Jungle Cruise

Quite good and balanced action and adventure film with mix of comedy.

OK'ish background story, maybe a little too much of a fantasy side for my taste, but sure will work just fine for younger viewers.

This movie is in the same spirit as movies of the past such as the Mummy, Indiana Jones, and so on. It's three main stars shine in their roles and have great chemistry not seen in too many movies nowadays. Action is good and story is actually somewhat original! For a movie based off a ride, this is a damn good movie. Just know what ship you're about to sail.

P. S sorry for that last pun.

Jungle Cruise is an adaptation of a Disney Park ride that I can barely remember going to and I have been to both Disney parks in the USA.

It also has five writers with various screenplay credits.

Dwayne Johnson plays Frank. A down on his luck river boat captain who takes tourists for a ride in the Amazon.

He is hired by adventurer Lily (Emily Blunt) and her uptight brother MacGregor Houghton (Jack Whitehall) who are on the search for the Tears of the Moon. The petals of a tree of life that can cure any illness. The Spanish were in search for it about 400 years earlier.

Set in 1916, Lily finds that German Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons) is also in pursuit at a time when the nations are at war. However Lily finds that Frank is a man who is hard to trust and he is full of cheesy jokes.

This comedy adventure is a mish mash of previous movies. I found it more Romancing the Stone mixed with the Brendan Fraser The Mummy movies. There is also a hint of the Pirate of the Caribbean franchise.

It harks back to two decades earlier when Disney were adapting their theme park rides rather than superhero movies or remaking their old cartoons as live action films.

Jungle Cruise is a colourful romp that lacks originality.

Perfect duo Dwayne and Emily, they were perfect for these roles and bought many comedic moments to the film. The action was great, well worth experiencing this on the big screen as I did. Only issue was the plot is very repetitive as in they need to find something that will help everyone etc, we've seen it in heaps of other films, so nothing special plot wise. I did see many resemblances to films such as raiders of the lost ark and the first pirates of the Caribbean film, which were great films to base ideas off of for this film around many aspects such as the adventure side of the film and the comedy. Overall it was an exciting and funny big screen adventure.

Was going to give it a 5 if not for the talented Emily Blunt who always makes things better. As always chemistry is on point with whatever actor she teams up with and Johnson is no exception. It is mostly fun but the story is iffy and yes there is memories of Pirates and The Mummy all throughout. The rating here on IMDb is pretty much spot on, audience on RT has inflated it to over 90 which it is not. Just have fun with it. I feel like the sequel which they have announced will be just a money grab. I won't be in a rush to see it.