Disney's Jungle Cruise - Hit or Miss?

Funny, adventurous and entertaining.

When it comes to movies based around Disney theme park rides, there actually aren't that many. So when we heard that a new Disney movie was being created based around the legendary Jungle Cruise ride, we couldn’t be more excited! 

So far, we’ve seen Haunted Mansion and the iconic Pirates of the Caribbean, so the bar was set pretty high for Jungle Cruise to be great.

If you’re thinking… What is Jungle Cruise actually about?

Jungle Cruise is another big adventure movie based on the Disney theme park ride that debuted in the original Disneyland Park in 1955, one famously full of cheesy jokes. The movie brings the oh so popular theme park to the big screen with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt leading the way. 

Dr. Lily Houghton (played by Emily Blunt) and her brother McGregor (Jack Whitehall) are searching the amazon for the mysterious flower that blooms on a tree called Tears of the Moon, which was said to have magical healing properties and has the power to change the future of medicine. 

They enlisted the help of skipper Frank (Dwayne Johnson) and his boat to chart the unforgiving river. Together, they search for the Tears of the Moon and of course, hit a few obstacles along the way including Prince Joachim, an ambitious German aristocrat who seeks the tree for his own needs. 

Let’s talk about the characters…

We all know by now that anything that Dwayne Johnson stars in is going to be enjoyable. Come on, it is The Rock after all… 

Frank Wolff, otherwise known as Skippy, is the captain of the boat that takes Emily Blunt’s Lily through the rivers of Amazon but Dwayne’s character is so much more than that. Throughout the movie we find out that he has a history with the waters he knows so well, and some of the horrors that lie within the waters. From his VERY cheesy jokes to his unveiling his vulnerable side, once again Dwayne smashed this role and we're hoping all our unanswered questions we have about Frank will be answered in a sequel.

Emily Blunt as Lily Houghton is incredibly charming. The wit and sass that Emily brings to this character is like no other and we just love her! 

As we all already know, Jack Whitehall is hilarious! We loved following his journey as McGregor and it was a storyline that we loved to see explored. Jack’s character is arguably Disney’s first explicitly gay character - despite his coming out moment never including the word ‘gay’.

If you have watched the movie already, I’m sure you would agree that casting Jack Whitehall as McGregor was a great move by Disney and we think that they couldn’t have cast a more perfect person for the role. However, watching him on the big screen without a beard was a sight to see. Don’t worry, we still love you Jack! 

Now back to the movie…

To us, Jungle Cruise reminded us of Pirates of the Caribbean with the similarities of the curse. However, Jungle Cruise unfortunately doesn’t include pirates and an extensive amount of rum (although there is a drunk tiger!).

Dwayne Johnson recently thanked fans on his social media for making Jungle Cruise No.1 at the box office.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson said “For those of you who went or watched it from your living room and created a big experience in your living room, I want to thank you guys so much. These numbers are coming in and they’re pretty good. I’ll just say that and I want to say thank you so much for your support. This journey has been since 2018. Of course, we all dealt with Covid. We had to push everything, but finally it’s out there for the world to enjoy. We wanted to create the adventure of a lifetime and also understood the responsibility of creating something, I think, that had some real legacy based on the iconic and beloved Disney ride”. 

Overall, Jungle Cruise packs in everything that you would expect from a Disney adventure movie as well as some of its own twists of course! Jungle Cruise takes you on an entertaining ride incorporating the goofy energy of the theme park attraction into the adventure. After watching this movie on the big screen, we’re looking forward to watching the Disney Adventure Theme Park Universe evolve even more. 

We love when a film surprises us and Jungle Cruise did exactly that. We went into the cinema not knowing what to expect but from the quick wit, character development and the budding relationship between Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson’s characters, Disney’s Jungle Cruise is a HIT from us! 

Jungle Cruise is in cinemas and available to watch on Disney Plus Premier Access now.

Watch the trailer for Disney’s Jungle Cruise here: