Dr. Lilly Houghton (Emily Blunt) and her brother Montgomery (Jack Whitehall) set off to the Amazon in search of the legendary Tears of the Moon, a flower which they believe can heal all ailments. Seeking a skipper who can take them on this perilous journey they find Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson), a seasoned tour guide and purveyor of terrible jokes. Whilst the likes of Nilo (Paul Giamatti) and Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons) attempt to stop them. 

Jungle Cruise is a Disney movie based on a theme park ride and these are not the only credentials that it shares with Pirates of the Caribbean. It is a rip roaring family adventure movie in the same vein that also owes a lot to the Brendan Fraser / Rachel Weisz Mummy movies. In fact our trio of heroes bare more than a passing resemblance to the heroes of those films. The brother is very much comic relief, whilst the sister is very much as capable a hero as the seasoned guide they hire. Just like Indiana Jones though Lilly has a fatal weakness, this time though it’s a fear of water and not snakes. 

Whilst I have never had the pleasure of the theme park ride it very much felt like our introduction to Dwayne Johnson’s Frank was the ride in full. He calmly cracks jokes as the fake perils he has set up on the river scare his guests into tipping him more. Johnson by now is a safe pair of hands as a wholesome action hero and whilst he manages the cheesy jokes with aplomb he does not manage to strike up a convincing romantic chemistry with Blunt. Speaking of which, her Lilly is very much the lead of the movie for me and the person which any sequels should focus around. Nicknamed ‘Pants’ throughout thanks to the fact that she is a woman wearing trousers in 1916 she plays the plucky hero with all the charm we have come to expect from her. So whilst Johnson and Blunt do exactly what we would expect it was Jack Whitehall who surprised me just by the fact that he was eminently watchable and very funny as the comic relief. He is also about as openly gay a character that a Disney family movie set in 1916 could possibly have. A step in the right direction for the mouse house? 

The villains also strike the right notes for a family adventure. Giamatti has a small role as a snarling rival boat tour guide whilst Plemons seems to be having a lot of fun as a German Prince keen on finding the Tears of the Moon to help the German war effort (hints of Indiana Jones here). There is also a small role for Edgar Ramirez as a Spanish conquistador in a flash back that fleshes out the story. 

For me there were two favourites. The peculiarity of having orchestral Metallica music in the flashbacks and the family film staple of a cute pet. In this case, A Jaguar called Proxima the ‘murder cat’. 

On the whole Jungle Cruise achieves everything it sets out to. It has charismatic heroes, devilish villains, funny moments, thrilling action, epic cgi vistas and an adorable pet. Fun for all the family!