Jungle Cruise review round-up: 'Blandly inoffensive entertainment' or 'good ol' fashioned escapism' — critics stand divided

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s fantasy adventure movie Jungle Cruise will simultaneously release in US theatres and on Disney+ on 30 July. Also starring Édgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti, and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film is inspired by Disney Parks’ theme park attraction of the same name. The first set of reviews are already out — and critics stand divided on the film. While some describe the movie as a “blandly inoffensive piece of generic entertainment,” others call it “one heck of a summertime ride.” Here are some of the reviews for Jungle Cruise Guardian: “The spark that was there in the opening section disappears and the film splutters out into something directionless and derivative and dull.” The Verge: “There’s a real earnestness to the whole movie that surpasses some of its very manufactured-by-Disney elements. It can be dopy and it can be misguided, but Jungle Cruise is also just a lot of fun.” Variety: “Jungle Cruise is a movie that implicitly asks: What’s wrong with a little good old-fashioned escapism? The answer is: Absolutely nothing, and Jungle Cruise is old-fashioned, expect that it pelts the audience with entertainment in such a lively yet bumptious way that at times you may wish you were wearing protective gear.” IGN: “…The script is witty in ways that help squeak us through the set pieces. Clever dialogue pops in to punctuate just about everything, making for a movie that breezes by, distracting and diverting in all the best escapist ways.” The Hollywood Reporter: “Jungle Cruise is a typically well-upholstered Disney package, shot by Flavio Labiano with vibrancy and lots of swooping camerawork in the action scenes…Everything about Jungle Cruise points not to creative inspiration in spinning a feature property out of the ride, but to corporate bean counters enthusing, “Hey, it worked for Pirates of the Caribbean!”” CNet: “Jungle Cruise is a worthy addition to Disney’s live-action adventure library, with Johnson, Blunt and Whitehall bringing suitable emotional depth and plenty of laughs. Whether we’ll still be talking about it decades in the future is debatable, but it’ll go down as a memorable summer romp that families can watch on a Saturday afternoon for years to come.” Collider: “Jungle Cruise is bright, colourful, and funny, and while it may not rival Pirates of the Caribbean, it has at least borrowed from that film’s DNA with its quest for a sacred object in a race against those (in this case, the conquistadors) who have been cursed in their quest for that object.”