Steampunk + Bad Jokes
The first thing I thought when I saw the trailer for Disney’s Jungle Cruise movie was steampunk + bad jokes, with a soupçon of Joss Whedon’s The Nevers, since there were several women in Edwardian clothing having the most unladylike adventures. I wanted to write it up for Krypton Radio, “sci-fi for your wi-fi.” Krypton Radio is an Internet radio station that focuses on the Geek community, SFFH (science fiction, fantasy, horror). They run a series of articles on their webpage called Trailer Park, which review movie trailers of the geeky variety. Unfortunately for me, one of my colleagues wrote it first. I decided to attempt it anyway, as a Medium post, just for practice. I am currently the KR obituary specialist, but I would like to broaden my journalistic horizons.
My second thought was “Good grief, they’re making the Jungle Cruise ride into a movie?” The first thing both my kids asked was if Disney was running out of ideas. If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, you’ve probably been on the Jungle Cruise ride. It’s a boat ride down the rivers of the world, infamous for the boat captain telling bad jokes every inch of the Nile,the Mekong, and the Amazon. {Even as a child, I could never understand why the Jungle Cruise was an E ticket ride. It was amusing, and a chance to rest your feet for a while, but struck me more as a C or D ticket.}
The Jungle Cruise ride is in Disneyland’s Adventureland, and can be considered a cross between Humphrey Bogart’s The African Queen and Disney’s own True-Life Adventure films we all grew up watching in school. It can also be considered the forefather of Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Uncle Walt originally wanted real animals in the ride instead of audio-animatronics, but was unable to do so at that time. Disneyland Paris and Shanghai Disneyland are the only Magic Kingdom-style Disney parks that do not have a Jungle Cruise ride in their attraction rosters.
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson stars as Frank, the skipper of the boat in the Jungle Cruise movie. He’s not a Disney Legend yet, but since this is his fourth or fifth Disney movie, he’s well on his way to becoming one. Emily Blunt, who took over the role of Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns and voiced Juliet in Gnomeo and Juliet and Sherlock Gnomes co-stars as Lily Houghton. Jack Whitehall (Harlequin in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Newton Pulsifer in Good Omens) plays Lily’s brother, McGregor Houghton.
The movie is currently is post-production and is scheduled to be released July 24, 2020.
If you’re a fan of Talespin, Tales of the Brass Monkey, Indiana Jones, Bring ’Em Back Alive, etc., then you’ll probably enjoy Jungle Cruise. Look for inside jokes as well as bad puns.
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls025720609/videoplayer/vi260947737?ref_=vi_nxt_ap