Jungle Cruise

Quite good and balanced action and adventure film with mix of comedy.

OK'ish background story, maybe a little too much of a fantasy side for my taste, but sure will work just fine for younger viewers.

Jungle Cruise is an adaptation of a Disney Park ride that I can barely remember going to and I have been to both Disney parks in the USA.

It also has five writers with various screenplay credits.

Dwayne Johnson plays Frank. A down on his luck river boat captain who takes tourists for a ride in the Amazon.

He is hired by adventurer Lily (Emily Blunt) and her uptight brother MacGregor Houghton (Jack Whitehall) who are on the search for the Tears of the Moon. The petals of a tree of life that can cure any illness. The Spanish were in search for it about 400 years earlier.

Set in 1916, Lily finds that German Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons) is also in pursuit at a time when the nations are at war. However Lily finds that Frank is a man who is hard to trust and he is full of cheesy jokes.

This comedy adventure is a mish mash of previous movies. I found it more Romancing the Stone mixed with the Brendan Fraser The Mummy movies. There is also a hint of the Pirate of the Caribbean franchise.

It harks back to two decades earlier when Disney were adapting their theme park rides rather than superhero movies or remaking their old cartoons as live action films.

Jungle Cruise is a colourful romp that lacks originality.

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are their usual, hugely enjoyable selves and even Jack Whitehall isn't particularly annoying. The story zips along pleasantly enough, delivering all the necessary action as it does so and, before you know it, two hours have passed agreeably enough. And that's about it, really...

You can't help but enjoy everything while it's happening but, once done, there's not an awful lot left on the bones to pick over. Hollywood being what it is, I'm sure a sequel is in the works. There really shouldn't be. They just barely managed to make this initial movie work, trying to repeat that process will, on the evidence of what we have here, be a very risky endeavour. Leave well alone and move on to the next Disneyland attraction would be my advice. Jason Statham in It's A Small World, anyone...?

Kudos, by the way, for the excellent use of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters"....

Acting was very good. Story: a bit cliche. Not boring. It's very good for family and kids. If you want to spend good time then this is a good one. I watched it big screen and will recommend others to watch it in movie halls. The experience will be good.

If you like adventure movies like Indiana Jones, Romancing The Stone, Jewel Of The Nile, Jumanji and others in this genre you can't go wrong with Jungle Cruise. It's the same entertainment, a bit over the top, not always making sense, but that's hardly the point with these kind of movies. It's just a bit of fun. To me it's very relaxing to watch these kind of popcorn movies. The Rock or Dwayne Johnson might not be the greatest actor but I think he fits in this genre. He's okay to watch in non serious movies. Emily Blunt did a good job as well as did the rest of the cast. The CGI's were more than decent, they clearly had a big budget for these parts in the movie. Jungle Cruise is perfect to watch as a family movie or if you're just a big fan of easy adventure.