Jungle Cruise; Grade: C-
Jungle Cruise tells a story about an explorer Lily (Emily Blunt) securing an ancient stone, as the stone can lead her quest into finding a supernatural flower that can bring healing. Lily hires a local witty jokester skipper Frank (Dwayne Johnson), to travel across the Amazon as she hopes he'll bring her to the promise land. Lily and Frank will encounter many dangers of the jungle along the way.
The best thing going for Jungle Cruise, is the cast as I found the entire cast to the be the best part of this film. You can tell each and every cast member genuinely was having fun while making this adventure film, pretty much everyone had a blast which is what is needed to have in a adventure film like this one. Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson are a dynamic duo on screen, they capture some solid character moments, as the chemistry was spot on. Then you have Jesse Plemons playing the antagonist of the film and surprisingly enough he was all in on this part, playing an effective antagonist that generates fear however comes in clutch with the playful moments, including Plemons character arguing with a bee.
I was hoping for some popcorn fun with Jungle Cruise, but unfortunately not only was sick to my stomach by the popcorn I ate, I was also disappointed by it being dull. The thing that made Jungle Cruise extremely dull to me was the story itself, as the film felt entirely unoriginal. Story wise it felt too reminiscent to 2004's Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid, a story in which has explorers traveling along the amazon, in order to secure a rare flower while danger awaits them including deadly snakes... Could it be more obvious?! Not only that, this film can also feel like Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones, as there's really not a single unique thing about this film whatsoever.
The humor can feel a bit too popsicle stick for my taste, even with Dwayne's charm it still didn't do anything for me. The adventure itself didn't make me feel excited at all, you can even say it was weighed down by poorly special effects that reminds me of Javier Bardem's character in the last Pirates of the Caribbean film. Nothing much more I can talk about Jungle Cruise, if a theatre is offering 4DX for Jungle Cruise, I think it would be better suited since it felt like a motion ride type film.
Overall, Jungle Cruise was just mediocre. I don't recommend this film, I would however suggest taking the kids to see this movie, it'll be fun for them at least. -Mitch Smietana