{"id":23251,"date":"2021-07-29T10:56:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T17:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23251"},"modified":"2021-07-29T10:56:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T17:56:35","slug":"jungle-cruise-isnt-the-best-disney-attraction-but-is-a-fun-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23251","title":{"rendered":"JUNGLE CRUISE Isn\u2019t the Best Disney Attraction, But Is a Fun Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This film<\/strong> premieres Friday, July 30th<\/sup><\/strong>\nin theaters and is available on Disney+ with Premier Access.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Disney has seemed focused on creating\nlive-action features based on animated classics. But the studio has also been\ninspired by their own theme park attractions, with \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d being\nthe most notable example. The latest ride-to-film adaptation is \u201cJungle\nCruise\u201d. This effort is quite silly and feels in part like an amalgamation of\nelements taken from the previously noted Disney hit, as well as the 1999 remake\nof \u201cThe Mummy\u201d. It doesn\u2019t quite live up to those two films, but the cast play\nwell off each other and the final product does provide some laughs and thrills\nfor the entire family.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Set in 1917. this tale follows Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt),\na plucky scientist determined to find a mystical \u201cTree of Life\u201d. Her research\nsuggests that the plant has healing powers and is located somewhere on the\nAmazon River. Lily\u2019s research is scoffed at by fellow experts because of her\ngender. However, she continues to get the better of them, using her cowering brother\nMacGregor (Jack Whitehall) as a front. After the pair procure a map, they race\nout to the Brazilian jungle. The two quickly hire skeptical, debt-ridden steamboat\ncaptain Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to take them to where they believe the\ntree is located. But along the way, they face great danger and are pursued by\nPrince Joachim (Jesse Plemons), a deranged German aristocrat who wants the\ntopiary\u2019s power all to himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As previously noted, the film boasts great performers who\nare clearly having fun together. Early on, there are plenty of chuckles as\nFrank riffs on the original concept of the \u201cJungle Cruise\u201d ride. He takes\ntourists for a brief excursion on his beat-up ship, delivering a series of\nhorrible puns that even earn groans from his passengers. The relationship\nbetween the captain and the Houghton siblings is enjoyably testy early on,\nwhich adds some entertaining banter as they all trade barbs. The MacGregor\ncharacter also amuses as he complains about the intense jungle heat and deals\nwith sunburn. And the villain also partakes in some over-the-top scenery\nchewing, which includes an enjoyable attempt to communicate with and coerce\ninformation out of some bees in the jungle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, being a film with a muscular leading man known\nfor action, there are some exciting, if completely preposterous battle scenes.\nThis is definitely the case as Prince Joachim pursues the beat-up steamboat\ndown the Amazon on a heavily-armed submarine, causing massive destruction in\nthe process. A supernatural element to the story is introduced later on, adding\nan unexpected backstory for one of the characters and some extra foes. In terms\nof execution, these even-more-exaggerated elements are hit-and-miss, but at\nleast add an unexpected turn to the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps one of the reasons that these later developments\ndon\u2019t feel quite as exciting is because of the constant stream of computer\neffects that begin to run riot across the screen. Admittedly, a lot of the\nvisual tricks are well-rendered, but at a certain point the realism and anticipation\none might feel traveling into the jungle gets lost. And like any Disney flick,\nthe makers also can\u2019t help but add a chummy CGI animal friend into the story. The\ndigital beast doesn\u2019t look real and one wishes that the filmmakers had\nabandoned this concept. At the very least, they could have switched it out for\na monkey that might have appeared more convincing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not every joke hits the mark and the film could have been\nimproved by focusing more on the leads and not gone overboard with the green\nscreen backdrops and computer effects. Still, Disney\u2019s focus is on creating an\nepic adventure for the entire family and kids will likely have no issues with\nthe phonier-looking aspects on display. Much like the ride itself, \u201cJungle\nCruise\u201d isn\u2019t the best Disney attraction, but it is still amusing enough to make\nfor a fun ride.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film premieres Friday, July 30th in theaters and is available on Disney+ with Premier Access. In recent years, Disney has seemed focused on creating live-action features based on animated classics. But the studio has also been inspired by their own theme park attractions, with \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d being the most notable example. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,697,785,4660,5922,6620,6916,10126,10638,11342,11343,11344,11345,11346,17033,22701,22702],"class_list":["post-23251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-comedy","tag-disney","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-emily-blunt","tag-jack-whitehall","tag-jesse-plemons","tag-jungle","tag-jungle-cruise","tag-jungle-cruise-film-review","tag-jungle-cruise-movie-review","tag-jungle-cruise-review","tag-ride","tag-theme-park","tag-theme-park-ride"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}