Proxima is a jaguar and supporting character from the 2021 Disney live-action film, Jungle Cruise.
Background[]
Proxima is a wild jaguar that Frank Wolff adopted as a pet. To impress Lily Houghton and secure a deal in providing transport down river as well as show off in front of the town, he staged a fight with Proxima in the middle of the cantina in Porto Velho. Living aboard the La Quila on the lower deck, McGregor discovers her when going down to the lower deck during the expedition and the staged fight ends up playing into Lily's suspicions of Frank during the journey. When Frank reveals the truth of his past as a conquistador cursed with immortality, he describes Proxima as only the latest of his various pet wildcats over the centuries, with the name simply meaning "The next one" in Spanish, though he continually tells the current Proxima that she's his favorite. Proxima ends up accompanying Frank and the Houghtons on their return to civilization and London.
Role in the film[]
Proxima first appears during a negotiation between Frank and Lily where she prowls across the bar where she smells a piece of steak on the floor and as McGregor attempts to shoo her away just as Nilo tells the customers to stay calm with the jaguar inside just as Proxima angrily snarls at Lily and her brother. As Frank attempts to get the jaguar out of the bar, she pounces on Frank where he wrestles her, causing Frank to end up at the spot where the fight between the tarantula and the scorpion was taking place. After Proxima pounces on Frank, the scorpion prepares to strike Frank with its tail and the tarantula attempts to attack Frank with its mandibles. Seeing a piece of steak on the floor, Frank manages to evade the scorpion and tarantula and tosses the steak to distract her to which the surviving people inside the bar congratulate Frank for getting the jaguar out of the bar.
Later when Frank is fixing the engines on the La Quila, Frank apologizes to Proxima after being harsh with him at first and then later arrives at the harbor to meet Lily and her brother who are on their way to board the La Quila. After Frank provides dinner for Lily and her brother, McGregor decides to go to bed at the cabin area, where he doesn't notice Proxima is present. Suddenly, Proxima approaches McGregor and wakes him up, chasing him on the deck of the ship where Frank was able to calm down the jaguar, much to Lily explaining to Frank that he brought a jaguar on the ship.
The next day, the La Quila arrives at the Garaganta del Diablo where Proxima is present on deck. Frank tells Proxima to get the Arrowhead for him to which she approaches McGregor, much to his disgust. Suddenly, the La Quila arrives at the rapids where Frank navigates himself through the turbulent waters of the rapids where Lily, McGregor, and Proxima are told to be ready for the turbulent waters. Proxima survives the rapids after Frank managed to navigate through the rapids and the waterfall.
As the La Quila arrives at Ucayali Cove, Lily uses her camera to film Proxima who is chewing on McGregor's shoe just as she enters Frank's cabin to find a gallery of photos and sketches of modern inventions just as Proxima returns to her lair. Proxima shows up on deck and faces McGregor who promises her not to bite him if he pets her. Suddenly, McGregor and his sister are struck by darts fired by the Puka Michuna tribe alongside Frank where they are taken to the headhunter territory just as Proxima remains on the La Quila. Later when Frank is telling his flashback to Lily about his association with Aguirre before Aguirre began to show a hate towards Frank, Proxima is seen listening to Frank's story just before Frank narrates that he once kept a collection of wild cats to help accompany him each named Proxima just as Frank tells the jaguar Proxima to not be offended as the La Quila continues its journey to the La Luna Rota region.
Furthermore when Frank and Lily arrive at the La Luna Rota area where the Tears of the Moon are located and when McGregor and Frank are fighting against some of Joachim's soldiers, McGregor calls Proxima to help him just as she tackles on one of the soldiers who is preparing to shoot him to which the jaguar counters the attack in which Frank knocks off the soldier being tackled by Proxima just as MacGregor thanks her for saving him. Later when Frank and McGregor are planning to rescue Lily, Proxima grabs Frank to prevent him from falling off the La Quila and as he thanks her for saving him. Frank tells Proxima to protect McGregor while preparing to sacrifice the La Quila by crashing it into a pillar.
Later, Joachim becomes very enraged and threatens to kill Proxima, Lily, and McGregor in which MacGregor feels furious with Joachim who betrayed him just as McGregor knocks Joachim into a wall where he is crushed by falling debris. Proxima later notices Frank crashing his ship into the pillars to block the river alongside Lily and McGregor followed by the three of them looking at Frank being grabbed by the vines and later being petrified alongside the other conquistadors. Proxima sadly reacts to Frank who was petrified after being grabbed by the vines along with the other conquistadors as she fears that she will miss her owner to which Lily manages to restore Frank back to life using the petal she retrieved to bring her back to life just as Lily and her brother leave. Suddenly, Proxima reacts to the petal from the Tears of the Moon successfully reviving Frank just as Proxima happily reacts that her owner is alive as she happily rejoices with Frank, Lily, and McGregor.
The next day, Proxima returns back to Porto Velho via raft alongside Frank, Lily, and McGregor. She later passes by Nilo Nemolato who approaches Frank after Frank tells him that he has all the boats to which Proxima walks across the docks alongside Frank, Lily, and McGregor. Later when Frank, Lily, and McGregor arrive back at England, Proxima is seen during the end of the film where she is seen on the back of Lily's car where Lily teaches Frank how to drive a car just like her.
Trivia[]
- Ben Jenkin, who played Proxima, wore a leopard suit in scenes where Proxima appears on screen while doing motion capture of her for reference while the scenes were being filmed. In the finalized versions of the scenes where Proxima appears, the actor in the leopard suit was replaced by a CGI jaguar model with realistic features. Additionally, Proxima was animated by special effects company WETA Workshop, the company that contributed to other Disney films such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, its 2008 sequel, Thor: Ragnarok,the 2020 remake of Mulan, and others.[1]
- Proxima pulls double duty in Disney Emoji Blitz as Antonio Madrigal's jaguar Parce.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Bonus feature "Creating the Amazon" (Jungle Cruise Blu-Ray/Digital formats).
External links[]
- Proxima on the Jungle Cruise Wiki
