Jungle Cruise Review
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Plemons is truly bizarre and, in any other scenario, would be a scene-stealer, but the story's guiding light, and most enjoyable players, are Johnson, Blunt and Whitehall. The film is at its strongest whenever the Houghtons are there, Frank is there, or they're all three together. Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.
Jungle Cruise Review
The editing errs on the side of briskness to such an extent that affecting, beautiful, or spectacular images never get to linger long enough to become iconic. The CGI is dicey, particularly on the larger jungle animals—was the production rushed, or were the artists just overworked? —and there are moments when everything seems so rubbery/plasticky that you seem to be watching the first film that was actually shot on location at Disney World. Paul Giamatti plays a gold-toothed, sunburned, cartoonishly “Italian” harbor master who delights at keeping Frank in debt. Edgar Ramirez is creepy and scary as a conquistador whose curse from centuries ago has trapped him in the jungle. Jesse Plemons plays the main baddie, Prince Joachim, who wants to filch the power of the petals for the Kaiser back in Germany (he's Belloq to the stars' Indy and Marion, trying to swipe the Ark).
Sebastian Blunt
Jungle Cruise Review: Disney's Latest Movie Ride Isn't Rousing Enough - IndieWire
Jungle Cruise Review: Disney's Latest Movie Ride Isn't Rousing Enough.
Posted: Tue, 27 Jul 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Fortunately, the film's tight construction and prolific action scenes carry it, and Blunt and Johnson do the irresistible force/immovable object dynamic well enough, swapping energies as the story demands. Jungle Cruise is a joyous summer romp rooted on by a fun script and some completely captivating chemistry between stars Johnson and Blunt. The mythology elements don't always work, and some of the villains fizzle, but whenever the leads are on screen, including Jack Whitehall, the film finds its heart and soul. Jungle Cruise -- the first Disney theme park attraction to get the big picture action/adventure treatment since Pirates of the Caribbean -- may get bogged down a tiny bit during its climax, doubling down on CGI action until the film starts to lose some of its life and charm, but that's a small quibble in the grand scheme of this fun and refreshing caper.
Disney's Jungle Cruise Review
Find release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated weekly. Derivative of films that were themselves highly derivative, "Jungle Cruise" has the look and feel of a paycheck gig for all involved, but everyone seems to be having a great time, including the filmmakers. Its craft isn't quite as sturdy as some of the classic adventures it's indebted to, but Jungle Cruise remains a fun, family-friendly voyage.
Johnson and Blunt are tremendous together, capable of bickering and butting heads while still being believably tethered and emotionally connected to one another. The film didn't need the gentle romance presented here, but director Jaume Collet-Serra makes it work, and both Johnson and Blunt earn each stolen glance. Johnson also, when he wants to, has a way of being so charismatic that you forget he's an insanely proportioned individual. Sure, the script will occasionally remind you of this, but his character, the lightly scheming river skipper Frank, is winningly charming, even when he's trying to pull a clever con. The most pleasant surprise is that director Jaume Collet-Serra ("The Shallows") and a credited team of five, count 'em, writers have largely jettisoned the ride's mid-century American colonial snarkiness and casual racism (a tradition only recently eliminated). Collet-Serra keeps the action moving along, pursuing a more classical style than is commonplace in recent live-action Disney product (by which I mean, the blocking and editing have a bit of elegance, and you always know where characters are in relation to each other).
At times the leads seem more like a brother and sister needling each other than a will they/won’t they bantering couple. Lack of sexual heat is often (strangely) a bug, or perhaps a feature, in films starring Johnson, the four-quadrant blockbuster king (though not on Johnson’s HBO drama "Ballers"). Blunt keeps putting out more than enough flinty looks of interest to sell a romance, but her leading man rarely reflects it back at her.
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The backstory/mythology surrounding the jungle and the conquistadors (i.e. why Ramirez is a barely present snake man) feels a bit dry, but the script is witty in ways that help squeak us through the set pieces. Clever dialogue pops in to punctuate just about everything, making for a movie that breezes by, distracting and diverting in all the best escapist ways. In the pantheon of Disney movies based on Disney theme park rides, "Jungle Cruise" is pretty good—leagues better than dreck like "Haunted Mansion," though not quite as satisfying as the original "Pirates of the Caribbean." As the heroic and headstrong botanist Dr. Lily Houghton, she embodies the craftiness and scholarliness of an Indiana Jones, sometimes getting by on her wits and sometimes scraping by on pure luck. There's a bouncy, cartoonish element to the action, harkening back to old matinee serials of the 1930s and, in turn, the aforementioned Indiana Jones (referring to the more comedic action in Last Crusade and not the grimmer fare of the first two films).
It's a mix of roughhousing and slapstick that never feels as false or phony as it should, and James Newton Howard's winning score presents it all with a punchy playfulness. To help you plan your moviegoing options, our editors have selected the most notable films releasing in April 2024, listed in alphabetical order. We rank every one of the British director's movies by Metascore, from his debut Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels to his brand new film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. With the arrival of Zack Snyder's latest Rebel Moon chapter on Netflix, we rank every one of the director's films—from bad to, well, less bad—by Metascore. The film's villains are the unique tag team of a quirky German aristocrat played by Jesse Plemons and undead conquistador played by Édgar Ramírez (part of the CGI pile-on elements).
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