Jungle Cruise, an adventure down the Amazon with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt, takes some notes from Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. In Jungle Cruise, a movie based on Disney's ride of the same name, Dr. Lily Houghton (Blunt) and her brother, McGregor (Jack Whitehall), head out on a quest to find Tears of the Moon, a legendary tree with magical healing powers. To navigate the Amazon, Lily brings on the help of Frank Wolff (Johnson), a jungle cruise skipper who never skips out on puns. But this is no Amazon vacation. Besides Lily, McGregor, and Frank, immortal Spanish conquistadors are after the tree, and a German aristocrat named Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons) is out to exploit Tears of the Moon to help bring glory to his country during World War I.
Disney has based films on its rides before, but the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are by far its most successful. In 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprise mega-hit for Disney, earning more than $650 million at the worldwide box office. The movie spawned numerous sequels, ultimately bringing the studio a $4 billion-plus franchise. And though Disney has distanced itself from Depp since the franchise star's problematic legal issues, the series is still going on. Margot Robbie is even attached to an upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean installment.
Though they're vastly different subject matter, Jungle Cruise takes several cues from Pirates of the Caribbean. With the success of that franchise, it makes sense that Disney would model Jungle Cruise after it. After all, Disney already has plans for a sequel to Jungle Cruise, so the company is clearly trying to recapture the magic that it first had in Pirates of the Caribbean. And Jungle Cruise is seemingly successful in its goal, even exceeding box office expectations with a $34 million domestic debut despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the film takes its imitation a bit too far. Jungle Cruise also copies the bad parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which is evident throughout the film.
Like Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise excels through its charismatic leads. Even when the Pirates of the Caribbean movies got weird and confusing, such as the odd visuals in Davy Jones' locker in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the franchise leaned on Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp), its fan-favorite antihero, to keep audiences entertained and engaged. Jungle Cruise does the same. The film showcases The Rock and Blunt, allowing the pair to have fun and lead audiences down a charming adventure into the Amazon. As long as its leads are helming the jungle cruise, the story almost seems like a secondary concern.
Of course, the movie also takes the worst things from Pirates of the Caribbean. While The Curse of the Black Pearl had fantastical elements such as immortal pirates, the films got more and more convoluted with every installment, bringing back dead dads from the bottom of the ocean and making giant goddesses create deadly whirlpools. Jungle Cruise directly copies Pirates of the Caribbean by exchanging cursed, immortal pirates for cursed, immortal Spanish conquistadors, and the story spirals from there. CGI makes the trippy visuals of the movie hard to discern at times, and the runtime of more than two hours leads to Disney's film dragging at the end. Like in Pirates of the Caribbean, a logical story doesn't seem like the primary concern. But with that franchise's success, it doesn't need to be.