Some movies are exactly as advertised. Count Jungle Cruise in that category. And yet–it’s bigger and bolder and braver than you might have guessed from its trailers. Comparisons to the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, Romancing the Stone, and African Queen are all completely warranted. Jungle Cruise is a big, sweeping adventure–and visual amusement park ride–that draws out the best of stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. First previewed in autumn 2019, it’s another pandemic delay that has the scope and spectacle that would have made it the perfect box office hit in a normal year. But at least now audiences can see what they’ve been missing as Jungle Cruise arrived this past weekend on the Disney Plus streaming service.
We’re finally connecting back with big movies first previewed in autumn 2019. That includes Jungle Cruise (first previewed here), which looks like a take on Hepburn and Bogart’s African Queen, and a great set-up for a Disney franchise follow-up to its long-running Pirates of the Caribbean. Eighteen months later and the second trailer is here. The theme park ride turned big-screen adventure could hardly look more fun (except for some iffy CGI effects sequences). Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow, Mary Poppins Returns) seems to have walked right into a role written for Johnny Depp, as she teeters through a clever Rube Goldberg-inspired scene as Lily Houghton, a scientist embarking on a journey with her brother in the Amazon, via riverboat, where they meet an unusual ship captain. It also feels a bit like the big adventure hit The Mummy, with Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser. With Hollywood’s #1 box office draw Dwayne Johnson still entertaining us with his Jumanji jungle series and international tours in the Fast & Furious movies, there’s hardly a better person to cast with Blunt in this kind of new team-up. Check out the new trailer (and updated poster) below for Jungle Cruise.
It looks just like a remake and update of African Queen, and a great set-up for the next big Disney franchise follow-up to Pirates of the Caribbean. The first trailer is out for Jungle Cruise, and the theme park ride turned big-screen adventure could hardly look more fun. Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow, Mary Poppins Returns) seems to have walked right into a role written for Johnny Depp, as she teeters through a clever Rube Goldberg-inspired scene as we’re introduced to Lily Houghton, a scientist embarking on a journey with her brother in the Amazon, via riverboat, where they meet an unusual ship captain.
With Hollywood’s #1 box office draw Dwayne Johnson still entertaining us with his Jumanji jungle series and international tours in the Fast & Furious movies, there’s hardly a better person to cast with Blunt in this kind of new team-up, and possibly a new franchise. Here he looks a lot more like Popeye than Humphrey Bogart. Johnson has referred to Blunt’s character as “a female Indiana Jones.” For most of the world–who haven’t ever been to a Disney theme park–it may help to know the movie Jungle Cruise is based on a theme park ride like Pirates of the Caribbean. As much as the latter began as what seemed like a Disney attempt to make some more money off its theme park intellectual property in a new venue, the Pirates films ultimately were a big hit with audiences and a treasure trove for Disney. Will Jungle Cruise find Disney’s next pot of gold?
The great Paul Giamatti(Lodge 49, American Splendor, Paycheck) co-stars with Black Mirror’s Jesse Plemons, with a rousing score by composer James Newton Howard (Dave, Waterworld, The Postman, The Sixth Sense, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman). Check out this trailer for what could be a fun amusement park ride of a movie, Jungle Cruise:
