The long dark rugged sentinel upgrade#

Johnson is Frank, the wily captain of a rickety Amazon River tourist trap, trying to eke out a semi-honest living amid stiff competition from a local bigwig (Paul Giamatti). What a dorky, deadpan delight to hear him say things like вЂњtoucan play that gameвЂќ or point out that certain rocks are вЂњtaken for granite.вЂќ (Certain Rocks too, surely.)Д«eing a full-length feature, of course, вЂњJungle CruiseвЂќ does have to traffic in niceties like plot, character and mythology, even if the result, scripted by Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, is derivative to the point of desultory. And whether youвЂ™re wordplay-averse or (like me) think the whole enterprise should have been retitled вЂњPungle Cruise,вЂќ the mischievous wit that has always undergirded JohnsonвЂ™s brawny physicality serves him well in this department.

The long dark rugged sentinel upgrade#

That he represents an upgrade over the average Disney park employee - no offense, average Disney park employee - is hard to deny. By that I also mean the stream of puns rattled off by the skipper, who is played by Johnson. Enthusiasts of Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt and the color orange, however, will probably want to spring for the longer, shinier, digitally enhanced version, perhaps hoping that, like DisneyвЂ™s вЂњPirates of the CaribbeanвЂќ movies - the first one, anyway - it will succeed in turning a slow-moving boat ride into an energetic, nostalgia-tickling cinematic diversion.ДЄnd to be sure, this вЂњJungle Cruise,вЂќ serviceably directed by Jaume Collet-Serra ( вЂњThe ShallowsвЂќ), does reproduce some of the rideвЂ™s signature pleasures in elaborate computer-generated form: the leafy overgrowth, the exotic wildlife, the gently flowing stream. Personally I prefer the YouTube version, which may have been filmed in a giant Anaheim water tank festooned with imported plants and mechanical elephants, yet still somehow manages to offer up the less artificial, more persuasively inhabited jungle scenery of the two. I donвЂ™t mean to suggest that these are equivalent experiences exactly. Alternately, in much less time (eight minutes) and for no money at all, you could watch a video recording of said theme-park ride on YouTube.

Starting this Friday, if youвЂ™re willing to spend the time (a little more than two hours) and money (either the price of a theater ticket or a $29.99 Disney+ Premier Access fee), you can watch the new вЂњJungle CruiseвЂќ movie, a technologically newfangled, dramatically old-fashioned action-adventure inspired by the long-running Disney theme-park ride. Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials.

The California Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic.