BIT OF DISNEY MAGIC SETS UP DOWN RIVER

BLUNT TAKES ON ACTION ADVENTURE ROLE FOR DISNEY FRANCHISE

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Emily Blunt travels down the Amazon River as botanist Dr. Lily Houghton in search of a mythical potion that will save lives in Disney’s Jungle Cruise (2021).

Lily must first steal a secret artifact from the British Geological Society before departing for Brazil with her brother. Jack Whitehall plays the brother, MacGregor Houghton.

Lily’s troubles just get started in Brazil, though, where she must find the right captain with the right boat to charter the voyage at the center of her adventure in 1916.

Dwayne Johnson plays Frank Wolff, captain of the wooden river boat, La Quila. La Quila becomes almost as important as the captain and her passengers.

Paul Giamatti plays industrialist, Nilo Nemolato, who operates a rival riverboat company. Nemolato has acquired all the other riverboats on the Amazon and has now set his sights on the La Quila.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra creates a second narrative and gradually unravels the back story to a centuries-old curse.

Jesse Plemons leads the second narrative as Prince Joachim searching for the same magic potion except for the purpose of using the potion to cause death during the Great War. Plemons does a good job developing the accent and demeanor of a submarine captain chasing in parallel the first narrative down the Amazon.

The iron submarine has a difficult time keeping pace with the wooden boat though as Blunt takes on the action adventure lead, sharing screen time with Johnson and Whitehall through the animation studio glory.

The film with a 2 hour and 7 minute runtime goes by quickly with lots of animation magic created to entertain adults and children alike in that Disney action adventure fashion.

Lily and Frank must quickly learn to survive. A great deal of the script involves the stars’ character development and how those characters round out and manage to work together through real danger.

The director shows how even opposite personalities can bond in a life threatening adventure through the mysterious magical unknown jungle.

The film is not all cloak and dagger seriousness, though. Writer Michael Green adds more than a bit of the Mickey Mouse repertoire humor to the script. 

Blunt, Johnson, Whitehall, Plemons and Giamatti are cast well as serious clowns all victimized in some way by the Amazon, but still somehow at the same time remaining culpable villains.

Blunt relies on the sharpness of her drama acting skills with a deadpan sense of fun to carry the film opposite Johnson. Johnson delivers a funny performance with a lot of unbelievable physical humor.

Jungle Cruise has been in theaters since July 30, but the film finally began streaming on Disney+ after being held behind the Premier Access paywall for the longest time.