Two trailers, two stars, two completely different feels, one movie. That’s what you’re getting today for Disney’s Jungle Cruise, which opens in theatres, and on Disney+ with Premier Access, July 30. The film stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt and, much as they were when the film was still scheduled for a 2020 release, the leads seem to be at odds.
So first you have Johnson, who plays Skipper Frank, releasing a trailer, complete with his own intro. An intro in which he has forgotten the name of his hugely famous co-star (and featuring a major disparity in font size). Then Blunt, who plays Dr. Lily Houghton, countered with her own trailer and intro in which she, you guessed it, forgot Johnson’s name. It’s cute and clever, if a tad forced, but the real reward is what happens after those intros, when we get to see new trailers for Jungle Cruise from Skipper Frank’s perspective and another from Dr. Houghton’s perspective.
New Jungle Cruise Trailer: Dwayne Johnson as Skipper Frank
New Jungle Cruise Trailer: Emily Blunt as Dr. Lily Houghton
Of the two, I have to say, Blunt’s trailer seems a bit more interesting. She’s the character that actually puts the story in motion — and Blunt’s brief mention of Indiana Jones in the intro seems apt.
Her character stealing stuff, falling out of windows, etc., all feels very Indy. Johnson’s trailer is fun too, especially the intro where we see how the film will pay direct homage to the Disney ride on which it’s based. My only thought there is, Jungle Cruise at Disneyland is funny because of how bad it is. That’s the joke. It’s cheesy. And while the fake hippos and classic “back side of water” joke are directly from the ride, the cringe nature of the humour doesn’t seem to land in the trailer. But hey, it’s just a trailer. Maybe it works better in the film.
Plus, that’s obviously just a small part of everything going on here. Paul Giamatti is in this movie. Jesse Plemons is too, though he doesn’t make an appearance here. From what we can tell, Jungle Cruise looks like a giant swashbuckling adventure with all the CGI monsters you can handle.
Jungle Cruise releases in Australian theatres on July 29 and will come to Disney+ Premier Access.