Jungle Cruise
An adventurous young woman (Emily Blunt) hires a riverboat captain (Dwayne Johnson) to take her down the Amazon in search of a mythical tree whose petals can cure illnesses and lift curses.
Much like Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise is based on a ride at a Disney theme park. Hopefully it won’t spawn a regrettable franchise of its down.
There’s some welcome influence from The African Queen, Indiana Jones and even Werner Herzog, making for a charming enough adventure film for a long summer evening. It’s unlikely to go down as a classic like the first pirate film did, but it’s slick and fun and not completely insulting.
Blunt and Johnson are funny together, and the supporting cast are also well chosen (Jack Whitehall in a huge Hollywood break, and Jesse Plemons proving that crazy German stereotypes haven’t entirely stopped being funny yet).
Hard to love but hard to fault.