Trouble is they give off BFF vibes when there’s romance a-brewin’. That it-factor is almost Blunt and Johnson, who are extremely likable and have cracking chemistry. What director Jaume Collet-Serra needed to do was find what’s unique and special about his movie. And aren’t we told that good artists borrow but the best artists steal? Yes, but then they put their own spin on whatever they pickpocketed. The first conquistadors who discovered the tree hundreds of years ago were trapped by magic to live near the Amazon river for all eternity, which - yo ho! yo ho! - sounds a lot like the crew of the Black Pearl in Disney’s most successful ride-based franchise “The Pirates of the Caribbean.” Jack Whitehall, Emily Blunt and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson go on the hunt for an ancient miracle cure in Disney’s “Jungle Cruise.” APīut isn’t repetition inevitable in storytelling? There are many thousands of movies out there.
Our heroes also must contend with a swashbuckling curse. The pair head to Brazil and hire a cocky skipper named Frank ( Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson channelling Brendan Fraser in “The Mummy” and Harrison Ford in “Star Wars”) at a ramshackle, dangerous port bar (Like the Mos Eisley Cantina) to ferry them through the jungle in his rickety old boat he says is the best in the business. Disney: Humanitarians of the Year!Īnd the ripoffs keep on rolling. Although he punches a few bad guys - everybody is shocked by this - the prim dresser mostly just whines about how he misses his face creams and the fabulous hotel.
Stereotypical MacGregor comes out as gay in the middle of the movie for no reason other than for the studio to score some street cred with the Huffington Post. Lily also has an effete brother, MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), who’s just like Evie’s upper-crust sibling Jonathan from “The Mummy,” except now he’s a self-righteous prop to make Disney look progressive. The scene, which sees her balance on a ladder as she damages precious artifacts, is a dead-ringer for Weisz’s mischief at the British Museum in “The Mummy.” Jack Whitehall and Emily Blunt are all smiles before they go on their treacherous journey on the Amazon River in “Jungle Cruise.” AP In the beginning of “Jungle Cruise,” Lily sneaks into a snobby London historical society to steal an arrowhead that is an important key to finding the Tears of the Moon, a lost Brazilian tree whose petals can heal any ailment.
Men are appalled she wears pants, and that fact is brought up constantly for the entire movie. Like Evie, Lily is an obsessive British researcher in the early 20th century hellbent on finding an ancient mythological land. She is indistinguishable from Evie in “The Mummy” series, played by Rachel Weisz in the aughts. Take the main character, Lily ( Emily Blunt). To bulk up the thin material, the film steals from countless other, better adventure movies to create an altogether less satisfying combo plate that costs $30 to rent on Disney+. In theaters and on Disney+ for an extra charge. Rated PG-13 (sequences of adventure violence).