First Take: Jungle Cruise - puntastic family fun

SYNOPSIS: Based on Disneyland’s theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element.

It’s been all over cinemas during this school holiday period, and understandably it had to be a Rock movie that was the big one. Jungle Cruise is the name of the game this time, and as family movies come and go, this one may feel samey, but it does have some unique charm to it.

Jaume Collet-Serra, a frequent collaborator with Johnson (and a man currently working with said electrifying wrestler on Black Adam for Warner) is in charge of this 2 hour 7 minute film, and while the pacing is a bit of a challenge at times, there is enough room for this film, and the sheer amount of CGI to breathe and ensure it is visible for audiences young and old. On script duties is Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who provide a decent story that isn’t too complex, but one worthy of that 12 certificate - and that’s before we mention some of the worst puns ever written into a movie. It is shot very well by Flavio Martinez Labiano, and James Newton Howard’s score felt pretty conventional… until a special version of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters kicked in. That was something I really wasn’t expecting.

The performances are arguably what keeps this film rolling along though, and you have two of Hollywood’s most lovable leads at the top of the bill- Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt do what they do best, and supporting them is a cast which includes our very own Jack Whitehall, who has a major bit of Disney history (which we won’t spoil), Edgar Ramirez, Jesse Plemons and Paul Giamatti, all of whom definitely had fun during the production of this film, and that’s what you want on a mega blockbuster like this- a happy crew makes for a happy film. And while Disney want to make this a franchise, I’m honestly not sure at this stage whether it would be a wise idea- the box office never lies after all.

THE VERDICT

Jungle Cruise won’t be an ideal choice for all audiences, but in terms of that summer holiday kind of film, it has come out at just the right time- as a standalone film it works well, but if Disney turn this in to this generation’s Pirates of the Caribbean as they are rumoured to be doing… I don’t know if it has franchise legs of that size yet.

RATING: 3.5/5