Back in 2003, Disney had a film with some ingredients to make it destined to become a flop; Johnny Depp was not considered a bankable star -as he had not yet done a huge blockbuster- and the pirate genre was considered to be doomed. Obviously, I am referring to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which turned out to be a colossal success -both in financial and critical terms-, spanning four sequels. While it is true that neither of the sequels capture the tone and the originality of the first film, it cannot be denied that, what seemed as a gamble for Disney has more than paid off, especially considering that, after all, the saga is based on a theme-park ride.

One year after the release of the first Pirates film, Disney was keen to repeat the same success, and, as a result, decided to use another of its theme-park rides as the basis for a film. However, this time things have been slightly harder as the film has spent several years in development, with consequent re-writings of the script (the final one written by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa and Michael Green), and there was even a failed attempt in 2011 which would have had Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as stars. Nevertheless, after several delays -the last one due to COVID-19-, the bumpy ride to get Jungle Cruise on the big screen has ended -it can also be seen on Disney+ for an extra cost with the fantastic scheme that everybody loves, including Scarlett Johannsson who has sued the house of the mouse for breaching her contract by releasing Black Widow on cinemas and on Disney+ simultaneously-.

As many other adventure films, the plot of Jungle Cruise is centered around a quest for a mythical Macguffin, this time in the shape of the Tree of Life, that will cure any illness or curse. Emily Blunt plays a scientist who goes with her brother -Jack Whitehall, playing the second openly gay character in a Disney film after LeFou in Beauty and the Beast– in the search of said tree. Along the way they recruit the captain of a steamboat -Dwayne Johnson- to take them along the river, all the while escaping from a villanous German Prince and a gang of doomed Spanish explorers. While I personally feel curious to see how the 2011 version with Hanks and Allen might have turned out to be, there is no complain about the cast of Jungle Cruise. Both Johnson and Blunt make a perfect duo -with occasional good contributions by Whitehall-, their chemistry fills the screen and their constant bickering, does not feel annoying but charming to watch instead.

Johnson and Blunt are fun and strong enough to hold the film by themselves -especially the former who seems able to lift a 747 with a pinkie-, however if there is an actor whose performance is worth mentioning is Jesse Plemons. Plemons swings for the fences portraying a nefarious German aristocrat obsessed with finding the supposed Tree of Life. He is, hands down, the best part of the film, as it is wonderfully obvious that he is having fun with a role that allows him to be as over the top and zany as he wants to. If Plemons’s acting makes you beg he had more screen time, something similar happens with Paul Giamatti, who is underused with a role that could be seen as an extended cameo. However, quite the opposite happens with the big baddies of the story, a group of Spanish conquerors -played by Édgar Ramírez, Dani Rovira and Quim Gutiérrez- as they seem to be directly taken out of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and give the film the feeling of having too many villains in the same way as with the Spiderman films of the Andrew Garfield period -which also had an underused Giamatti-.  

In the same way that any film with a shark in it is always going to be in the shadow of Jaws, any pure adventure film will be measured against another picture by Steven Spielberg, in this case the entire Indiana Jones’ saga (maybe not the last part, though). While it is true that Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy -and to a lesser extent its two sequels, The Mummy Returns and The Mummy. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor- helped reinvigorate the genre for a younger generation, everybody thinks of Harrison Ford with his with his trusty whip and fedora when they think of adventure films. As a standalone film in the adventure genre, Jungle Cruise is fun and entertaining to watch, and has a few thrilling set pieces, making it clear that Jaume Collet-Serra is skillful behind the camera and knows how to make the most of his actors on set. However, the film never feels completely its own, instead, it feels as if designed by a committee keen on incorporating their favourite tropes of the genre, as well as a mashup of memorable moments taken out of the sagas of Indiana Jones or The Mummy (and even Pirates of the Caribbean) to give the audience a certain feeling of familiarity. This is a pity, as it would have been interesting to see something fresh and original with these performers and directed by Serra, who made not only some of the best films of the Liam Neeson old timey action subgenre (i.e., Unknown and Non-Stop), but also The Shallows, one of the best shark films that is not Jaws.

It would be difficult to make a dull film with no humour and charm with stars as lovable and charismatic as Johnson and Blunt -and with a hilariously over the top performance by Plemons who definitely steals the whole picture-, luckily, Serra has not made such a mistake. Jungle Cruise is charming for an audience who demands entertainment and a few giggles along the way; what it is not is a film that brings something new to the table. It is a repetition of old tropes, a combination of already proven formulas, that sadly do not pay off here, as this gives the feeling that we are always one step ahead of the plot, knowing what is going to happen at all times. Also, the film is longer and sometimes slower than it should have been -which for a film based on a theme-park ride is the equivalent of stopping mid-way to hear people talking when all you want is to have fun-.

However, despite the feeling of a missed opportunity of reinvigorating the adventure genre, considering the origin of Jungle Cruise as a theme-park ride, source of entertainment based on a combination of safe thrills that do not leave a lasting experience, the film pays homage to its roots as it is forgettable fun for the full family.