Respond to these rapid questions in our Jungle Cruise quiz and we will tell you which Jungle Cruise character you are. Play it now.
“Jungle Cruise” is a decent entry in the pantheon of Disney movies based on Disney theme park rides. It’s a step up from dreck like “Haunted Mansion,” though it’s not quite as satisfying as the original “Pirates of the Caribbean,” which was released in 1992.
That director Jaume Collet-Serra (“The Shallows”) and a credited team of five writers have largely abandoned the ride’s mid-century American colonial snarkiness and casual racism has proven to be the most pleasant surprise (a tradition only recently eliminated). It’s a knowingly goofy romp, anchored by the banter between its leads, an English feminist and adventurer played by Emily Blunt and a riverboat captain/adventurer played by Dwayne Johnson. Setting the revamp squarely in the wheelhouse of blockbuster franchise-starters like “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Romancing the Stone,” and “The Mummy,” and pushing the fantastical elements to the point where the story barely seems to be taking place
Interestingly enough, even though the costumes (as well as a waterfall sequence) are reminiscent of the classic “The African Queen” (John Huston’s comic romance/action film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, which is well worth watching if you haven’t already), there is no sexual chemistry between the two leads, save for a few fleeting moments, such as when Frank takes over the heroine’s hand-cranked silent film camera and captures affectionate When the leads aren’t bantering with each other, they appear to be more like a brother and sister teasing each other than a will they or won’t they couple. In the films starring Johnson, the four-quadrant blockbuster king (though not in Johnson’s HBO drama “Ballers”), a lack of sexual heat is frequently (and strangely) a bug, or perhaps a feature (depending on how you look at it). Even though Blunt is constantly putting out more than enough flinty looks of interest to sell a romance, her leading man rarely reciprocates her interest in return. It is saved, however, by the film’s tight construction and abundance of action sequences, and Blunt and Johnson do an adequate job portraying the irresistible force/immovable object dynamic, switching energies as the story requires.
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During the film’s time period of 1916, Blunt’s character, Lily Houghton, is a well-bred adventurer who collects maps belonging to her legendary father and travels to the Amazon in search of the Tears of the Moon, petals from a “Tree of Life”-type of fauna that have the ability to heal all infirmities. When she and her privileged brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) need to get somewhere, they hire Frank “Skipper” Wolff (Johnson) to drive them there for them. As a result, Wolff’s day job involves ferrying tourists upriver and cracking cheesy jokes in the vein of former “hosts” on Disney Jungle Cruise rides. This is the only notable concession to the original theme park ride. As soon as he arrives on the mission, Johnson immediately adopts a cranky but amusing old sourpuss persona a la John Wayne or Harrison Ford, and he does so with charm, despite the fact that a buoyant, almost childlike optimism comes more naturally to him than a world-weary cynicism.
Jungle Cruise Quiz
The supporting cast is stacked with overqualified character players who are all good actors. A gold-toothed, sunburned, cartoonishly “Italian” harbor master who delights in keeping Frank in debt is played by Paul Giamatti in the film. Edgar Ramirez is creepy and frightening as a conquistador who has been trapped in the jungle for centuries by a curse that dates back hundreds of years. Jesse Plemons portrays the main antagonist, Prince Joachim, who seeks to usurp the power of the petals for the Kaiser back in Germany (he’s Belloq to the stars’ Indy and Marion, who are attempting to steal the Ark from the Royal Family). Given his track record, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Plemons steals the film right out from under its stars.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Jungle Cruise quiz.
With a more classical style than is common in recent live-action Disney productions, Collet-Serra keeps the action moving forward (by which I mean, the blocking and editing have a bit of elegance, and you always know where characters are in relation to each other). Due to the editorial err on the side of brevity, powerful, beautiful, or spectacular images are never allowed to linger long enough for them to become legendary. The computer-generated imagery (CGI) is iffy, particularly on the larger jungle animals—was the production rushed, or were the artists simply overworked?—and there are moments when everything appears to be made of rubbery/plasticky material, as if you were watching the first Disney film to be shot on location at Walt Disney World Resort.
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The staging and execution of the chases and fights, on the other hand, make up for it. “Jungle Cruise,” which is a rip-off of films that were themselves rip-offs, has the appearance and feel of a paycheck gig for everyone involved, but everyone, including the filmmakers, appears to be having a good time.
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Starting on Friday, July 30th, the film will be available in theaters and on Disney+ for a fee.
For more personality quizzes check this: Black Widow Quiz.
