Jungle Cruise

There probably has not been this much of a pleasant adventure since the third Pirates of the Caribbean. And it is with Pirates of the Caribbean that I think is the fairest to compare Jungle Cruise, because any other resemblance to The Mummy, Indiana Jones, The African Queen, etc., are more of a nod, while the Pirates of the Caribbean films are blood relatives. Those films also arose from an entertainment attraction, but unlike Jungle Cruise didn't resemble it that much, because this cruise is something else entirely. It is really mainly a fun ride on the river from one experience to another, during which there is something to watch and from which you do not expect any great drama. Dwayne Johnson pleased me by not putting much attention on himself, and he works well with Emily Blunt. I think everything is fine with the direction (Collet-Serra is no Verbinski, but no one is) and the script thinks of all age categories and tries not to beat the viewer over the head with jokes, action or surprises (for example, once, in the trailers artfully hidden sub-plot, which is, however, clearly taken from Pirates of the Caribbean). Everything is dosed nicely. James Newton Howard's great music deserves a separate sentence, which is really nice to listen to, and leaving the movie theatre again with a contagious melody playing in my head was a joy. (08/04/2021)

Comparing it qualitatively with the first Mummy or the initial Pirates of the Caribbean movies is, in my opinion, completely off the mark! Maybe I’m not the ideal target audience that Disney aimed for; if I were 15 years younger, I’d probably enjoy all those colors more. But at least I can evaluate it a bit more objectively from a filmmaking perspective. First off... The Rock didn’t fit at all! I understand he’s a mega-star these days, but his presence on the boat sometimes felt ridiculous. Among the main trio, Emily Blunt was definitely the best; I bought into her English-style humor in almost every shot. The villains were quite comical (Plemons trying a German accent was, in a word, a tragedy). The music was decent, the story within the genre was okay (I don’t expect much from a fairy tale), but the digital landscape was quite jarring; the green screen was obvious. So, in summary... It’s not a complete disaster; there’s always something happening in the film, but it doesn’t come close to the best adventure movies. And that’s saying a lot. It gets a strong two stars. 5/10 (08/13/2021)

Disney has produced another amazing adventure, and I couldn't keep track of how many different sources the filmmakers drew from (read: stole or ripped off). Those I noticed are The Mummy, Indiana Jones, Tomb Rider (the game), Pirates of the Caribbean, and All the Rivers Run:-) It was all incredibly "original", with an abundance of CGI (in terms of the amount, not quality), and it made the whole thing look like an adventure-fairy tale for the educationally challenged who like the jungle, rivers, boats, submarines, jaguars, musclemen, gays, heroic women, and dumbed-down scripts. I was partly just staring in disbelief, partly bored, and partly comforted by the presence of Emily Blunt. The youngest son of William II? Why? Do the Americans even know who William II was? (01/06/2022)

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt head into the Amazon jungle in search of a tree that can heal people. And most of the time they're running from something, whether it's Germans, animals or digital villains, and it's kind of fun. Jungle Cruise doesn't attempt any new things and relies on two charismatic stars, lots of visual effects, plenty of action and well-dosed humor. It doesn't excel at anything overall, but the result is a fine adventure film for the whole family. What Disney promised, it delivered. (07/29/2021)

The film exudes the atmosphere and inspiration from Pirates of the Caribbean (the curse, the treasure, the locations) and The Mummy (the single-minded female scientist in the lead role), but that's not a bad thing, as Jungle Cruise takes the better aspects from its predecessors while not wanting to be just a copy, but trying to have some added value, albeit perhaps a minor one. The central duo Emily Blunt-Dwayne Johnson had a strange chemistry inherent in the opposites of frailty and exuberance. Jack Whitehall was a bit annoying at first but ultimately quite likeable, and Jesse Plemons handled the role of the Emperor's grandson brilliantly, with a subtly sociopathic calm. The trio of cursed conquerors was rather outnumbered and perhaps a little too artificial, but on the other hand I welcomed the character of Proxima. Even though you know how the whole thing will turn out, the writers prepared some decent twist and at the same time added more than one frankly funny scene or allusion to the script. A brisk, reasonably suspenseful and acceptably humorous adventure. PS: Plus point for the instrumental version of “Nothing Else Matters”! (07/31/2021)