Before Disney made it big with Marvel and Star Wars, they attempted to generate interest in films based on their rides. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl was the only major success they achieved with it, but their most recent one, Jungle Cruise, ended up doing well enough that it's receiving a sequel.
Disney tried their hand at a number of movies based on their rides and outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean films but found little success critically. Here's how Letterboxd would rank the other ride-based films.
The Country Bears (2002) - 2.1
Stream On Disney+
Based on the Disney attraction Country Bear Jamboree, Country Bears follows the story of Beary Barrington who is a talking teenage bear. He runs away from home and joins other talking bears who form a country band. Since the Disney attraction is plotless, this movie creates a narrative backstory for how the Country Bears formed.
It's not a well-liked movie among the general audience but especially Letterboxd users. One user talked about how strange of an adaptation was by basically making it a Blues Brothers rip-off with animatronic bears.
The Haunted Mansion (2003) - 2.5
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The Haunted Mansion ride at the various Disney parks has been a beloved staple for decades. So it seemed only fitting that a movie should be based on it. The Haunted Mansion is about a real estate agent who is asked to try and sell the titular mansion. But the head butler of the house is more insidious than everyone realizes and seeks to kill the new guests.
The movie is filled with locations and concepts from the ride. From Madame Leota to the singing heads, there was plenty of love put into the movie. Unfortunately, the filmmakers decided to make it a comedy and the jokes didn't land with most audiences. Hopefully, a potential remake is better.
Mission To Mars (2000) - 2.7
Rent On Apple TV
Mission to Mars was a Brian De Palma film based on an old Tomorrowland attraction of the same name. The film follows the events of the first Mars expedition as they attempt to find out if there could be life on the planet. They soon find that it could be true, but it could also be where life on Earth came from.
The attraction first opened as Mission to the Moon in 1955 and eventually evolved into Mission to Mars before closing in 1992. The movie has little in common with the attraction, most likely because it came out eight years after it closed, but it's considered an exciting science fiction movie with a very good cast. However, Rotten Tomatoes doesn't consider it one of Brian De Palma's best.
Tomorrowland (2015) - 2.7
Stream On Starz
While other films are based on rides, Brad Bird's Tomorrowland is based on an entire land at Disneyland. Tomorrowland follows a young girl who discovers a place called Tomorrowland, where all the greatest scientific minds came together to build a utopia. But something went wrong and now the world is going to end in six months unless she and a former Tomorrowland scientist can help the world believe in a better tomorrow once again.
The land at Disney was meant to inspire guests who visited with the promise of a better future. A future where anything was possible, only limited by the imagination. That's what the film took inspiration from. The film is about the promise that Tomorrowland was meant to represent. Even though some found it overly sentimental and devoid of substance, many were still able to buy into the hopeful nature of the film. It also sports an iconic score from Michael Giacchino.
Tower of Terror (1997) - 2.8
Not Currently Available To Stream
The first film Disney produced that was based on a ride was Tower of Terror. A disgraced reporter goes to an abandoned hotel where he hopes to find out what happened to the occupants who disappeared there decades ago. When they find the ghosts of the disappeared guests, they have to help save them from their torment so they can ascend to heaven.
While the attraction bears the name Twilight Zone, there is no episode of the series that features the hotel, so you won't see any of The Twilight Zone's scariest monsters in this film. Instead, this movie was created to expand on the origins of the hotel and even filmed portions in the Orlando attraction. It's pretty fondly remembered, even though its low budget does show at times. It's not very scary, but it does have some engaging twists that kept Letterboxd users on their toes.
Dinosaur (2000) - 2.8
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Dinosaur was a CG animated Disney film about an Iguanadon who tries to protect his family after a great disaster strikes. Throughout the movie, they have to move through unfamiliar terrain while also fending off frequent attacks from two Carnotaurus'. Before the movie was released, the ride at Animal Kingdom was called Countdown to Extinction which was renamed Dinosaur after the movie.
The ride follows a scientist as he tries to bring an Iguanadon back from the past before it goes extinct. Outside of the Iguanadon and a rogue Carnotaurus, there's nothing connecting the ride and the film, because the movie wasn't meant to connect to the ride. Even so, the movie is often considered a loose adaptation these days. It's not without its flaws, but it's often seen as an underrated gem in the Dinsey library.
Jungle Cruise (2021) - 2.9
Stream On Disney+
The most recent film to be based on a ride was Dwayne Johnson's Jungle Cruise. It was also so successful that Jungle Cruise is also getting a sequel. A throwback to adventure movies of old Hollywood, with a bit of The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean thrown in. Dr. Lily Houghton hires a Jungle Cruise captain in Africa in the hopes of tracking down a tree that could be the key to curing all kinds of diseases. They have to get through the Germans and the immortal Spanish conquistadors.
The opening of the film is a fun throwback to the Disney parks staple, even going so far as telling the same jokes. It pretty accurately gets the feel of the ride and the puns that Frank says are a nice nod to the script that Jungle Cruise skippers have to say. It's an exciting film that tries to tell a fun adventure story and mostly succeeds.