Disney has long sought to replicate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean by again reaching into the shallow depths of rides where you sit in a boat and gaze at animatronics.
Since at least 2006, they’ve been attempting to—somehow or another—wring a movie out of Jungle Cruise. The idea was at one point to toss in some of that Toy Story magic by having Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in the leads. Now that it’s finally hitting theaters next summer, it’s not that at all.
This final form is more of a riff on Romancing the Stone, returning Jumanji star Dwayne Johnson to his jungle habitat and turning him captain of crummy boat tour. As the gruff hunk with the falling-apart ship, he ends up Han Solo to Emily Blunt’s plucky scientist when she sets sail to find a real-life Avatar tree.
Surprisingly, Jaume Collet-Sera (House of Wax, The Orphan, four dumb Liam Neeson action-thrillers) directs as his foray into screwball adventure-comedy. Jungle Cruise hits theaters July 24.
