Watched in the cinema (22nd visit in 2021)

It is a well-known fact that Disney is always quick to make money out of a brand. No other major film studio is so keen on continuously creating or expanding franchises. So it was no surprise that the company tried to turn attractions from its own amusement parks into films from time to time. Most of the adaptations were not really convincing. Several attempts did not gain as much as hoped, the reviews were often devastating. Only the surprisingly entertaining pirate adventure "Pirates of the Caribbean" turned out to be a smash hit that generated a veritable windfall of money and spawned various sequels.

It remains to be seen whether the same will happen with "Jungle Cruise". But Disney's hopes are probably high. With an alleged budget of 200 million dollars, the jungle adventure belongs to Hollywood's top price range. Dwayne Johnson is probably not entirely innocent of the high costs. He is, after all, one of the biggest crowd pullers of our time, which is reflected accordingly in his fees. The actor is also so reliable because he plays the same role all the time, with little variation. This is certainly not original, but still entertaining. His humour and charisma make up for the lack of acting ambition, especially since he usually uses both in the context of big effects-heavy blockbusters. After all, a bit of buddy-buddy is never wrong when there is great danger lurking around.

The interplay with his co-star Emily Blunt, who once again presents herself as a power woman who doesn't let any man tell her what to do, works very well. Not even by The Rock. In fact, the verbal confrontations between the giant captain and the energetic, self-confident explorer are one of the great strengths of "Jungle Cruise". Less successful, on the other hand, is the character McGregor, played by Jack Whitehall. Even though it is of course sympathetic when Disney does not make a mere damsel in distress out of the scientist and makes this clear through the contrast between the two siblings: such a clumsy caricature of gays as effeminate drama queens should not have been necessary. Even if McGregor becomes more "manly" in the course of the adventure, that could have been done more imaginatively.

Whereby the ideas in "Jungle Cruise" are generally such a thing. The script team had some nice ideas in isolated cases. Jesse Plemons' performance as the German-speaking prince in the original English is brilliant, as is his completely inappropriate vehicle. The design of the men around the conquistador played by Edgar Ramírez has also been thought up quite a bit. At these points it also becomes clear that director Jaume Collet-Serra originally comes from the horror field. Even if the film as a whole is of course intended for families, in some places it becomes quite dark. The play with two fundamentally different antagonists provides a certain urgency that the otherwise surprisingly tame jungle lacks.

Unfortunately, the film noticeably diminishes towards the end - although it tries to really show off there. Even before that, "Jungle Cruise" was not necessarily sparing with effects, which makes the look quite artificial. In the finale, the computers completely cover up the human component. In terms of content, the film has already switched to autopilot at this point. There is really no idea to be found, nothing that is not always announced ten metres in advance. All in all, this is entertaining. But it has become no more than a nice family adventure, which is indeed oriented towards classics of the genre and at least partially satisfies the longing for such works. However, it has not become the big exciting event: The story is just as oriented to prefabricated tracks as the attraction that inspired it.