Jungle Cruise Review: A Fun Enough Adventure!

Jungle Cruise is a 2021 fantasy adventure in the jungle which released simultaneously in theaters and Disney Plus Premier Access. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in the primary roles, the movie, based on Disney’s theme park attraction of the same name follows the captain of a small riverboat who takes a group of travelers through a jungle in quest of the Tree of Life.

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So, first off, as an adventure, Jungle Cruise was solid and fun to watch through and through. The camera work of the jungle was stunning, with elegant wide shots of the rivers, hills, and trees. Also, the primary characters had a lot of action and came through in many places in the jungle.

The designs of the cursed characters in Jungle Cruise, particularly the ones with the snakes, looked breath taking on screen. If you watch this film in the theater, it would be quite an experience. It still looked decent watching on Disney Plus. Of course, this was all expected from this type of movie and also from Disney.

The story, though, wasn’t as solid as the adventure. The biggest problem with Jungle Cruise was that there was not a sense of urgency or definite justification for why the characters wanted to go on the tour to find the Tree of Life. The backstory felt rushed and did not have a huge impact on me or how I felt about the characters.

Because of this, in the end, I didn’t feel as satisfied as I could have. There was also a theme of sexism in the old society, and it felt forced. The cast did great playing their characters. I liked Dwayne Johnson the most, not that he was phenomenal, although he did bring charisma to the character.

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However, the story didn’t do a decent job of getting me invested in the characters. The villains were, of course, bland and not memorable. All in all, a fun enough adventure that I would still recommend, despite its problems in story and characters. Watch ‘Jungle Cruise’ on Disney Plus here.

‘Jungle Cruise’ Rating – 3/5

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