Movie · 2021 · Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure · 2h 7m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.3/10 (516K ratings)
Only one adventure gets this wild.
Overview
Dr. Lily Houghton enlists the aid of wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff to take her down the Amazon in his dilapidated boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree that holds the power to heal – a discovery that will change the future of medicine.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.3/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.71/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 62%
Metacritic: 50
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Jaume Collet-Serra
Production
Walt Disney Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions, Davis Entertainment, Flynn Picture Company
Cast
Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti, Veronica Falcón, Dani Rovira, Quim Gutiérrez, Dan Dargan Carter, Andy Nyman, Raphael Alejandro, Simone Lockhart, Pedro Lopez, Sulem Calderon, Sebastian Blunt, Mark Ashworth, Allan Poppleton, Caroline Paige, James Quattrochi
Where to watch
Disney Plus, fuboTV, Freeform
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, old-school adventure-comedy with enough charm, banter, and set-piece momentum to work as a crowd-pleaser, even if it rarely feels fresh and its digital polish undercuts the sense of danger and place. The leads carry the movie better than the script does, making it an easy watch for viewers who want a light, family-friendly escapade.
Best for
families looking for a safe adventure movie
viewers who enjoy breezy star chemistry and quippy banter
fans of theme-park-style fantasy action
people in the mood for a low-stakes, effects-driven matinee
Skip if
you want a genuinely immersive jungle adventure
you dislike studio-blockbuster formulas
you need strong stakes or a memorable villain
you’re tired of movies that feel overproduced and lightly ironic
Overview
Jungle Cruise is built like a throwback studio adventure, with a little romance, a little mythology, and a lot of banter. It wants to be the kind of movie that can glide on charm alone, and for stretches it does: the leads are game, the pace is brisk, and the film keeps tossing in enough visual invention to stay afloat.
Worth noting
What holds it back is the same thing that often blunts modern franchise filmmaking: the world feels more assembled than discovered. The jungle rarely has the tactile danger or mystery the story is reaching for, and the action is often too polished to feel thrilling. Still, the movie understands its assignment well enough to be pleasant rather than punishing.
Bottom line
If you want a family adventure that plays like a theme-park ride with movie stars in the front seat, this does the job. If you’re hoping for something with the swagger of a true classic, it only gets partway there.
Top Letterboxd reviews
alor (3★) · 5731 likes
Finally a movie with the Rock in the jungle
emma (3★) · 2898 likes
emily blunt should’ve been the gay sibling with those outfits and that personality actually
Samantha (3★) · 2294 likes
Lost it when The Rock turned into the rock.
demi adejuyigbe · 1639 likes
unabashedly loved this shit. the ending is a cop out, the rock feels miscast, and plemons’ role should’ve been given to someone who coulda hammed it up the way giamatti did (fuck it, put giamatti in a wig, let him do both roles for no reason, full tilda) but i had a great fucking time. adventure movies are so fun!! the death of cinema is entirely in my hands or whatever and i’m sorry about it
Patrick Willems (2.5★) · 1476 likes
JESUS IF YOU'RE GOING TO SPEND $200 MILLION ON A MOVIE SET IN THE JUNGLE THEN GO SHOOT IT IN THE JUNGLE. IF FUCKING ANACONDA CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU
2022 · Action, Adventure, Comedy · 1h 52m · PG-13 · Curator 1.5/10 (530.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Netflix Standard with Ads
Shares the self-aware adventure-comedy energy and star chemistry-first approach.