Jungle Cruise

Tout a déjà été vu sous des formes et variantes diverses. On ne fait ici que recycler sans cesse de vieux films d’aventure et décliner le tout en un cocktail. Autrement dit, rien de nouveau sous le soleil et, au contraire, on doit se contenter d’acteurs et actrices en vogue et de leurs prestations passables en tant que conquérants maudits sous les commandes d’Edgar Ramírez. Trois petites étoiles. (10/08/2021)

Jaume Collet-Serra is a talented director, his first film Orphan is great and I liked his collaboration with Liam Neeson (that was back when Liam was still making fine films). Unfortunately, I didn't like this feel-good film. It takes something from Indiana Jones, Jumanji and Pirates of the Caribbean, but it can't come close to any of the them. It lacks its own edge, it lacks epicness or anything downright wow. I like The Rock a lot, but I wasn't entertained at all here; the humor went absolutely me, even Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was more interesting than this whole expedition. Emily Blunt is good, she's nice to look at, but I didn't trust the chemistry between the two protagonists. The jungle sets are quite nice, and even though it's too colourful and digital, the setting is probably the most interesting thing about the film. The villain here is not interesting at all good. The human one was chosen in a completely inappropriate and uninteresting way, and Edgar Ramirez as the "zombie" looked cool, but for my taste he had little room to do anything downright great. The action scenes didn't entertain me, nothing much explodes, there's a lack of physical action, it's more of a jungle chase with the occasional animal. Yes, the kids will be happy, but it's not enough for me and it's about half an hour longer than it should be. In the cinema I hoped it would be finally over and that's never a positive calling card. Two stars seems harsh as I'm obviously not the target audience, but for me it's the weakest cinema visit so far and a mild ordeal. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 0/5, Entertainment 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5. 5/10. (30/07/2021)

It really wants to be The Mummy crossed with the first Pirates of the Caribbean. But it's a lot closer to The Mummy Returns and the fourth Pirates, episodes of their respective franchises that are so routinely unmemorable for any quality that I had to check if I'd actually seen them. The film is aimed at a slightly younger audience than one would expect for a family adventure film, which the filmmakers try to make up for with references to classics of the genre (from The African Queen to Jumanji to Indiana Jones). It’s a pity that most of them are forced. It's saved by the more than solid pacing, an excellent opening half hour that hints at a better film than what follows, and a cast that is visibly having a good time. My eight-year-old son was delighted, I was not charmed. In other words, your standard, routine Disney corporate CGI fest for the whole family. (30/07/2021)

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt head into the Amazon jungle in search of a tree that can heal people. And most of the time they're running from something, whether it's Germans, animals or digital villains, and it's kind of fun. Jungle Cruise doesn't attempt any new things and relies on two charismatic stars, lots of visual effects, plenty of action and well-dosed humor. It doesn't excel at anything overall, but the result is a fine adventure film for the whole family. What Disney promised, it delivered. (29/07/2021)

A pretty well-made adventure movie, but the guys at Disney should have made some alterations to the screenplay which is pretty break-neck and because of that I can’t give it a fourth star. The Rock and Blunt have a big job in front of them to save this. Similarly to the Pirates of the Caribbean, this adaptation is a spectacular showcase of special effects generated mainly for profit = job well done. But instead of Verbinski, here Collet-Serra is at the helm, so here they make the killing more entertaining, but the voyage isn’t as smooth. But the twists worked with me and the Mayan city looked fantastic. (30/10/2021)