Little behind schedule today – here’s a text review for “JUNGLE CRUISE” with the video version set to go up later today đ
JUNGLE CRUISE (2021)
Dir: Jaume Collette-Serra
If ever there was ever to be a plausible case of a movie trying to overwhelm a criticâs capacity to reason out whether any creative decision was intentionally bizarre or merely an egregious mistake RIGHT AWAY; a Disney movie where the studio card over Cinderellaâs castle is scored to an instrumental cover of Metallicaâs âNothing Else Mattersâ that immediately transitions to a prologue referencing âAGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GODâ (as backstory for a mash-up of âTHE MUMMYâ and âTHE AFRICAN QUEENâ starring Dwayne âThe Rockâ Johnson) would qualify.
Ostensibly based on the original-lineup Disneyland boat ride and liberally peppered with nostalgic references to the attraction itself (AND specifically-highlighted plot-points about its now-retired less politically-correct design elements), this is another in the post-âFAST & FURIOUSâ smile-til-it-hurts genre of post-post-POST-modern self-aware blockbusters where every actor, stunt, setpiece and line-reading constantly teeters on the knifeâs edge of outright parody; everyone and everything nodding knowingly at the staginess of the action, familiarity of the formula story and layers of earnest corniness but only JUST so much that it doesnât tumble over into outright âspoofâ territory since⌠yâknow, things have to play globally where not everyone is going to get culturally-specific references and comedy timed to wordplay or conventions doesnât always translate well – or at all (in case you were wondering why that genre basically doesnât EXIST theatrically anymore…) so it makes sense to take it in that route especially when the demands of both the plot and the âbrandâ demand that you make an action movie where the characters have to stay on a boat being carried down a fixed course from point A to point B: If thereâs no way to avoid looking bizarrely artificial, you might as well call attention to it.
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