By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Jungle Cruise (USA, 2012): Four-quadrant movies these days are reaching peak levels of constrains. You can forget of any resemblance of edge over the fear of cancel culture or bad publicity (The Goonies would’ve never been greenlit today). International markets, particularly China, must be ok with the content or it’s goodbye to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Even though there’s a particularly glaring example of trying to appease everybody (you’ll know it when you see it), Jungle Cruise does a fairly good job keeping things entertaining, mostly by relying on the utterly charming Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson.

A combination of The Mummy with pieces of the Indiana Jones saga set in the early 20th century, the film follows the pursuits of Lily Houghton (Blunt), a British socialite with a philanthropic streak and the soul of an adventurer. In pursuit of a mythical tree with healing properties said to be in the middle of a family-friendly Amazon jungle, Lily hires a riverboat captained by Frank (Johnson), who can barely keep his business afloat. Cue callbacks to the Disney parks ride.

The mismatched couple (she’s intrepid but clumsy, he’s wary of the jungle but good with his fists) turns out to be the ideal combination to fend off a greedy German prince (an amusing Jesse Plemons) and undead conquistadors, because why not.

There’s a dash of Aguirre, the Wrath of God in Jungle Cruise which is never a bad idea (also, Paul Giamatti looks like Klaus Kinski in Fitzcarraldo), but for the most part, every set piece is run-of-the-mill. The stakes are mild at best and it goes for way too long. There’s little chemistry between Blunt and The Rock, although both are good sports.

The most intriguing part is how Jungle Cruise, a movie with state-of-the-art CGI and a considerable budget, fails to dethrone the more modest yet more satisfying The Mummy. My money is on the script. While Jungle Cruise feels like a bunch of action sequences stitched together (much like the ride that inspired it), The Mummy has a simple, yet propulsive storyline that peaks at the climax. It’s scriptwriting 101. 2.5/5 stars.

Jungle Cruise is now playing in theatres and Disney+ Premier Access.