could’ve just left it at that.

When Dr. Houghton arrives in South America, she hires Frank, a gruff, wisecracking steamboat skipper (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) who is in desperate need of a job. Indebted and reduced to running cruises for tourists, he might seem a little rough-around-the-edges, but he’s the kind of hero who not only unapologetically loves puns and his cat (a jaguar cat, that is) but also knows Latin.

And so, following a killer cold open and a splendid set-piece involving a German U-boat the pair heads deep into the jungle ,where the action keeps moving full speed ahead. (Unexpectedly dabbling in the macabre, the family friendly PG-13 flick carefully attempts to navigate the racism that comes from trying to sanitize stories built upon colonialism.) But not everything is as it seems, and late in the story, supernatural contrivances start to cause the ship to take on water. Here, things get a shade too fantastical. I wish they could’ve told essentially the same story only 15 minutes shorter and with a little less CGI bloat.

As much as you’ll love the bickering banter of Blunt and Johnson, you won’t exactly feel the heat of their budding romance. They make for a great pair, but they give off more brother-sister vibes, which is interesting because also accompanying them on the journey is Lily’s dandy of a brother, MacGregor (Jack Whitehall).

A true scene-stealer with three-piece suits and attention to his skincare routine, MacGregor is a foppish comic relief character that actually gets to be “out” with his sexuality. While I am not going to recommend Disney for any special commendation, it is truly lovely to see. And Whitehall is just one of the many wonderful supporting players you’ll wish you could’ve spent more time with.

There’s also Frank’s competitor, played by Paul Giamatti, who is armed with a doozy of an “Italian” accent and a parroting bird as well as a mildly unrecognizable Edgar Ramirez as a man with a dark history regarding the Tears of the Moon. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Jesse Plemons as the film’s main villain, the cunning Prince Joachim, who essentially does a Werner Herzog impression, and if you’re a Herzog fan at all, you’ll know just how glorious his impression is.

From the budget John Williams score to the effortless repartee and exotic locations, Jungle Cruise is familiar in all the ways that tickle your pleasure centers. It is rich in humor, excitement, and charisma. The obligatory nods to the theme park boat attraction that inspired it are subtly and deftly incorporated in a way that will delight the most hardcore Disney adults and also stand on its own merit. Ultimately, this is a film more indebted to so many of our collective film favorites than the actual cruise through the Magic Kingdom. So if it is adventure you crave, don’t miss this boat.

Meg Weichman is a film archivist, film programmer, and serious film person. Find her on Letterboxd (@ckdexterhaven3) rewatching Armageddon and trying to convince people that Temple of Doom is the best Indiana Jones movie.

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