Jungle Cruise (2021)
"Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element."
As far as "movies based on attractions" go, the only thing I could compare Jungle Cruise to is Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. And that first Pirates movie had the right cast, right story, right music, right everything. This made it so hard for Jungle Cruise to even compete. Even without comparing the two movies, Jungle Cruise on its own just doesn't stand out. However I do have to praise it for the originality and it's effort to present a new story. The costuming was well done too, the character designs of the cursed people were cool, and James Newton Howard once again presents an epic soundtrack for me to nerd over. I'll tell you, my favorite scene, hands down, was when the epic instrumental cover of Nothing Else Matters blared over Frank's origin story flashback. The story told paired with this music was honestly the best part of the movie.
So not everything was bad, but I'll continue complaining before I give the film more praise. I'm a female in the LGBT community, so don't get mad when I say the feminism and gay pride messages were too on the nose for me. Now I get the time period and how women were seen. But I didn't have to be reminded that Lily was wearing pants every other scene. And the whole concept of girl power was thrown in our faces way too much, which seems to happening a lot in film these days. Again, comparing this to Pirates, Elizabeth Swan definitely wore pants a couple times. But nobody made consistent comments about it, and Elizabeth was naturally presented as a strong woman as the main trilogy progressed. No one batted an eye to see her in sword fights, but if Lily does anything it's "gasp how could a lady behave this way."
Now MacGregor as a gay character was presented more naturally, I would say. I didn't exactly pick up that he was gay until further in the movie, but it was totally believable when I did realize. I think his character arc overall was well written and I like how he developed throughout. However, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Frank would ridicule Lily wearing pants every five minutes, but completely accepts MacGregor coming out to him in that one scene. Frank's two different outlooks here just don't match, and I saw that scene more as a way of Disney telling fans directly, "yeah he's gay because here at Disney, we support gay people." It just really took the overall meaning of what that scene could've had.
The last thing I'll complain about is the stupid romance. It was way too rushed, way too predictable, and honestly not effective. I would've loved it way more if the two became chaotic best friends and partners in crime. Frank's sacrifice in the end would've had a more emotional impact for me if it was Lily crying over the loss of her BFF rather than a sudden lover. I loved Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson together on screen. However, the romance was a big miss, and just made me roll my eyes.
Speaking of the Rock, are Dwayne Johnson movies their own genre? Because I would never ever watch Jungle Cruise on it's own, but if I planned on watching one or two of Dwayne's movies, I might slide Jungle Cruise in for a mini marathon. With Dwayne Johnson movies, you pretty much get the same fun, action experience with Dwayne being super cool and occasionally funny. Not that it's bad that his movies seem the same to me. I enjoy all his movies for the most part. And Jungle Cruise is just another Rock experience.
Circling back to the original story, I think it's awesome how Disney once again invented a whole adventure to a ride that didn't really have one. Even if it's not as good as Pirates, they still accomplished this. I also loved the nods to the original ride. The actual attraction really is all about the skipper & any dad jokes they can throw to the guests throughout the attraction. Jungle Cruise really was packed with corny jokes and did it's best with comedic moments, and I feel that truly captured and glorified the true spirit of the attraction. Also loved the appearance of Trader Sam. You can visit Trader Sam's bar at Walt Disney World's Polynesian resort. Makes me wonder what other little Easter eggs and lore I missed. Also loved the part when her and MacGregor were lifted by the submarine, and Trader Sam just dipped and left MacGregor to his fate. I laughed way too hard at that.
So yeah. Overall, fun Dwayne Johnson movie, but could've been better.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆