If you have visited DisneyWorld in Florida or Disneyland in California, you most likely embarked on the Jungle Cruise ride. You will also have experienced the really bad jokes, puns, word plays and wisecracks from the trusty guide on the boat taking you on the cruise. The ride was originally more educational, but Walt Disney himself decided that the Jungle Cruise ride could use a little more humor and asked the animators and staff to include some humorous one-liners to entertain the guests. Over the decades, corny jokes have become one of the main attractions for the Jungle Cruise ride. This is what makes the ride memorable.
When you see the movie, and you have ridden the ride at the park, you will probably recognize the really awful jokes throughout the movie. If you have not ridden the ride at the parks, you may wonder why the scriptwriters included all those bad jokes in the movie. It’s because the ride is known for it. If you have made that connection, it’s kind of like an inside joke within the jokes.
Jungle Cruise stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Emily Blunt and Jack Whitehall who are thrown together while looking for a legendary flower that has mysterious healing powers. Dwayne Johnson navigates the Amazon River as the boat captain while Emily Blunt and Jack Whitehall are the passengers who procure the boat for their quest for the legendary flower. Of course, someone else is interested in finding the flower, and so, the two groups clash along the river to see who will find the flower first. There are many surprises and dangers along the way down the Amazon as they try to figure out hidden messages on the map at their disposal.
This is a fun, kid-friendly movie with lots of adventure. Small children might be frightened by some of the creatures that make appearances in the movie. I don’t think this was the best live-action movie made by Disney, but it was entertaining. Disney has done a better job with animation and CGI in their other movies that required it, but it was fine for what it was. There is one scene in which the script introduced some virtue signaling that I don’t think children would catch. The writers could have left out that scene because it makes absolutely no significance to the plot.
All in all, Jungle Cruise is an entertaining movie. It has been in the theaters for quite some time now, so it will most likely venture onto video and Disney Plus soon. It is definitely worth a rental. I will give it a 3 out of 5 stars.
