What makes the Jungle Cruise World Famous ended up in a movie [spoiler-free movie review]

When was the last time you had a good laugh and a good time? It probably has been a while, and so if you’re needing both those things, may I recommend getting on the World-Famous Jungle Cruise?

And I’m not talking about the attraction at Disneyland!

Beginning today in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access, you can now climb aboard the boat for a delightful and somewhat scary adventure by watching the new movie with Dwayne Johnson as your Skipper – complete with Skipper jokes.

Like the previous movies that have been inspired by Disney Parks attractions, “Jungle Cruise” takes the elements of those attraction’s experiences and infuses them (either successfully or not) into an original story with original characters. In this case, Johnson felt like telling a nostalgic story filled with action and love fit for the entire family.

That story takes place in the early 1900s where exploring and adventure were the name of the game in nearly every part of the world. Igniting this adventure story is Emily Blunt who plays a “female Indiana Jones,” according to Johnson. The two hop into a dilapidated old boat that Johnson’s Skipper character plays to give tourists a closer look at the jungle environment they are in. Sound familiar, Disney Parks fans?

But while you won’t see exactly replicas of the Jungle Cruise boat in the movie, you will get the essence of all those things that Johnson was alluding to when developing the script through the lens of getting to know the attraction and its intentions.

One of those intentions is comedy, and they don’t run short on that laughing supply on this excursion.

Both Johnson and Blunt have amazing comedic (and romantic!) chemistry throughout the movie that come in handy when the story feels like it can go on for “Niles, and Niles.” And lots of that Nile River/Jungle environment was beautifully done with physical sets and build-outs that blended perfectly with computer graphics that get you lost in the world filmmakers built a-la Disneyland.

It’s a combination of all these elements that seem to be Disney’s bet that this World-Famous attraction-inspired movie will develop into their next Pirates of the Caribbean-level franchise.

Disney’s Jungle Cruise is now playing in theaters and Disney+ with Premier Access.

Details (from IMDB) –

• Runtime: 127 minutes

• Rating: PG-13 for sequences of adventure violence.

All reviews are personal opinions and may not reflect the attitudes of other writers for DisneyExaminer.com unless stated otherwise.

These films have been screened prior to the release date for review purposes and therefore are viewed without charge courtesy of The Walt Disney Studios.