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Jungle Cruise

Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element. Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element. Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element.

• Jaume Collet-Serra
• Michael Green
• Glenn Ficarra
• Dwayne Johnson
• Emily Blunt
• Edgar Ramírez
• 1.2K User reviews
• 297 Critic reviews
• 50 Metascore
• 5 wins & 9 nominations

• Frank Wolff

• Lily Houghton

• MacGregor Houghton

• Prince Joachim

• (as Quim Gutierrez)

• Sir James Hobbs-Coddington

• Chief's Daughter

• Society Guard

• Society Member

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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Dwayne Johnson & Emily Blunt Answer Burning Questions

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• Trivia Many of the puns Frank uses are taken directly from the Disney Parks attraction on which the movie is based. These "so bad they're good" jokes are one of the reasons why Jungle Cruise skippers are so important to the ride experience.
• Goofs Prince Joachim knows where the trapped Spanish are located. There was no record of this because only Skipper knew where he trapped them.

Frank Wolff : If you're lucky enough to have one person in this life to care about, then that's world enough for me.

• Crazy credits The bay in the Disney logo is seen to have the water glowing purple, and after the Disney logo fully appears the camera dives into the water and leads to the Tree of Life, which opens the film.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: D23 Expo 2019 Extravaganza (2019)
• Soundtracks Nothing Else Matters Reimagined by Metallica and James Newton Howard With featured performances by James Hetfield , Lars Ulrich , Kirk Hammett , Robert Trujillo Written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich Associate Producer and Engineer Greg Fidelman

User reviews 1.2K

• Jul 30, 2021
• How long is Jungle Cruise? Powered by Alexa
• Will 'Weird Al' Yankovic's song 'Skipper Dan' about Disney's Jungle Cruise ride be featured in this movie?
• July 30, 2021 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Thám Hiểm Rừng Xanh
• Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA
• Davis Entertainment
• Flynn Picture Company
• Seven Bucks Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $200,000,000 (estimated)
• $116,987,516
• $35,018,731
• Aug 1, 2021
• $220,889,446

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track

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In the pantheon of Disney movies based on Disney theme park rides, "Jungle Cruise" is pretty good—leagues better than dreck like "Haunted Mansion," though not quite as satisfying as the original "Pirates of the Caribbean." 

The most pleasant surprise is that director Jaume Collet-Serra (" The Shallows ") and a credited team of five, count 'em, writers have largely jettisoned the ride's mid-century American colonial snarkiness and casual racism (a tradition  only recently eliminated ). Setting the revamp squarely in the wheelhouse of blockbuster franchise-starters like " Raiders of the Lost Ark ," " Romancing the Stone " and "The Mummy," and pushing the fantastical elements to the point where the story barely seems to be taking place in our universe, it's a knowingly goofy romp, anchored to the banter between its leads, an English feminist and adventurer played by Emily Blunt and a riverboat captain/adventurer played by  Dwayne Johnson . 

Notably, however, even though the stars' costumes (and a waterfall sequence) evoke the classic "The African Queen"—John Huston's comic romance/action film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn ; worth looking up if you've never watched it—the sexual chemistry between the two is nonexistent, save for a few fleeting moments, like when Frank picks up the heroine‘s hand-cranked silent film camera and captures affectionate images of her. At times the leads seem more like a brother and sister needling each other than a will they/won’t they bantering couple. Lack of sexual heat is often (strangely) a bug, or perhaps a feature, in films starring Johnson, the four-quadrant blockbuster king (though not on Johnson’s HBO drama "Ballers"). Blunt keeps putting out more than enough flinty looks of interest to sell a romance, but her leading man rarely reflects it back at her. Fortunately, the film's tight construction and prolific action scenes carry it, and Blunt and Johnson do the irresistible force/immovable object dynamic well enough, swapping energies as the story demands.

Blunt's character, Lily Houghton, is a well-pedigreed adventurer who gathers up maps belonging to her legendary father and travels to the Amazon circa 1916 to find the Tears of the Moon, petals from a "Tree of Life"-type of fauna that can heal all infirmities. She and her snooty, pampered brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) hire Frank "Skipper" Wolff (Johnson) to bring them to their destination. The only notable concession to the original theme park ride comes here: Wolff's day job is taking tourists upriver and making cheesy jokes in the spirit of "hosts" on Disney Jungle Cruise rides of yore. On the mission, Johnson immediately settles into a cranky but funny old sourpuss vibe, a la John Wayne or Harrison Ford , and inhabits it amiably enough, even though buoyant, almost childlike optimism comes more naturally to him than world-weary gruffness. 

The supporting cast is stacked with overqualified character players. Paul Giamatti plays a gold-toothed, sunburned, cartoonishly “Italian” harbor master who delights at keeping Frank in debt. Edgar Ramirez is creepy and scary as a conquistador whose curse from centuries ago has trapped him in the jungle.  Jesse Plemons plays the main baddie, Prince Joachim, who wants to filch the power of the petals for the Kaiser back in Germany (he's Belloq to the stars' Indy and Marion, trying to swipe the Ark). Unsurprisingly, given his track record, Plemons steals the film right out from under its leads.

Collet-Serra keeps the action moving along, pursuing a more classical style than is commonplace in recent live-action Disney product (by which I mean, the blocking and editing have a bit of elegance, and you always know where characters are in relation to each other). The editing errs on the side of briskness to such an extent that affecting, beautiful, or spectacular images never get to linger long enough to become iconic. The CGI is dicey, particularly on the larger jungle animals—was the production rushed, or were the artists just overworked?—and there are moments when everything seems so rubbery/plasticky that you seem to be watching the first film that was actually shot on location at Disney World.

But the staging and execution of the chases and fights compensates. Derivative of films that were themselves highly derivative, "Jungle Cruise" has the look and feel of a paycheck gig for all involved, but everyone seems to be having a great time, including the filmmakers.

In theaters and on Disney+ for a premium charge starting Friday, July 30th. 

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Jungle Cruise (2021)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of adventure violence.

127 minutes

Dwayne Johnson as Frank Wolff

Emily Blunt as Dr. Lily Houghton

Jack Whitehall as McGregor Houghton

Edgar Ramírez as Aguirre

Jesse Plemons as Prince Joachim

Paul Giamatti as Nilo

• Jaume Collet-Serra

Writer (story)

• Glenn Ficarra
• Josh Goldstein
• John Norville

Cinematographer

• Flavio Martínez Labiano
• Joel Negron
• James Newton Howard

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Interviews on the set of disney’s jungle cruise with the cast and crew.

We had the incredible opportunity to visit the set of Disney’s Jungle Cruise as the production roared to life with intricate locations, costumes, and characters, shot on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. We watched a scene being filmed, toured the set, and interviewed members of the cast and crew, including stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Afterwards, we could not wait to see the final film, and the wait is almost over! The film lands in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 30, and it’s sure to be action-packed, hilarious, and heartfelt. 

In case you missed the latest , Disney’s Jungle Cruise is inspired by the Disney Parks attraction and is an exciting adventure that takes place on the Amazon River with skipper Frank Wolff (played by Johnson) and intrepid researcher Dr. Lily Houghton (played by Blunt). Lily travels from London, England to the Amazon jungle and enlists Frank’s help to guide her downriver on his boat, La Quila. The unlikely duo encounter innumerable dangers and supernatural forces on their journey, and they are so fun to watch together! Jaume Collet-Serra directs the film, which also stars Edgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti. 

We sat down with Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Whitehall (who plays Lily’s brother, MacGregor Houghton), Paul Giamatti (who plays Nilo, Frank’s rival), costume designer Paco Delgado, and producers Glenn Ficara and Hiram Garcia. We learned so much about the process and incredible journey during the making of Jungle Cruise! Here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes look:

We started our visit with a tour of the set, which included the docking area shown above, a marketplace, a hotel, a tavern, Nilo’s landing, Frank’s living quarters, and of course, Frank’s iconic boat, La Quila. We learned on our tour that the film takes place around the year 1916 in Porto Belo, Brazil. The sets revealed that while Frank runs a one-man operation, lives in a modest shack, and built his boat by hand, Nilo practically owns the town and runs a large fleet of boats. Some of the sets (like Nilo’s landing) could only be accessed by water! We even got to step aboard La Quila and stand at the helm:

And here’s a closer look at La Quila during our tour, and a view of the water around the set:

After our tour, we watched a scene being filmed on the tavern set, including some incredible character work by Johnson, Blunt, Whitehall, and Giamatti. It was so exciting to watch them all in action together!

When we spoke to producers Glenn Ficara and Hiram Garcia, they noted that they jumped aboard the film two or three years previous. Ficara and Garcia read the script at the same time as Johnson, and all three loved it. Ficara noted, “I think you’ll be very surprised by the tone of the movie — by the scale, the scope, the set pieces, but most importantly the core of Dwayne and Emily Blunt.” They noted that the chemistry between Johnson and Blunt on screen will make audiences feel like the two have known each other forever. As far as the plot, Ficara and Garcia teased that what triggers the story is Blunt’s character Lily showing up to search for a legend that “may or may not exist.” Whitehall’s character MacGregor also joins Frank and Lily on the adventure and adds some incredible comedy, according to the producers. 

Ficara and Garcia were also working very closely with Disney Imagineers as the film progressed. Garcia noted that throughout the film, “There are nods to the world of Disneyland in subtle ways.” Ficara added, “It was important for us to transport the audience and transport this iconic [attraction].” They also noted that as the journey through the Amazon progresses, we’ll see some beautiful wish-fulfillment scenes for Disney fans, as well as danger, excitement, and animal encounters. “Because the ride is now over 70 years old, you have three generations of families that have all experienced it… so, it’s really deep-rooted… when you hear the name it brings back memories of you and your family going there,” Ficara said. For fans of the Disney Parks attraction, they also confirmed we will get to see the “backside of water” in the film, as well as some excellent puns delivered by Johnson. 

Costume designer Paco Delgado talked about what inspired him to create the costumes for the film. Of starting his work on the film, Delgado said, “I always think that when you design a movie, you are almost like a reader. It’s exactly the same process as a person who reads and starts to imagine things in their head. That’s the way I normally try to work.” For Blunt’s character, Delgado was excited to depict a woman in trousers in the time period that the film takes place, and took inspiration from Amelia Earhart and other female icons of the early 20th century. 

Delgado noted, “I always find that in order to be free to create, you have to have a really huge foundation. I believe that everything comes from the research.” He and his team looked at library records and photographs of the time period to see how expeditions and clothing might have looked. “Costumes and clothing are so intermingled with society,” Delgado said, and that heavily influenced his work.

Giamatti was incredibly excited to be a part of Jungle Cruise and to portray Nilo. He said of the script and story: “There’s lots of really interesting stuff going on in there. It’s got some fantasy elements in it that are very cool. And it’s surprising and I just thought it was unexpected.” For his character, he was given a lot of opportunity to explore traits and props, and even chose for his character to have a pet cockatoo. When asked about filming on a set built in Kauai, Giamatti noted, “Working here is unbelievable. It’s beautiful.”

Whitehall was equally excited to join the cast of Jungle Cruise and shared, “I love Disney. I read the script and it just instantly appealed to me. It was so much fun and it was exactly the kind of movie that I’d go and watch in the cinema. Added to that you’ve got Dwayne and Emily who I’ve been a huge fan of for a long time. And Jaume the director was great. I met him and I thought he was superb and really had a distinct idea for what he was going to do with it. So, I was on board very easily.” He explained that his character MacGregor is a very savvy, dapper gentleman who is “really dragged on this cruise by his sister and is a reluctant party on it.” He also noted, “probably not a million miles from how I would behave if I was in the situation that the character is in.” He went on to joke, “MacGregor might just be the worst person you can throw into this environment.” 

Whitehall noted that Lily is very head first, asking questions “on the way down,” while MacGregor balances that out. When asked about building the brother-sister relationship with Blunt’s character, Whitehall said, “We grew up a couple of streets away from each other in London… we instantly got on and had a natural chemistry.” As far as MacGregor’s relationship with Johnson’s character Frank, Whitehall noted, “Over the course of the movie, I think he realize[s] you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and there’s a lot more depth and surprising aspects to Frank’s character than he probably suspects when he first met him.” Regarding working with Johnson, Whitehall said, “He’s incredible. He’s exactly the kind of person you want him to be.”

Between scenes, we also interviewed Blunt and Johnson — in their amazing costumes — as a light rain drizzled over the set. Holding umbrellas, the hilarious duo answered questions about working on the film. Blunt said of taking on her character Lily, “There was something about this character… she just was so tenacious and exciting, determined, completely free-spirited. And kind of weird. A really interesting character.” She also noted, “She is very unusual and at the time she’s kind of a trailblazer.” On Frank and Lily’s scenes together, Blunt noted, “At the core of it is this relationship, this unlikely duo… there’s this chemistry between them and this rapport between them.” 

Both Johnson and Blunt are incredibly excited about the film, and grew up as Disney fans as well. “I was just so amazed because I’d always dreamed about going to [ Walt Disney World ]... I finally went and I fell in love with the ride just like I fell in love with the Park,” Johnson said. Johnson also noted that he took inspiration from the fact that Walt Disney was the very first skipper for the Jungle Cruise attraction at Disneyland . Blunt added, “I think that the experience for me, and I know for Dwayne as well, is just really personal and it feels really exciting. And I think that Disney films are those kind of films that are seared into your nostalgia. Certainly as a child I have such lasting memories of Disney movies. Those were the films I grew up watching, so it’s completely surreal to be now in a few of them.” Of the film itself, Johnson said, “There’s heart, there’s universal [themes], there’s fun, there’s adventure, and there’s also a good lesson with that as well.” When asked about the filming experience, Blunt said, “I’m having the time of my life.” Johnson chimed in, “It’s a dream come true.”

Visiting the Jungle Cruise set was a Disney dream come true, and we can’t wait to see the film come to life!

Disney’s Jungle Cruise is in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 30. (Additional fee required.) For more Disney+ news and updates, follow @DisneyPlus on YouTube , Instagram , Twitter , and Facebook . 

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Jungle Cruise

July 30, 2021

Action, Adventure, Comedy

Join fan favorites Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt for the adventure of a lifetime on Disney’s Jungle Cruise, a rollicking thrill-ride down the Amazon with wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff and intrepid researcher Dr. Lily Houghton. Lily travels from London, England to the Amazon jungle and enlists Frank’s questionable services to guide her downriver on La Quila—his ramshackle-but-charming boat. Lily is determined to uncover an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities—possessing the power to change the future of medicine. Thrust on this epic quest together, the unlikely duo encounters innumerable dangers and supernatural forces, all lurking in the deceptive beauty of the lush rainforest. But as the secrets of the lost tree unfold, the stakes reach even higher for Lily and Frank and their fate—and mankind’s—hangs in the balance.

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 2h 7min Release Date: July 30, 2021

Directed By

Produced by.

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Join fan favorites Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt for the adventure of a lifetime on Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE, a rollicking thrill-ride down the Amazon with wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff and intrepid researcher Dr. Lily Houghton.

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No Lion, the Skipper Is the Real King of the Jungle Cruise

Bad jokes and puns are part of a Disneyland job that has been immortalized in a new film. Those who’ve held the role at the theme park never really leave it behind.

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By Kathryn Shattuck

In 1916 Brazil, Skipper Frank Wolff runs the cheapest jungle cruise on the Amazon. And undoubtedly the cheesiest, as he introduces tourists to the river’s wondrous sights with a spiel overflowing with doozies.

“If you look to the left of the boat, you’ll see some very playful toucans. They’re playing their favorite game of beak-wrestling. The only drawback is, only two can play.”

“The rocks you see here in the river are sandstone. But some people just take them for granite. It’s one of my boulder attractions.”

And the highlight of the tour: “Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the eighth wonder of the world,” he says, building toward the climax, as his rickety steamboat passes behind a makeshift waterfall. “Wait for it … the backside of water!”

Frank’s guests may groan and roll their eyes at his droll banter in Disney’s “ Jungle Cruise ,” starring Dwayne Johnson as the swaggering skipper and arriving July 30 on Disney+ and in theaters. But the skippers and their spiels — corny jokes and bad puns, the cringier the better — have been the real stars of the Jungle Cruise attraction since the first one opened at Disneyland in 1955. Take them away and the seven-minute fantasy boat trip along rivers in South America, Asia and Africa, inspired in part by “The African Queen,” might be just another ride down a fake waterway with fake scenery.

It’s also one of the rare performing jobs at a Disney theme park where the skippers can weave their own personalities into the script — from dry and geeky to animated and flamboyant — and get guests in on the action. “It’s this alchemy that happens” that few attractions can replicate, said Alex Williams, a former skipper who now works for the Disney fan club D23.

With the new movie as well as the ride’s freshly reimagined story line, the Jungle Cruise is in the spotlight now, and no one is feeling it more than the skippers themselves.

“We’re all just really excited about being able to share this experience with everyone and being the inspiration for the movie,” said Flor Torres, a “lead” on the attraction.

“Once a skip, always a skip.” That’s the motto of skippers who’ve held a job requiring them to maneuver a boat while performing a stand-up routine dozens of times across an eight-hour day.

“People really take that to heart,” Torres added of the motto. “I know skippers that have worked here maybe 20, 30 years ago, and they still come by and talk to us like they were just here yesterday.”

A handful have wisecracked their way to bigger stages, like Ron Ziegler , the White House press secretary for President Richard M. Nixon; the filmmaker John Lasseter ; Steve Franks, a screenwriter and the creator of the TV series “Psych”; and, it’s said, the actor Kevin Costner. (Alas, stories that Robin Williams and Steve Martin honed their humor at the helm are apparently only myths.)

Other former skippers have recounted their experiences on podcasts like “Tales From the Jungle Crews” and “The Backside of Water,” or provided pandemic uplift in Freddy Martin’s “World Famous Jungle Cruise” video and its sequel .

And a bold few have revealed some not-Disney-approved antics in books like “ Skipper Stories : True Tales From Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise,” a compilation of six decades of anecdotes from former skippers, including the author, David John Marley.

To wit: The ritual of becoming a “real skipper” by peeing in the river at night. The Jungle Justice inflicted on skippers who abused their break time (they found themselves suddenly scheduled for upward of 90 minutes of nonstop cruises without water or a bathroom stop). The off-hours party where $2,000 was spent on alcohol and condoms.

A good skipper is an extrovert, a nut and somewhat of a rogue. At least that’s how Bill Sullivan , who joined the Jungle Cruise in 1955, once put it . His own skipper colleagues included a man who arrived one morning with chameleons around his neck.

They didn’t have much of a script in the beginning so the men wrote their own, Sullivan, who eventually became vice president of the Magic Kingdom, recalled in 2008. (Women didn’t become skippers until the mid-1990s.)

The spiel had been repeatedly fine-tuned by the time Franks landed his gig in the late 1980s. And venturing from it was ill-advised.

“You would hear these stories about supervisors hiding in the jungle, listening for people going off-book, but if that was true, they would have canned me on Day 2,” he said. “I knew I wanted to make movies, and I was doing stand-up at the time. And as soon as we got around the first corner, I was working in material.”

Franks stayed at Disneyland for eight and a half years, writing the script for Adam Sandler’s “Big Daddy” while monitoring the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Crews may have been rowdier back in the day, but “today we’re much more conservative, a little less the Wild West,” said Kevin Lively, one of two skippers chosen to represent Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2009. (There’s also a Jungle Cruise at Walt Disney World and Hong Kong Disneyland.)

Lively now works as a Disney Imagineer, developing skipper spiels and contributing “gnu” magic to the attraction, which has replaced racist elements like spear-throwing African “headhunters” with a story about Felix Pechman XIII, “the unluckiest skipper on the dock.”

And when the “Jungle Cruise” movie needed an injection of humor, Lively was on it.

“I shotgun-blast puns and references and Easter eggs to them, and let them kind of just run amok,” he said. “There’s stuff in there that I think all these skippers will get, which just makes me over-the-moon happy. They really showed their love of the attraction in that film.”

Skipper Frank’s ersatz Amazon tour wasn’t in the original script, said Jaume Collet-Serra, the movie’s director. But once the filmmaker had ridden the actual Jungle Cruise and witnessed reactions to that “backside of water” joke, he knew what he had to do.

Treat the audience to a mini-Jungle Cruise experience.

“I was like, let me give them what they want for two minutes and then I’ll give them more, but at least they’ll be happy early,” he said. “You know, ‘Here is what you came for — now let the movie begin.’”

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Designing the World of Disney’s ‘Jungle Cruise’

Disney’s Jungle Cruise , which floats into theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on July 30, tells the heart-racing—and often hilarious—story of Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt), a doctor in botany who hires skipper Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to embark on a grueling journey up the Amazon River in search of a legendary tree that can cure all human ailments. Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra ( Non-Stop ,  The Shallows ) turned to French production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos ( The Lost City of Z , Amour ) to help bring this otherworldly journey through a verdant mystical jungle on a creaking old tramp steamer so dramatically to life.

Puzos designed a variety of vivid tableaux for the film—including a London set where the movie opens and closes and a remote village in the heart of the Amazon jungle—but perhaps most impressive was the sprawling jungle port town of Porto Velho. Built on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, a visitor would be excused for mistaking the set for an authentic Amazonian village, circa 1916. Every structure—from the Porto Velho town set and Nilo’s (Paul Giamatti) jungle cruise operation and tavern to Skipper Frank Wolff’s steam cruiser, La Quila , and his home on the water—is a functional building not a mere movie set façade. Each building is replete with artifacts, furniture, books, trinkets—and this focus on authenticity helps give the film its naturalistic flavor.

“It’s an exciting challenge when you read a script and it has a description of an arrival in a city on the Amazon River with a couple of streets, a big market, a harbor with four boats, a hotel, a restaurant, a cruise company building and our hero Frank’s skipper building workshop and pontoon,” says Puzos. “You begin to divide the space and reinvent a landscape composed by many other spaces, and bend your research in a unique direction to create a cartography where every set is directly connected to the next one. And when you find an incredible location in Hawai‘i, it’s the beginning of an adventure of a lifetime. What makes this set so special is its gigantic scale, the complexity of the landscape and the visual power of the vegetation—which gave us a rich range of shooting possibilities.”

Puzos, who says the Porto Velho set took one month to scout, two months to design and four months to build, dress and landscape, says the biggest challenges his team faced were location and weather. “First of all the location was so wild, so dense in terms of vegetation, so hard to define during the survey—full of scars, holes, cliffs covered by bushes. The access was nearly impossible. We relied on drones to scout the location. When construction got up to full speed, the weather changed, and we had rain every day, flooding the sets and slowing down the construction.”

When asked for a favorite location on the Porto Velho set, Puzos says, “Every building was my favorite! In terms of architecture, the hotel was a pleasure of complexity and simplicity, following a strong pattern of Spanish/Portuguese style of colonial architecture. In terms of design, the vertical building of Frank’s workshop, standing in the water, was an iconic shape in the middle of the location. For Frank’s steam ship, I tried to visualize the journey of a conquistador constantly rebuilding his boat with debris and pieces of other boats, and constantly rebuilding his engine. In terms of colors, Nilo’s Tavern was designed like a rusted building of metal, showing all the variations of textures and colors of a piece of metal lost in the jungle, from dark rust and almost black to golden, sunny orange. In terms of fluidity, the market was designed and built for an epic action scene. This building symbolized our design: to treat the entire location like a garden, to stay fluid in the ground plan, to mix the interiors and the exteriors, and remove some roofs to see inside.

“For this set, the amount of information we wanted the audience to receive was extremely rich. It was important to define every character with a space, an idea, a building or a tool like a boat. This set helps define the story. When the audience sees the port town set, I hope they will see a tribute and an homage to a famous Disney attraction. I hope they will dream of arriving by train in the middle of the Amazon and immediately enter a world of adventures. I hope they will see a rich and charismatic city—and feel the danger of leaving it.”

For director Jaume Collet-Serra, Jungle Cruise  offered the opportunity to make the type of storyline he “loved as a kid, but had never gotten the chance to make, something like  Romancing the Stone . Visually, I wanted to make a movie with a lot of scope. That would feel like you’re on an actual journey through the Amazon. And this set really helped us bring that to life.”

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How Disney’s Controversial Jungle Cruise Ride Was Adapted for the Screen—and What It Means for Indigenous Representation

O ver the years, a number of Disney’s theme park attractions have served as inspiration for films: The Country Bears (2002), The Haunted Mansion (2003) and, most notably, the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Jungle Cruise is the latest addition to this sub-genre. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film—released in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 30, and topping the weekend box office with $90M globally, which factors in over $30M on streaming—is based on the ride of the same name. Jungle Cruise was on Disneyland’s roster when the theme park opened in 1955, and has since become an iconic attraction, operating at Disney theme parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Hong Kong in addition to the original Anaheim location.

But the popular ride has long faced criticism for its racist portrayal of Indigenous peoples. In January 2021, Imagineering—the arm of Disney that creates and constructs its theme parks— announced that it would be updating the 66-year-old ride to address “negative depictions of natives.” In July, two weeks before the film’s release, Disney shared that it was reopening the revamped attraction.

On the ride, visitors to the Jungle Cruise journey on boats through major rivers of the world, from the Amazon to the Nile, as animatronic characters emerge from corners of the jungle. A skipper, who keeps guests entertained with dad jokes and corny puns, serves as a guide. The film also ventures into the Amazon jungle, with Dwayne Johnson playing the skipper, Frank Wolff. Set in 1916, Jungle Cruise follows British botanist Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) as she enlists Frank’s help to explore the jungle to find the Tree of Life, which is fabled to have healing powers and which she hopes will revolutionize the field of medicine.

Plans for a movie based on the Jungle Cruise ride were in motion since at least 2004, and a script was already in development when Michael Green was brought on to write the screenplay in 2017. Green would complete the screenplay with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. He tells TIME that the initial script had already sourced a lot of material from the ride, but that he saw an opportunity to incorporate more elements from the attraction. Green adds that Imagineers and Disney representatives were collaborating on renovations for the Jungle Cruise well before he joined the production team. “They were aware of things they wanted to improve on, and had far-reaching plans.”

While the Jungle Cruise movie draws inspiration from the ride, it also departs from aspects of it in significant ways, with the script finding opportunities to turn racially insensitive perceptions on their heads. Here’s what to know about the original ride, how the movie differs and what all of it means in the grand scheme of Indigenous representation in popular culture.

How the Jungle Cruise ride portrayed Indigenous characters

In the Jungle Cruise theme park attraction, Indigenous peoples appeared as headhunting tribesmen with spears in their hands—next to piles of human skulls—who guides warned were attacking passing boats. One character in particular who was portrayed as primitive and dangerous was Trader Sam, who carried shrunken heads and was known as the “head salesman.” “He has a great special for you all today: just two of his heads for one of yours,” a skipper would joke to tourists on the ride. Trader Sam was also referred to as a chef who opened a cannibalistic cafe. Another area of the jungle showed a “trapped safari” scene, where men were chased up a tree by surrounding animals, with a white explorer at the top of the trunk and dark-skinned native guides at the bottom, next to the horn of a rhinoceros.

In Disney’s recent refurbishment of the Jungle Cruise ride, these racist and stereotypical features were removed. The headhunting tribe is gone, Trader Sam is replaced with “Trader Sam’s gift shop” that includes a lost and found, and the trapped safari scene now features adventurers of varied racial backgrounds grabbing onto the tree. The changes were made at the theme park in Anaheim, and Disney has said the updates will be completed by this summer at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

“Oftentimes in these scenarios, if there is Indigenous representation, we’re depicted as the stereotypical savage, or uncivilized creature,” says Daisee Francour, the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Communications at Cultural Survival —a nonprofit that advocates Indigenous peoples’ rights and cultures—of the headhunters and Trader Sam. Francour is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and identifies as Haudenosaunee. “It’s very dehumanizing and we’re often not even seen as people, but we’re almost portrayed more as animalistic.”

The depiction of Indigenous peoples as “merciless Indian savages” can be traced back to the Declaration of Independence , which uses that exact phrase to describe Native Americans. “That dehumanization, which we see reflected here with this theme park, is rooted in the foundation of this country,” Francour says. “And because of that foundation, it shows up in this stigma in other ways.”

The dehumanized view of Indigenous peoples carries through much of American popular culture, seen commonly in Westerns and television series like Tarzan , says Cliff Matias, the Cultural Director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about Native American heritage. “It’s the same narrative of these homelands of Indigenous people being rescued from the savage people, and the humble, noble explorer being victimized,” Matias, who is Taíno and identifies as Latinx, says of the depiction of Indigenous peoples in the theme park. The narrative has always been flipped to show the “European mindset of, it’s the savages who attack,” Matias says. “Hollywood has always pretty much told that story through those eyes.”

Adapting a ride for the big screen

The Jungle Cruise movie loosely follows the theme park attraction’s storyline of early 20th century adventurers exploring the jungle, reimagining some of the ride’s characters for the film. Most notably, Trader Sam appears in Jungle Cruise, played by Veronica Falcón, as a woman who is a chieftain of the Puka Michuna tribe. Green describes her character as smart and savvy, someone “who was very much in control of herself and what happens to her and her tribe.” “That was a chance to take a familiar trope of the ride and bring it into the film in a new way,” Green says.

More broadly, the Puka Michuna tribe is portrayed with an approach that aims to subvert stereotypes about Indigenous peoples. In one of the film’s opening scenes, skipper Frank tells the tourists on his riverboat about the tribespeople who are the “deadliest hunters in the hemisphere.” The passengers are attacked by a crew with blow darts, before it becomes evident that Frank had staged the ambush to add some thrills to his tour. “What we felt we could still play with is a lot of false preconceived notions,” Green says of the scene. “At the time when this film takes place, a lot of people coming from where those tourists were coming might think of those natives as backwards tribes. And we could instead be poking fun at people’s expectations of it.”

These tourists only see a glimpse of the Pika Michuna tribe while on the cruise, and are missing the “sophisticated, rich, dignified lives” of the Indigenous people, Green says. He and the team hoped to portray the local inhabitants in a more well-rounded way. “We wanted to give everyone in the film the dignity they deserve,” Green says. “If you set something in a place you want the people to be represented correctly and you want them to speak the correct languages.”

According to Disney’s press notes , the filmmakers researched the Tupi language that was widely spoken in Brazil and created their version of the language for the film’s characters. They also wanted to accurately emulate what the Amazon jungle looked like in the early 1900s, and studied the animals and flora of the time. Director Collet-Serra spoke of a cultural advisor that the team worked with to aim for proper representation.

While these efforts brought necessary changes to the film adaptation, some viewers have commented on the mixed messages conveyed by the portrayal of Indigenous characters. In NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour , Native American journalist Vincent Schilling gave a nod to Disney casting Johnson, who is Samoan, as the lead character. But Schilling also discussed a scene in which Trader Sam referred to the tribe’s clothing as “ridiculous costumes.” “I feel as though Jungle Cruise did a valiant effort in trying to represent Brazilian Amazonian tribes in a certain way that was actually fairly legitimate,” Schilling said, which was why the chieftain’s description stuck out. “You’re trying to be authentic. So is it ridiculous, or is it authentic?” Similarly, the reappearance of Trader Sam has prompted questions about why a character removed for racial insensitivity in the theme park was brought back, even in a revamped version. Other viewers have posted on Twitter about the film sidelining Indigenous characters who merely assist in the quest of the European main protagonists.

The film’s villains are obvious, as would be expected for a family movie, and they differ from those of the theme park ride. They include a German aristocrat leading a military expedition in hopes of obtaining the powers of the Tree of Life no matter the cost to the jungle, and a cursed group of conquistadors who had attacked the local tribe. Blunt’s Dr. Lily Houghton is the protagonist, but also an outsider entering the jungle with the goal of taking away something native to the land. Asked whether her character’s mission could be interpreted as exploitative, Green says that Houghton is not someone who would put herself front and center. “To my mind, she is the type of character who would credit where things came from, the people who helped her to it and would bring them into it,” he says.

Indigenous representation in TV, film and theme parks in the future

Seeing authentic and accurate representation of Indigenous peoples has lasting effects on young audiences, many of whom are the target demographic of Disney’s theme parks and films. Matias says that multiple generations of Americans have been taught while growing up, through watching TV and movies, that Indigenous peoples are savages. “They might grow up to be creators, producers, directors, writers, so if they have a little better understanding and were taught a little better history, then they might be able to form a better mindset as to what they’re writing about,” he says.

According to Francour, dehumanization of Indigenous peoples—like in the original Jungle Cruise attraction—is closely tied to depicting them as people of the past. “As an Indigenous person living in 2021, I myself am a modern person, I live in two worlds,” she says. She describes being immersed in her Indigenous community while residing in Chicago.

“I live in a big city, and I wear ‘normal’ clothes, I guess you would say, that aren’t my regalia when I go on the street,” she says. “To see this dehumanized illustration of our people as in the past tense, it just does not fully represent the diversity of who we are, then, now and in the future.”

Francour describes a growing movement of Indigenous communities and organizations that are changing past narratives by retelling stories from a first-person perspective. And, from non-Indigenous people, “there’s a growing movement of openness to connect and to consult and to collaborate with Indigenous peoples to make sure that their narratives are represented well,” she says. Francour gives the example of Disney partnering with the Sámi people for Frozen 2 with the goal of portraying the Sámi community—who were the inspiration for the fictional Northuldra tribe—in a culturally sensitive and respectful way.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunities where Indigenous peoples themselves can be centered,” she says. “We need to shift the power of who is producing this content, producing this narrative, and making sure that Indigenous people, and our leadership are at the forefront.”

Correction, Dec. 1

The original version of this story misstated the roots of the phrase “merciless Indian savages” in the founding of the United States. It appeared in the Declaration of Independence, not the U.S. Constitution.

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Screen Rant

Jungle cruise: 10 behind the scenes facts about the movie.

Disney's Jungle Cruise is a much-loved ride, but what went into creating its movie adaptation? Take a look at these great behind-the-scenes facts.

Disney's  Jungle Cruise   has been ready to release for some time, but fans will finally get the opportunity to enjoy the film in the summer of 2021. A lot went into creating the company's potential next big blockbuster and there are numerous behind-the-scenes stories about how it all came together.

RELATED:  Jungle Cruise & 9 Other Disney Parks Attractions Which Broke Down With Guests On Them

Whether it's other productions that influenced the movie, or perhaps the way in which talent was brought on board for the project, there's a lot of interesting tidbits as to how  Jungle Cruise  came about at all. Of course, Disney has a strong legacy to live up to as well, and there's a lot of information out there in regards to how the film compares to the original Disney Parks attraction.

It Features Jokes From The Orignal Jungle CruiseRide

The Jungle Cruise attraction is famous due to the script that the Skippers deliver with all of their charm and charisma. There are some trademark jokes and storylines from the Disney park attraction , and to meet fan's expectations, some of these jokes are present in the film adaptation.

Most notably, the joke that every  Jungle Cruise  fan waits for is the "backside of water" pun, which is delivered towards the end of almost every journey. Cnet  mentions how the trailer reveals that this iconic line will also be included in the film, demonstrating Disney's behind-the-scenes work to honor the iconic ride.

Linked To "Behind The Attraction"

Disney's  Behind The Attraction  on the Disney+ streaming service goes further in showcasing how the movie and the attraction will be intertwined. And the new documentary show is actually linked to the production of the film, as well.

Not only does it feature some exclusive footage, but the docu-series is also produced by Dwayne Johnson, who is one of the stars of  Jungle Cruise.  The Disney+ show is therefore being used as both a promotional show and a way for The Rock to showcase the love that went into the production.

It's One Of Disney's Biggest Sets

During the filming of the production, Cinemablend reported that The Rock actually took to social media to reveal the set that Disney had produced for  Jungle Cruise.  It appears to be one of the biggest that the company has ever created for their shoots, showcasing their attention to detail.

RELATED:  10 Other Disney Rides Besides Jungle Cruise We Want Movie Versions Of

Looking to include as many real-world elements as possible, the set also looks like it's heavily inspired by the original ride itself. This is reassuring to fans who are looking for the authenticity and charm that they are familiar with from the original attraction.

The Original Version

Disney's current  Jungle Cruise  wasn't the first time that a film went into development with the same name. In 2004, it was first announced that there could be a new project from Mandeville Films based around the ride, and as AWN announced, confirmation that Al Gough and Miles Millar were in talks to write the movie came in 2006.

Later, it would be reported by  IGN that the project would be a high priority with a producing team also put in place. However, it wasn't meant to be, with the film seemingly collapsing before a new iteration of the idea was eventually announced by the House of Mouse.

It Includes Disney's Second Gay Live-Action Character

Disney made it very clear that LeFou, the famous villainous henchmen , would be one of their first official gay live-action characters and was featured in  Beauty And The Beast .  They would later go on to confirm that Jack Whitehall's character in  Jungle Cruise  would also be gay, marking their second LGBTQ+ inclusion.

According to Advocate.com , the writing team made sure to include a pivotal coming-out scene for the character, but there has also been some backlash around the decision of casting Whitehall. Indiewire mentions that some have suggested that a straight man should not have been placed in the role and that the character plays on stereotypes, rather than portraying an LGBTQ+ character in an authentic manner.

Jaume Collet-Serra's Work

The director chosen for the piece is Jaume Collet-Serra, who usually works within two very distinct genres: thrillers and horror. His filmography is certainly impressive, but it includes an array of features that certainly wouldn't appeal to Disney's family-friendly audience.

RELATED:  10 More Disney Attractions Asides From Jungle Cruise That Would Make Great Movies

However, it's clear from Collet-Serra's work that the director understands how to convey tension and drama on screen. And he clearly impressed Dwayne Johnson though with his passion and work ethic , with the Spanish filmmaker being brought on to work on The Rock's next major project,  Black Adam . 

Indiana Jones Inspiration

In recent interviews, the cast and crew have revealed that the aesthetic and characters are hugely inspired by  Indiana Jones .  Now another movie series in the Disney archives, it's hard to argue that many of the best scenes from the franchise have been cemented in cinema history.

Syfy.com also notes that Emily Blunt's character, in particular, is heavily influenced by Harrison Ford's original performance in the series. It's easy to see the many parallels between the two productions though, with both featuring jungle-based adventures, on the search for lost lands and hidden artifacts.

Blunt Ghosted The Rock

During the promotional tour, Dwayne Johnson also revealed to NME  how Emily Blunt was brought on board to the project in the first place. Having always been her fan, The Rock reached out to Blunt in the hope of tempting her into the cast. However, the actress ghosted his video messages.

It would take the director to really get Blunt to see his side, and clearly, Johnson won't let his co-star forget about the situation, although it all seems to have been taken in jest. Regardless it was the  Indiana Jones  comparisons that finally convinced the award-winning star.

Legacy Of Pirates Of The Caribbean

The Pirates Of The Caribbean   franchise is really the benchmark for live-action Disney projects. Not only was it influenced by the ride itself , but it also brought the live-action side of the production company to new heights. The impact of that is clear to see on  Jungle Cruise. 

Johnson and Blunt revealed to  Inside the Magic that, alongside  Romancing The Stone ,  Pirates Of The Caribbean  was something the crew constantly called back to when looking to find success with  Jungle Cruise.  It's an important part of the House of Mouse's recent film history, and a lot of lessons can be taken from it, including the reliance on practical sets and props.

Nods To The African Queen

The African Queen  is a very important film in the jungle genre and one that, according to  EW , originally influenced Walt Disney when creating the  Jungle Cruise  ride at his parks. But the Oscar-winning production has made its mark on the live-action adaptation, as well.

The  Behind The Attraction  Disney+ show even made mention that the costumes that both Blunt and Johnson wear in the final film are hugely inspired by The African Queen.  The well-respected production, therefore, has its fingerprints all over this modern take.

NEXT:  Disney's Revival Era Films, Ranked By Box Office Earnings

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Film / Jungle Cruise

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Jungle Cruise is a 2021 adventure film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and based on the Disney Theme Parks ride of the same name , and in turn loosely based on The African Queen , the film that inspired the ride.

Set during the early 20th century, a riverboat captain named Frank Wolff ( Dwayne Johnson ) takes Lily Houghton ( Emily Blunt ), an English scientist, and her brother MacGregor ( Jack Whitehall ) on a mission into a jungle to find the Tree of Life, which is believed to possess healing powers. All the while, the trio must fight against dangerous wild animals, a competing German expedition and a rather unexpected enemy .

The film also stars Édgar Ramírez , Jesse Plemons and Paul Giamatti . It was released on July 30, 2021, simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. The film became available to all Disney+ subscribers on November 12, 2021. In August 2021, it was announced a sequel, again featuring Johnson and Blunt, had been greenlit.

Jungle Cruise contains examples of:

• Accidental Murder : MacGregor punches Joachim into a wall, who then happens to be crushed by a piece of stone that falls from above. MacGregor immediately lampshades that he didn't mean for that to happen.
• Action Girl : Lily is quite the swashbuckler, having even more stunts than Frank, as well as throwing a pretty solid punch.
• Adaptation Expansion : Like with Pirates of the Caribbean , Jungle Cruise adds plenty of new characters and lore that didn't exist in the original ride, such as the Tears of the Moon, the tree that can heal anything, the Conquistadors who were cursed while trying to take it, the Germans seeking to seize it for their war effort, and many of the Amazon creatures in general as the Amazon River has the most minimal role of all the rivers in the ride, being primarily represented by piranhas or Inspiration Falls depending on the version.
• Affectionate Nickname : Lily and Frank playfully refer to each other as "Pants" and "Skippy" respectively.
• Agony of the Feet : Shortly after getting the arrowhead from the society, Lily and MacGregor recount an incident where he apparently lost two toes from an expedition to Bhutan when he was 7 when MacGregor is arguing against joining her on her planned Amazon trip. Later, he hurts the other foot when escaping from Aguirre and his men.
• All Animals Are Dogs : Proxima the jaguar acts a lot like a dog.
• Ambiguously Gay : MacGregor is rather heavily implied to be gay, but not explicitly said to be so. He admits to Frank that he has rejected three attempts by his family to marry him off to highborn young ladies because his affections lie "elsewhere," and his sister Lily is the only relative who doesn't regard him with disgust. Given the social conventions of upper-class Edwardian English society, it's possible that he's talking about being in love with a working-class woman , but his evasive description (and the fact that he's an able-bodied military-age male who's not in the army at the height of WWI), and the fact he never mentions an actual love interest and the specification that he could not accept any offer (which could be loyalty to another woman he has fallen for, but is more likely to mean that the issue is in the gender) pushes the audience's suspicions pretty far in the other direction. It's worth noting that this is accurate for the time period the movie is set in.
• Amusing Injuries : Poor Frank gets punched a whole lot. And after he's revealed to be immortal, he gets even worse, since he can survive things like being stabbed, shot, and attacked by piranha.
• And I Must Scream : Tired of Aguirre and his crew constantly tracking him down, Francisco lured them into a trap that dropped them down into a cave out of sight of the river. When the jungle tried to drag them back, they were immobilized, turned to stone, and their bodies began to erode, becoming part of the jungle itself. At the end, he leaves them in the same state once again, and nearly suffers this fate himself.
• And Starring : "With Jesse Plemons , And Paul Giamatti "
• …And That Little Girl Was Me : At one point, Lily and Frank discuss Aguirre's cartographer, with Frank saying that he spent his life searching for the Tears of the Moon to no avail. He fails to mention that he was said cartographer, and had been searching for the Tears of the Moon for centuries.
• Angry, Angry Hippos : Invoked. During his boats trips, Frank uses a fake hippopotamus to scare the tourists, even though (As one of the tourists points out) hippos don't live in the Amazon.
• When Joachim shoots at Frank's steamboat with dual mounted machine guns, he runs out of ammo, calls for "reload", and then sits around as if he expects it to happen automatically (the actual reloading process occurs offscreen). The guns he's using have ammo drums that have to be swapped out manually.
• At least one of the German soldiers uses an American shotgun despite being a member of the Imperial German Navy (and Imperial Germany's contentious relationship with shotguns on the battlefield, which they insisted was a war crime ).
• Frank's riverboat, La Quila , doesn't make much sense mechanically. The "engine" seen being lifted out of the ship near the start of the film looks vaguely like a dressed-up steam engine piston assembly, but it has no obvious physical connection to the firebox or propeller (such connections would also make the engine more difficult to remove and reattach than shown). The firebox is misplaced, being located in a stove-like chamber at the base of the (excessively large) funnel instead of being under the boiler (which either doesn't exist, or is also not where it should be). The mechanical parts of the ship in general are overdressed with pointless components and pipes while the actual working parts are too small for a boat the size and speed of the Quila (an engine with one or two pistons, a stove-size firebox, and a boiler small enough to stow away are more fitting for the small steam launches used by the real-life ride).
• The interior of Joachim's U-Boat is excessively roomy, to the point where it's not immediately obvious that the scenes taking place in his personal study are actually inside a part of the sub until he opens the door. Needless to say, this sort of accommodation would not be possible in a World War One-era submarine (which were notoriously cramped, greasy, and generally filthy).
• Aristocrats Are Evil : Prince Joachim is one of the main antagonists of the movie, seeking the Tree of Life to use its powers to win the war for Imperial Germany.
• MacGregor sums up Lily's excursion at the Society. MacGregor: Breaking and entering, larceny and, worst of all, having to take public transport.
• At the end, when MacGregor is telling the Society about the adventure, they seem to take in all the crazy exploits, the battles with evil Germans and the undead monstrous conquistadors...but it's when he mentions a woman being chief of a native tribe that the Society members act in outraged disbelief, as if they're unaware of the female monarchs their own country has had in the past—including Queen Victoria, whose reign had only ended with her death in 1901, well within living memory of the setting .
• Awesome, but Impractical : A German U-boat might have allowed Joachim to smuggle himself and a crew of supporters into the Amazon river undetected, as well as boasting more offensive capability that anything else in the river, but U-boats were built for the open ocean, not rivers. Even a river as big as the Amazon can only barely fit the sub, and the closest it gets to being a threat is at the start of the journey, when the river mouth is widest and Joachim can maneuver without too much difficultly, allowing him to bring the guns and torpedoes on board to bear against Frank's decisively less well-equipped craft, but once Frank used his boat's smaller size and greater agility to his advantage, Joachim accomplishes little to inconvenience him, save wrecking Nilo's rival boating company in the crossfire. By the time of the Final Battle , the submarine becomes beached when Frank and Lily uncover the secret entrance to the Tears of the Moon through lowering the water level in the basin they're in, whereas Frank's boat can still proceed through to the tree no problem. Frank: Who brings a submarine to the Amazon?
• The Barnum : Frank's "thrilling" cruise is purposefully engineered to be exciting without any real danger, using fake submerged hippos and natives acting the part of blowgun-wielding "marauders".
• Beastly Bloodsports : In the bar where Lily and MacGregor meet Frank, some fights between spiders and scorpions are organized.
• Been There, Shaped History : A mild case as it turns out Frank is the one who founded the town he lives in centuries before .
• Belligerent Sexual Tension : It does not take long after Frank and Lily meet for them to start bickering, giving each other sassy nicknames, and saving each other's lives .
• Big Bad Duumvirate : Prince Joachim and Lope de Aguirre are the main villains of the movie.
• Bilingual Bonus : The name of Frank's original rescued animal was the Spanish phrase La Proxima note  (Meaning "The Next") . It was also the name of the next one, and the next one, and the next one.
• Bling of War : Aguirre's armor was both more ornamental than the rest of his troops and gilded with gold.
• Bloodless Carnage : Justified in Frank's case as a side-effect of the curse prevents him from losing any blood. When the curse stops working again, he happily notes that he's bleeding .
• Book Ends : The film begins with MacGregor giving a speech to the Society, stuttering and using cue cards from Lily while going along as a distraction to ask for their approval. The movie ends with him giving his own speech and fully confident after his Character Development , soundly and rightfully rejecting their request for Lily to join on her own behalf.
• Brick Joke : Early on in the film, Lily taunts Joachim by switching the arrowhead in it's container with a Toucan toy that was in the same packaging crate. Joachim keeps hold of it, and in the finale Frank does the same thing to Aguirre, pretending the Toucan toy wrapped up in a cloth is the Petal they're fighting over to distract him long enough for his boat to ram and block the river entrance to the chamber they're in, activating their curse's restrictions against all 5 of them .
• Brother–Sister Team : Lily and MacGregor Houghton. Lily's adventurous and determined, and MacGregor goes with her to keep her out of trouble. Also counts as Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy .
• Poor Nilo, getting his boating company caught in the crossfire of a submarine .
• Also MacGregor, who gets repeatedly dragged into his sister Lily's adventures. Apparently, one such expedition cost him two toes.
• But Not Too Gay : Billed as yet Disney's most recent "first openly gay character" note  (after Artie in Cruella , LeFou in Beauty and the Beast , Officer Spector in Onward , Larma D’Acy and Wrobie Tyce in The Rise of Skywalker and that one guy Joe Russo played in Avengers: Endgame ) MacGregor merely says his "interests lie elsewhere" when discussing his past refusal to marry. (Just to cement that it's this trope, he talks of being ostracized because of "who I love," but has no love interest whatsoever in the film.) Justified in that the timeframe is WW1 and England was known to arrest gay people for 'crime of indecency' so he at least has an excuse of not wanting to discuss it out-loud.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder : MacGregor is a downplayed example. Lily has a tendency to let her adventurous tendencies get the better of her, while the cooler-headed MacGregor helps to save her from whatever situation she's put herself in. The opening demonstrates this well when Lily is hanging over a busy street, and MacGregor gets a double-decker bus to stop under her, allowing her to drop down safely.
• Complete Immortality : The conquistadors including Frank are immune to any form of death, including old age or injury. No matter how damaged they are, they'll just regenerate. The only way to circumvent this is to break their curse with the Tears of the Moon.
• Curse Cut Short : Frank gets out an "Oh, shi—" before getting taken out with a tranquilizer dart.
• Deadpan Snarker : How MacGregor copes with the situation.
• Death by Looking Up : MacGregor knocks Joachim against a wall that causes a pillar to fall on top of him, though he has enough time to let out an "Oh scheiße " before he's crushed.
• Death Seeker : Frank, after experiencing Who Wants to Live Forever? . He gets over it after Lily lifts his curse and instead goes to London with her to live out his natural lifespan.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit : Lily pulls off one by proxy in the finale, shooting Frank to make it look like she was betraying him for a chance at the Tears of the Moon. He wasn't really affected because of his curse, but it gave him the opportunity to fake it and go to rescue MacGregor.
• Department of Redundancy Department : "Trader Sam likes a trade."
• Lope de Aguirre was this, relentlessly venturing further into the Amazon jungle no matter how many losses he suffered, from his ship, to his crew falling one by one, to eventually himself succumbing to either exhaustion or disease before the natives found him and nursed him back to health. Francisco reveals this was because his daughter was deathly ill, and he hoped to cure her with the petals, but it's tragically Deconstructed as this very trait of his is ultimately what damns him to a Fate Worse than Death twice over. The native chief cursed him and bound him to the river because he refused to turn back after finally finding proof of the Tears of the Moon and was willing to slaughter both the natives and even his own brother-in-arms Francisco if it meant getting the arrowhead, and his refusal to accept the consequences of his actions lead to him instead blaming Francisco when he became included in the conquistador's curse, hunting him down and repeatedly killing him over the years until Franciso was forced to subject him to Taken for Granite , because he would never stop coming after him otherwise .
• Lily is also a good example. She will get the Tears of the Moon, and no undead conquistadores, German royalty, river rapids, naysaying from Frank, or sexist gentleman's club will stop her. Frank: You should give up! Lily: You should give up the guitar !
• Disney Death : Happens to Frank twice. First, during a fight with Aguirre, he's stabbed through the heart and falls into the river. Then it turns out that he's immortal. And later at the end of the final battle, he sacrifices himself by ramming his boat to block the river in order to defeat Aguirre once and for all, turning himself, Aguirre, and his men into stone. Then Lily gives him the petal, which revives him.
• Don't Explain the Joke : After making a pun about a pair of toucans fighting over something to eat (a game only two can play) that falls flat, Frank starts explaining that they're toucans and only two can play...get it? His passengers aren't impressed.
• Dragon with an Agenda : Prince Joachim indulges in some Evil Gloating about how first he will use the Tears to win the war, then Take Over the World , and finally "reign forever." Given that he's the youngest son of Kaiser Wilhelm, it sure doesn't sound like he plans on sharing immortality with Papa Willy or any of his five big brothers or his younger sister.
• Dwindling Party : Aguirre's expedition got hit with this, first losing their ship on the mouth of the river, then the entire crew dying one by one to the dangers of the jungle, with only 5 conquistadors, including Aguirre himself, being left on the verge of death by the time the native tribe found them and nursed them back to health with the Tears of the Moon. Then that number dwindles down to 4 once Francisco turns on his compatriots when they start killing the natives to get the arrowhead .
• Dying Curse : After being stabbed, the chief used his last breath to lay a curse on the five conquistadors to live forever yet never be allowed to leave view of the Amazon River. This also saved his daughter, who had the Arrowhead, as the jungle dragged Aguirre away from her.
• Evil Is Petty : Prince Joachim's not only a greedy bastard, but he's also quite vindictive shown in the Royal Society at the beginning of the film when he murders many of Sir James's workers with his own hands just because the latter unintentionally mispronounced his name.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous : Unlike the similar curse in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl , the Conquistadores' curse doesn't specifically do anything to their appearance, as demonstrated by Frank/Francisco, their Token Good Teammate who looks totally normal . Their current Body Horror is the indirect result of continuing to be evil after being cursed. Francisco had to trap them in a cave away from the Amazon to stop them pursuing him. Since they were suddenly away from the river, the jungle tried to pull them back, but it couldn't get them through the surrounding stone, and instead merged them with the surroundings. Even after they're re-animated by Joachim bringing the river to them, their original bodies have suffered so badly from erosion that they were replaced with things like bees, mud, and snakes. Had they not gone after Francisco, they'd look much the same as they always had.
• Exact Words : When Joachim said that only one of them can get the petal, he asks Frank if was willing to give up his petal for Lily. Frank specifically said Lilly will have to kill him for it. So she does. Or more specifically, she helps him fake his death so he could go help MacGregor.
• Fate Worse than Death : The conquistadors were cursed with immortality at the cost that they would always be drawn back to the river if they tried to go out of visual range of it. Later, Francisco (Frank) managed to trap them in a pit so that they would be kept away from the river for centuries, their bodies collapsing and being 'replaced' by things ranging from bees to snakes until the German forces detonated explosives to send the river into the pit . This happens again at the end, when the heroes use Frank's riverboat to cut off the flow of water into the temple; the curse drags them into the temple walls, where they will presumably stay forever .
• Five-Second Foreshadowing : Aquirre mentions getting revenge on a man named "Francisco" one minute before the reveal that Frank is a former member of their group and is cursed as well .
• Frank looks surprised when Lily shows the map...which makes sense as he drew it and is amazed a copy got to England .
• In said staged fight, when Frank wrestles with the jaguar on the ground, he sees a scorpion skittering towards the cat and immediately throws her to the other side (and when he sees a spider on that side, he tosses her up and onto a table), showing that he's clearly manipulating the fight to keep Proxima away from anything that might actually hurt her. He is also more concerned about Proxima's safety than his own, since he is effectively immortal.
• During the fight Proxima bites Frank's arm, later prompting him to remark that she did it "way too hard". Such a bite would have, at the very least, left Frank with a noticeably bleeding wound, yet he appears perfectly fine. One may wave it off as being part of the ruse, or a fumble of the FX crew, but it's actually a subtle hint at him being unable to bleed due to his curse .
• Frank looks noticeably shaken when he sees the arrowhead Lily's wearing around her neck and becomes insistent upon being the one to take her on the cruise to find the Tree, even after she's discovered his lies about being Nilo, whereas before he was determined to take her on a safe, but enjoyable trip to get her money to pay for his boat back. At first, this seems to be foreshadowing that Frank had himself been searching for the Tree before giving up and deciding to become a Riverboat skipper after failing to find it for years, but instead it's because he's literally just seen the key to breaking his curse dangled right in front of him and knows Lily is actually serious about finding the tree .
• Frank complains Proxima is "the worst cat I've ever had." This seems a joke at first until you learn Proxima is only the latest in the long line of cats Frank has owned over the centuries, all sharing the same name .
• During a conversation with MacGregor Frank reveals that he speaks Latin which was the dominant lingua franca of European scholars prior to the 18th century. As a cartographer Frank would likely have been versed in this language as part of his education.
• Frank makes reference to having "run out of things to draw" before it's revealed that he was the cartographer for the conquistador's expedition through the Amazon and has spent centuries drawing maps of the region .
• When Frank and Lily meet the mutated Aguirre, Lily is surprised that the legend of the Conquistadors is true, while Frank just says "this is impossible." Frank already knew the curse was real, because he was one of the conquistadors and is the reason they were trapped, thus he isn't surprised that Aguirre is alive, just that he escaped the cave.
• Frank initially nicknames Lily as "Pants", mainly out of his jokes about seeing a woman wearing pants. While it could easily be chalked up to it being an unusual sight in the Amazon, it may also be combined with Frank's lack of knowledge about the world beyond the Amazon due to his curse, not to mention his age; seeing as it's been a while since he was last in an actual city and may literally not be used to seeing women wear such clothing to begin with. It's not just him either; the conquistadors similarly refer to Lily as the "woman in pants", which hints at both Frank's true age and his history with them.
• Observant viewers will realize that the terms of the conquistador's curse, that they are 'never to leave sight of the river again' fits neatly in with Frank's job as a riverboat captain who has intricate knowledge of the estuaries and layout of the jungle landscape.
• When talking about the local legend that some types of fish in the river as shapeshifter spirits who will curse them with bad nightmares for life if they look them in the eye, Frank warns Lily and MacGregor that 'If you believe in legends, you should believe in curses too.' Whilst it seems to be foreshadowing the fact that the conquistador's curse is Real After All , it's actually foreshadowing that Frank himself has first-hand experience with the curse, being a member of the conquistador's party 400 years ago.
• During Frank's conversation with MacGregor, he has somewhat doubtful expression when MacGregor claims there haven't been any conquistadors in the area for 300 years. Because MacGregor is claiming the cursed conquistadors weren't real, to one of the conquistadors in question .
• Counts more as Five-Second Foreshadowing , but when Frank is impaled by Aguirre, he seems remarkably unconcerned with the mortal wound, pulling himself closer on the blade to grab the arrowhead from one of Aguirre's snakes and throwing it to Lily even as he falls off the tree, showing remarkable clarity of mind for somebody who's about to die. It turns out that Frank's actually immortal, and has apparently been impaled before. Repeatedly .
• Frank is negotiating with the natives in their own language. After a few moments, we see the translation where Frank is surprisingly outspoken about Lily being difficult and blasé about their lives in danger. This sets up the reveal the tribe and Frank are working together and this is all a huge performance . A similar foreshadowing can be taken from earlier in the film where the natives who "attacked" Frank's tour group were obviously also putting on a performance .
• Early in the movie, Frank jokingly claims that Zaqueu looks 10, but is actually 47. Frank is actually the one who is significantly older than he looks .
• In the first scene where Frank is giving a jungle cruise to tourists, he points out two toucans fighting over food ("a game only two can play") . This foreshadows the role of the toucan figurine when two characters are fighting over either the Tears of the Moon or the arrowhead, where the loser is tricked into fighting over the figurine instead.
• When Frank gets punched by either of the Houghton siblings, he comments on their "strong form." While this is expected for Lily , he also says it about MacGregor. MacGregor happens to be an amateur boxer.
• Frank seems to be incredibly fond of his riverboat and refuses to part with her or replace her, despite her being...past her prime (to put it mildly) . Turns out, he built the boat by hand 400 years ago and she has been his home the whole time, which explains his reluctance to part with her.
• Why would Frank be particularly cold and dismissive of the Houghton siblings, even treating them exploitatively in the first acts? As someone cursed to be immortal, he has already buried many of his friends so he does not want his heart broken again. The emotional distancing has become a coping mechanism.
• Friendship Moment : Frank explaining to Lily his full backstory for the first time including his true name and why he was also chasing after the Tears of the Moon marks the moment the two characters were able to finally trust each other.
• Funny Background Event : While Frank is tossing MacGregor's bags in the river, a group of locals on a rowboat can be seen snagging the luggage for themselves.
• Gaia's Vengeance : The Conquistador that's made out of Bees Wax, is dripping honey, and has bees following him everywhere is none too pleased when Prince Joachim kills some of his bees. He learns about it because one of them managed to escape and flew back to tell him. When he appears he says quite angrily "I've been told you were not nice to my little friends."
• Gender Flip : The male shrunken head salesman Trader Sam is switched into the female chief of the native tribe.
• Got Me Doing It : Lily unleashes a bad pun at the end, as Frank had been doing throughout the movie.
• Guilt by Association Gag : A dramatic example. Francisco, who would eventually be known as Frank, was included in the curse on the conquistadors despite turning on them in order to protect the native village.
• He Knows Too Much : After his identity is accidentally revealed, Joachim kills everyone who was in earshot of it. Justified as he is a German aristocrat in the middle of London during World War I .
• Heroic Sacrifice : Frank uses La Quila to block the river and petrify the conquistadors once more... at the cost of the curse getting him too. Thankfully, it doesn't last long before Lily cures him.
• Prince Joachim Franz Humbert of Prussia, youngest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. note  The real Prince Joachim, between being unable to adjust to his change in status after his father was deposed and his marriage falling apart, killed himself in 1920. He also reportedly did not speak English.
• Lope de Aguirre, the 16th Century Spanish conquistador, who's been trapped in the Amazon jungle since his supposed death. His comrades (Melchor, Sancho, and Gonzalo) are all names of historical figures relevant to Aguirre's conquest of Peru.
• Prince Joachim of Prussia was a real person; he did serve in the German army during the First World War but doesn't seem to have been particularly villainous. Indeed Irish rebels against the British during the Easter Rising in 1916 even considered offering him the throne of an independent Ireland in the event of a German victory. Overlaps with Death by Adaptation as the real Joachim survived the war only to take his own life in 1920 after Germany became a republic and his marriage had fallen apart.
• However, the trope is also downplayed: Joachim is a villain mostly because he opposes the heroes, and while his goal is not admirable in the slightest using a magical remedy to win the war and extend his own life keeping the monopoly of it are pretty understandable goals for a member of a royal family. His villainous actions are done in pursuit of that goal rather than out of malice. He is also one of only two men never shown to be dismissive of Lily because of her gender.
• Hollywood Natives : Invoked by Frank, who works with the Puka Michuna as part of his show, with the tribal leader, Trader Sam, even commenting on how ridiculous the whole show is, and the tribe is actually quite normal, even if they aren't entirely aware of outside happenings.
• Humanoid Abomination : The conquistadors, sans Frank , due to a side effect of their curse; when they're freed after having been petrified for centuries, erosion had done a serious number on their bodies and they have to take elements from the surrounding area to fill in the missing parts. Aguirre himself is mostly snakes, and his men are made of beehives, mud, and tree branches respectively.
• I Ate WHAT?! : Subverted. When MacGregor drinks what he thinks is beer at the native tribe, Frank points out it's actually fermented spit. Though initially disgusted, MacGregor continues to drink it anyways. It is also a sign of character development.
• Improperly Placed Firearms : A minor example where one of the U-boat crew threatens Frank with a Winchester '97 12-gauge. The Germans had a major cultural aversion to shotguns being used as combat weapons, enough that in 1918 they threatened to execute any American captured with one as a war criminal note  the US called them out on it, citing their liberal use of flamethrowers and poison gas , and promised to execute all German POWs if they tried it; the Germans quickly backed down . So although not impossible, it is highly unlikely that any German grunt would even possess, much less use, a combat shotgun.
• Inevitable Waterfall : Frank and Lily's boat heads towards a waterfall at one point when sailing down the rapids. They almost end up going over it because Frank gets distracted messing around with Lily and fails to notice they've missed the turn into the safer river path.
• Invincible Hero : Frank puts on the persona of being one in his river cruises, pretending to be an experienced skipper who can handle any dangers the jungle throws at him and his passengers with ease and cracking jokes all the time. Then it turns out he's literally this, as one of the five conquistadors who were cursed by the chief, he literally cannot die or be meaningfully hurt by any dangers of the jungle, and has apparently been stabbed by weapons often enough that Trader Sam has gotten tired of pulling them out of him and offers advice to Lily on how to best yank out a sword Frank's impaled by .
• In-Universe Factoid Failure : One of the fake menaces Frank brings up to the tourists is a hippopotamus, but (as one girl points out) there are no hippos in the Amazon.
• Invincible Villain : The conquistadors are cursed and utterly unkillable, with the heroes being able to fight them off, but not being able to keep them down for long, and unlike the cursed pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean , breaking their curse isn't easily achievable, as it requires the Tears of the Moon, which only bloom rarely in a secret location, so the heroes' only real choice is to Run or Die . Thankfully, the 'run' option is made more practical by the curse, as the Conquistadores can only pursue targets so far before they're dragged back to the river.
• I Take Offense to That Last One : Of all the snide remarks that Lily makes to Frank, the one that really gets to him is the accusation of playing his guitar off-key.
• Frank desperately wants the Tears of the Moon flower so he can break his 400 year old curse. When there was only one flower, he decides to not only give it to Lily, but to also allow himself to be turned into stone (while also trapping the other conquistadors) to save Lily's life.
• Downplayed on Lily's part. Although the consequences of her giving the last Tears of the Moon to Frank to break his curse isn't as dramatic, it meant all of the effort and money she has spent on finding the flower would have gone to waste, not to mention the possible flak she would have received for failing to get a specimen of the flower.
• Subverted Trope : see Karmic Jackpot
• Jerkass Has a Point : Joachim doesn't have any noble purpose regarding the flower, but he is right in pointing out that Lily owes nothing to the association that wouldn't accept him because of her gender (noticeably, he is the only man beside MacGregor to never disregard her because of it, in his first appearance seeming genuinely impressed by her pointing out that the association mislabeled an artifact). Lily does end up choosing to reject the association in the end because of their mistreatment.
• Karmic Jackpot : Lily gives up the single petal she has to revive Frank. The moonlight then happens to illuminate a single branch, allowing another to bloom for her to take.
• Frank is generally cynical, doesn't think Lily can find the Tears of the Moon, and runs a tourist attraction full of fake thrills . He's also willing to put himself on the line to save Lily and Trader Sam's tribe. And during Lope de Aguirre's expedition, he was the only one to turn against Aguirre when he decided to massacre the tribe that took him in.
• MacGregor really doesn't like the jungle and also doesn't think the legends are real. But that doesn't matter to him, because Lily's his sister (and the only member of his family who didn't disown him for his homosexuality), and he'd follow her into a volcano .
• Lame Pun Reaction : Frank's many puns are often met with groans. One child begs her mother to make him stop.
• Large and in Charge : Frank is the skipper of the boat and it's mentioned several times how big he is. He's played by 6'5"/196cm, 260lb/118kg Dwayne Johnson. This actually becomes a plot point, as it means Frank is too large to fit through the underwater ruins blocking the entrance to the tree's location, and has to help Lily overcome her inability to swim to reach the lever that opens the way .
• Let's Get Dangerous! : MacGregor is presented as an Upper-Class Twit who is shown to hate the jungle, behaves quite effeminately (he's quite possibly gay) and brings an absurd amount of luggage on a trip up the Amazon River. He's also a Queensberry Rules boxer, and proves himself to be a very competent fighter when he completely levels the German submariners during the finale. He's even the one who takes out Prince Joachim, albeit partially by accident.
• Logical Weakness : Albeit an impractical one; the Conquistadores' curse restricts them to the immediate vicinity of the Amazon river. If you really want them away from somewhere, you can re-route the river, changing where the curse allows them to go. Of course, this does require significant effort (it's not easy to change the course of the world's largest river), but it's how Joachim awakens the Conquistadores to help him out- he uses explosives to direct the river partially into the cave where they were trapped. It's also how the heroes defeat the Conquistadores in the end, using Frank's steamboat as an impromptu dam to suddenly define the area they were in as 'too far from the river'.
• Logo Joke : The bay in the Disney logo is seen to have purple water, and after the Disney logo fully appears the camera dives into the water.
• Lots of Luggage : MacGregor brings an absurd amount of luggage for a trip up the Amazon. Frank promptly throws most of it overboard.
• Lovecraftian Superpower : The trapped Conquistadores have had parts of their body replaced by jungle. This makes them "disgusting" in the words of one and makes Aguirre wonder if they still have souls, but it allows them to control the wildlife in their bodies.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy : The adventure-seeking Lily who prefers wearing pants to MacGregor, who always tries to be a Sharp-Dressed Man and be clean, no matter how impractical.
• Master of Unlocking : Lily is quite adept at lockpicking and uses it to get things she wants and into places others don't want her to be.
• Misplaced Retribution : The native chief cursed all five conquistadors for the slaughter of his tribe, including Francisco, who didn't participate in the massacre and actually helped his daughter escape with the arrowhead his 'allies' were trying to retrieve, thus forever including him in Aguirre's eternal punishment despite not having done anything to deserve it himself. It's Justified though, as it's implied the chief's curse was vaguely-worded enough to count all the conquistadors as a group together, and the majority of them were guilty of shedding innocent blood, so the chief's Dying Curse wasn't able to exclude Francisco, not to mention the fact that the chief wasn't able to see Francisco turning on his comrades to protect his daughter. In addition, it also technically saved Francisco's life, as he was mortally wounded by Aguirre and almost died before the curse affected him.
• Misplaced Wildlife : In-Universe . Frank's Jungle Cruise tour includes props of Hippos that he makes move around with loaded weights strategically cut to stimulate the cruise with safe but exciting thrills for the passengers. One little girl tries to point out that hippos aren't native to the Amazon before Frank shushes her.
• Motive Decay : Frank reveals Aguirre's quest to find the Tears of the Moon was initially to find a cure for his terminally ill daughter, before he succumbed to anger and slaughtered the natives upon being rejected by the chief on the cusp of achieving his heart's desire. His anger at Francisco/Frank protecting the natives and allowing the chief's daughter to flee with the arrowhead they needed to find the tree lead to him spending their immortal lives hunting Frank down and killing him again and again, despite both of them being immortal and thus the outcome pointless regardless , and his daughter having long succumbed to either her disease or aging over the years. By the present day, he merely wants to break the curse that binds him to the river and give Frank further punishment for the Fate Worse than Death he gave them .
• Frank is the Pungeon Master just like the skippers on the ride the film is based on.
• The "dangers" of Frank's boat trips for tourists seen in the trailer are as fake as the ride it's based on. Frank also utters the famous "backside of water" line after he secretly cuts a rope to produce a "waterfall" from a sluice pipe hidden above.
• Dr. Albert Falls is alluded to through a collection of artifacts discovered on his expedition, including the mysterious arrowhead.
• While Frank's riverboat operation is the film's version of the Jungle Navigation Company, the competing "Nilo's River Adventure" bears a closer resemblance to the original Disney ride and the bright red and white boats from pre-90s incarnations. Nilo's office also features a door based on the offices seen on the upper floor of the Skipper Canteen at the Magic Kingdom.
• Nilo's cockatoo is Rosita, the missing Birdmobile girl from The Enchanted Tiki Room that later made an appearance in person in the Jungle Cruise/Tiki Room themed restaurant Tropical Hideaway at Disneyland.
• The chief of the native tribe is named Trader Sam, albeit a gender-flipped incarnation.
• The chamber the Tears of the Moon is hidden in is essentially a Mayincatec version of the sunken temple found at the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo versions of the attraction.
• The Navigator : Both Frank and Lily are skilled navigators, Lily because she's been adventuring most of her life and is skilled at reading maps and orienteering, and Frank because he lives and works on the Amazon, and knows every branch and tributary, because he's had centuries to roam them, looking for the Tears of the Moon. In fact, he's the one who drew the very map Lily is using.
• Never Say "Die" : Frank uses a lot of euphemisms to talk about his intent to commit suicide after breaking the curse.
• No Kill like Overkill : Joachim fires a torpedo against the La Quila , a tiny riverboat.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent : No explanation is ever given for Frank's clear American accent, even though he's living in Brazil and is a 400-year-old Spaniard.
• Not So Above It All : At the end of the movie Lily joins in with making puns while driving Frank off into London.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain : The Beeswax Conquistador comes off as the least threatening of the cursed conquistadors, being knocked out and incapacitated twice by mundane means whereas his more threatening compatriots require more effort to subdue, as well as partially enjoying his cursed state because he now tastes delicious, but his connection to the bees nesting inside him means that the conquistadors have a long-range spy network, able to communicate with Joachim and send him after Frank and the others when they evade the cursed group, as well as tracking them down for the Final Battle when one bee escape Joachim's attempts to crush them all and prevent the conquistadors finding the tree.
• Only in It for the Money : Frank only reacts to Lily's demand for a river trip when she starts talking about her wealth, in part because he needs to make 5000 Real in one week in order to pay off his debt to Nilo in order to keep his boat, and his livelihood. This then becomes subverted when he catches a glimpse of the Arrowhead hanging around her neck, as it offers an opportunity for him to finally break his curse .
• Panthera Awesome : Proxima the jaguar. Frank exploits this by training her to fake fights with him to make him look good.
• Percussive Maintenance : Lily restarts Frank's engine by giving it a kick.
• Piranha Problem : At one point, Frank throws a small rodent into the river to attract piranhas and eat them. Later in the film, a school of piranhas attacks Frank to eat him. Since he's immortal they aren't successful, but the experience is clearly unpleasant for him .
• Pocket Protector : Subverted , but the spirit of the trope is there. Towards the climax of the movie, Lily grabs a gun and fakes turning on Frank in order to take Joachim's offer of 'a single petal' from the tree, shooting him so he falls into the water and can then ambush the remaining Germans back on his cruise boat holding MacGregor hostage. Frank actually doesn't have any such protective items to block the bullets, but since he's Immortal , it enables him to convincingly 'fake' getting shot more realistically . The only thing that nearly gives away the ruse is Frank getting equally taken off-guard by Lily's Unspoken Plan Guarantee and needing a second bullet to get the hint.
• Politically Correct History : Zigzagged. MacGregor was realistically shunned by most of his family and associates for being gay in the 1910s. When he explains this to Frank, who is a Spaniard that grew up in the 1500s during the country's conservative Catholic environment , Frank is surprisingly open-minded about his sexuality and doesn't judge him. Given Frank's been stuck on the river for 400 years and has likely met plenty of people from all types of cultures and customs, he's had plenty of time to accept such things.
• Profane Last Words : Joachim says "Oh scheiße" before being crushed to death.
• The Punishment : The Conquistadors certainly don't like their current state, but it allows them some decent, if creepy superpowers , while Frank is entirely human, aside from the immortality . The trope is downplayed because the punishers didn't intend for them to get powers, and their curse does come with the hobble of being unable to go too far from the Amazon river. The chief who cursed them originally wanted them to stop them from pursuing his daughter, and Frank intended to just trap them forever. The reason they are partially made of jungle is because of the effects of erosion on their petrified bodies, and they only escape because Joachim re-directed the river with explosives.
• Prussians in Pickelhauben : Apart from Lope de Aguirre , the villains are Imperial Germans, complete with a U-boat. Bonus points for Joachim specifically being the Prince of Prussia.
• True to the original ride, Frank can't help but riff off several puns during his touring spiel, much to the annoyance of everyone who goes on a voyage with him. Some of the jokes are directly lifted from the ride's script.
• In the ending, Lily teaches Frank how to drive. Lily remarks she has no idea what they're getting into, to which Frank replies, "An automobile". Lily replies that that remark was "exhausting". Geddit?
• Ragnarök Proofing : Justified . The cursed Conquistadors use archaic weapons like a musket, crossbow, hatchet and swords that are still in working order and sharp as they're ever been—in the case of the crossbow and cusket they're still able to fire despite their wielders being made of Mud and Beeswax without the substances interfering with the firing mechanisms in any way—alongside armour that's still in usable condition, but it's made clear that this is because the items in question have become fused to their bodies through the centuries, and are thus included in the curse that preserves their existence. At once point, Aguirre chucks a knife at Lily that then turns into a snake, showing that they're basically forming the weapons from the surrounding environment to attack their targets with, when they're not using the parts of the environment they're made of to attack instead.
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud : When MacGregor reads Lily's prepared statement at the beginning, he says, "Pause for dramatic effect" in front of everybody.
• Reduced to Ratburgers : Subverted when Frank shoots a rodent out of a tree and MacGregor asks if he expects him to eat that. Instead he uses it as piranha bait.
• Relationship Upgrade : Frank and Lily .
• Really 700 Years Old : Frank the skipper is really the 400 year old Francisco, formerly Aguirre's cartographer and right-hand man until the massacre of the natives created a rift between them.
• Reimagining the Artifact : Trader Sam and the other native characters are reimagined as native actors Frank hires to provide thrills to his passengers. Sam even mocks the stereotypical costumes they put on to scare Lily and MacGregor.
• Revenge Before Reason : Aguirre could make the most of his immortality like Frank has done, but instead he obsesses over punishing him for his betrayal. This forces Frank to inflict a Fate Worse than Death on him.
• Running Gag : One of the Houghton siblings getting surprised by Frank and reflexively punching him in the face, which he shrugs off with minor annoyance (and a remark that they have "strong form"). Frank: Every time!
• The Savage Indian : Invoked by Frank as one of the "dangers" of the Amazon. At one point, jungle natives start shooting darts at Frank's boat, which is full of tourists; when one actually gets inside the boat instead of just hitting the side, Frank mouths "c'mon!" and gives them a disapproving "that could've hit someone!" look, to which they depart with a sheepish wave of apology, meaning they're just in cahoots with him to provide safe thrills to the tourists.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here : Trader Sam literally jumps ship when Joachim catches up to the heroes and she swims back to her tribe.
• Sealed Evil in a Can : Aquirre and his men into were imprisoned in a cave where they couldn't see the river, resulting in them being turned to stone when the curse tried to drag them back and couldn't do it properly. It turns out Frank did it. Joachim sets them free. Frank manages to cut them off from the river inside the temple and seal them away again.
• Sealed Evil in a Duel : A variant, in that Frank and Aguirre technically don't have to fight each other, but Aguirre blames him for losing the arrowhead all those centuries ago and takes his anger out on Francisco by repeatedly hunting him down and killing him, even if the curse prevents Francisco from staying dead. Eventually, Frank gets tired of getting repeatedly stabbed and decides to swap this for Sealed Evil in a Can instead .
• Self-Inflicted Hell : While cursed to live forever and be unable to leave sight of the river, Aguirre and his men only end up as twisted, undead monsters because they continued to hunt down Frank in the name of Revenge , leading him to trap then in a place where they couldn't return to the river and were left petrified for centuries .
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man : Frank is a gun-toting, rough-and-tumble boat captain and former Spanish conquistador . MacGregor Haughton is a foppish pretty boy, albeit a surprisingly competent Queensberry Rules boxer .
• Sharp-Dressed Man : MacGregor insists on being one, impracticality be damned. Both Frank and Lily point out multiple ways that this is a bad idea. He does not remain one for long.
• Shot in the Ass : MacGregor gets it with a tranquilizer dart.
• The main female character's names are both types of flowers, Lily and Rose.
• Frank and Charlie when first starting out, point out that there's only two hours of daylight left, but Lily and Rose points out that that is two hours of extra time to go.
• Frank and Charlie point out that the only place to take a bath is the river. However, Lily doesn't take them up on the bath, unlike Rose.
• After going through a set of rapids, the main male character expects the female character to want to turn back, but instead they enjoyed it.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer : MacGregor's role is greatly de-emphasized in the trailers (the amount of times he's clearly in frame across all of them could be counted on two hands, and his speaking lines on one hand), while Nilo never shows up or is mentioned at all; justified, as Jack Whitehall and Paul Giamatti aren't nearly as internationally famous as Blunt and Johnson are.
• Small Role, Big Impact : Dr. Albert Falls is only mentioned in passing, but he found and retrieved the Arrowhead that was required to find the Tears of the Moon. There's also Aguirre's cartographer, who made the maps that Lily and Joachim both use. Subverted with the latter; he's actually a main character.
• Something That Begins with "Boring" : MacGregor attempts to play "I Spy" with Trader Sam in the canoe before being ambushed.
• Soundtrack Dissonance : In comparison to the film mostly using rousing adventure-movie-style music, the tragic backstory portions instead use a re-recorded version of Metallica 's "Nothing Else Matters".
• Staff of Authority : Prince Joachim carries a fancy one that also happens to be a Sword Cane .
• Lily doesn't know how to swim.
• During the final fight at La Luna Rota, after MacGregor knocks some German soldiers into the water, they are not seen again.
• Take Me Instead : When the group is captured by the natives, Frank tries to convince them to let Lily and Macgregor go, insisting that there's no way all three can get out. Subverted when it's revealed that Frank knew all along they weren't in real danger .
• Taken for Granite : This is the fate of the conquistadors after Francisco tricked them into falling down a pit far from the river, manipulating the specific wording of their curse against them. When the jungle attempted to drag them back, it couldn't pull them through the rock and they were instead fused into it. By the time Joachim releases them after 300 years, the elements have eroded their petrified bodes enough that they end up forming replacements from the jungle matter around them in facsimiles of their original bodies. Frank exploits this in the climax to petrify them and himself once more .
• Taking You with Me : Frank pulls this on Aguirre and the conquistadors during the finale. Ramming his steamer to cut off the river's access to the tree chamber causes the curse to ensnare and petrify all five Spaniards, Frank included . Only a last second intervention prevents this being fatal.
• There's No Kill like Overkill : Using a pair of MG-08/15 machine guns against Frank's boat? Reasonable enough if you have murderous intent. Escalating to a torpedo when that fails? Now you're just getting ridiculous.
• Tribal Face Paint : When MacGregor befriends some of the locals, one offers what MacGregor assumes to be red face paint. Only after does he learn it's permanent tattoo ink.
• Underwater Kiss : Frank does the "Breath of Air" type to Lily (twice) to save her from drowning when she's trapped in an underwater cage.
• Undying Loyalty : Despite him loathing his sister's adventurous nature and the scrapes it drags him into, MacGregor states he would still follow Lily into a volcano if he had to, because she's the only member of his family who didn't disown him when it was revealed he was gay (or so he implies.)
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee : Lily's plan to trick Joachim at the end is a good example, although it almost fails because Frank is just as in the dark as the audience, and doesn't know he's supposed to fall into the water after she shoots him, so he can swim over to help free MacGregor. Luckily, he gets the hint after the second shot.
• Upper-Class Twit : MacGregor is a benign example. He is the sort of guy who tries to take golf clubs on a trip down the Amazon, but he's also the sort of guy who will follow his sister into a volcano because she stood up for him.
• Frank has a pet jaguar, showing his deep understanding of the Amazon and the creatures living there. He's also had an ocelot and a cougar over the years.
• The Beeswax Conquistador also appears to view the bees nesting in him as allies/companions, referring to them as his "little friends" when confronting Joachim at the sacred tree .
• Vomit Chain Reaction : After the rapids, Frank teases Lily about looking seasick and offers some food, prompting her to vomit. This in turn causes MacGregor to vomit to Frank's amusement... until he nearly vomits himself.
• Villains Want Mercy : Aguirre begs Frank not to seal him and the other Conquistadors away again as they're being turned back to stone.
• The Conquistadors are effectively immortal and possess incredible powers but have to stay in sight of the Amazon at all times. Several times, their attempts to get the arrowhead are thwarted simply because their target ran a bit too far away, and they get dragged away from the chase. Intentionally invoked by the chief who cursed them in the first place, as he wanted to make sure they couldn't catch his daughter as she escaped with the arrowhead.
• The Beeswax Conquistador apparently shares a sympathetic connection to the bees nesting in his body. When Frank vents the furnace on his boat into his face, it floods the cabin with smoke and suffocates the bees, causing the Conquistador to faint in addition to the heat causing the honey and beeswax in his body to soften and lose its integrity.
• Wham Line : Frank: Actually...it's Francisco. And I'm basically 400 years old.
• Wham Shot : When Lily finds Frank washed up on shore after being stabbed, she thinks he miraculously survived...and then sees the sword still sticking out his back with Frank seemingly feeling no pain, let alone bleeding .
• What Happened to the Mouse? : Aguirre pursued the tree in order to save his daughter's life, and it was being denied that which drove him to turn on the natives. Despite this it's never mentioned what happened to her and so whether she recovered from her illness or died is left unknown. Justified, as the conquistadors were cursed to be unable to leave the Amazon river, and as such had no real way of finding out her fate.
• What Have I Become? : The conquistadors are horrified at what has become of their bodies. Aguirre even wonders if they still have souls after being ravaged by the curse for centuries. However, it's averted by the beeswax conquistador. Mud Conquistador (in Spanish): We're disgusting. Beeswax Conquistador (in Spanish): Speak for yourself. I'm delicious!
• Who Wants to Live Forever? : Obviously the cursed conquistadors aren't happy about their situation, but Francisco is shown having lived for so long that he's had to bury every friend he's made since . At the conclusion, Francisco is 'freed' of his immortality and enjoys the chance to live a normal life away from the Amazon even knowing that he will now die of old age . "Everything you see as new, I've seen hundreds of thousands of times."
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? : Lily is afraid of swimming, which is a bit problematic when her latest adventure takes her up the Amazon river.
• The Worm That Walks : Aguirre and his fellow conquistadors have had their bodies devolved into this after years of being cut off from the river, with them being made of different jungle parts like snakes, mud and frogs, tree roots and branches, and bee nests.
• Wrestler of Beasts : Frank fights a jaguar in front of the protagonists to convince them to hire him. It is later revealed that the jaguar was tamed and the fight was staged.
• You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good! : As shown by Frank /Francisco, the conquistadors' curse doesn't actually make them monsters or anything other than Immortal humans who cannot die, age or leave sight of the river for the rest of eternity. Aguirre's pointless anger at Francisco for allowing the chieftain's daughter to flee with the arrowhead instead drives him to spend about 50 years hunting him down and killing him again and again in a pointless demonstration of his wrath towards his former brother-in-arms, rather than doing something productive with the time he had been granted. Whereas Francisco was able to build a small town, and make a livelihood out of the advantages the curse granted him , Aguirre's refusal to do anything other than blame others for his situation instead lead to him being imprisoned by Franciso and devolving into a literal and figurative monster by the present day.
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Jungle Cruse Script Disneyland 1963-70

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How the ‘Jungle Cruise’ movie helped bring change to Disneyland’s ride

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A single Instagram post in 2017 caused a momentary panic in the Disney community.

Dwayne Johnson, standing in front of a Herb Ryman-drawn map of the initial proposal for Disneyland, stated that he and his production company were partnering with Walt Disney Imagineering — the secretive division of the company responsible for theme park experiences — to “reengineer and redesign” the Jungle Cruise ride, one of Disneyland’s opening-day attractions.

Updates to the ride were, of course, long overdue, as numerous scenes contained offensive tribal caricatures crafted through a colonialist lens . Johnson’s Jungle Cruise vision was unknown, and while the attraction, overseen by Walt Disney, had undergone numerous changes over six decades — most designed to add more humor and creatures — would a robotic Rock be on the horizon?

Not quite. Or at least not yet, as the combined box office and Disney+ grosses of the Johnson and Emily Blunt-starring film “Jungle Cruise” will likely determine the audio-animatronic possibilities at Disney’s parks around the world. For now, at least, nods to the action-focused blockbuster-hopeful with a mystical, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”-influenced tone remain subtle and of the more hidden, “Easter egg” variety in the Disneyland original.

Entertainment & Arts

Why Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise cultural changes aren’t just ‘woke’ — they’re necessary

The new Jungle Cruise shows Disney wants to be in the cultural conversation rather than an artifact or, worse, a representation of the ‘good ole days.’

July 18, 2021

“When you meet these behind-the-scenes heroes, it’s an extraordinary experience,” says Johnson of his time at Imagineering, before offering an ever-so-slight tease that more tweaks could be on the horizon. “Hopefully, there’s parts of our movie that might influence the ride just a little bit going forward.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise has taken inspiration from cinema. The original attraction was sprung from Disney’s own nature documentaries as well as the 1951 classic “The African Queen,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, which is also a clear influence on the big-screen “Jungle Cruise.” Starting Friday in theaters and on Disney+ premier access, audiences can see for themselves what a Johnson Jungle Cruise looks like in the Jaume Collet-Serra-directed film. If the ride is a leisurely, throwback antidote to modern thrill and special effects-laden attractions, the film aims to be exactly the opposite.

And this 2021 take on “Jungle Cruise” — rooted in the chemistry, bickering and exaggerated contradictions between Johnson’s cynical skipper Frank and Blunt’s idealistic botanist Lily — did present an opportunity to bring modern sensibilities to the Disneyland original.

The action-comedy adventure, filmed in Hawaii but located in a fictionalized Amazon, set out to course-correct some of the Jungle Cruise ride’s more uncomfortable aspects. Gone are implications of Westerners as superior colonizers, as well as grotesque depictions of Indigenous people as tourist attractions, attackers or cannibals. The villains here include an army of undead Spanish conquistadors who tried and failed to wield the jungle to their needs — namely, an attempt to raid a tree with healing powers.

“What we wanted to represent about the ride was that joy and nostalgia,” says Blunt. “It pierces your heart directly. But ... we want to represent it sensitively and respectfully.”

Over the last decade, Disney has been more aggressive about removing cultural stereotypes from its attractions. In 2017, Disneyland gave women agency in its Pirates of the Caribbean attraction by removing a bridal auction scene and reimagining a female “wench” as a pirate , and last year the company pledged to remake the “Song of the South”-referencing Splash Mountain into an attraction inspired by “The Princess and the Frog,” which stars the company’s first Black princess, Tiana.

Review: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are fun, but not enough to make ‘Jungle Cruise’ see-worthy

You can’t see the jungle for the CGI in this action-adventure inspired by the long-running Disney theme-park attraction.

July 27, 2021

With a major Jungle Cruise-inspired film on the horizon, the timing was right to rethink the Disneyland original — known best for its animal vignettes, much of them crafted by Disney’s master animator-turned-Imagineer Marc Davis. The reimagined ride largely doubles down on slapstick-inspired scenes involving chimpanzees and monkeys getting the best of a prior Jungle Cruise expedition.

“From our talks with the Imagineers, what was so interesting is that they’ve been wanting to redo the ride for a long time,” says Beau Flynn, a producer on the film. “But it’s the most revered, and the most nostalgic, and no one would let them. Every generation wanted the same experience. So the Imagineers were like, ‘Thank God for this movie, because it gives the opportunity to make changes we’ve wanted to make.’”

The film has some clever solutions for some of the ride’s outmoded — and now removed — imagery. Spear-brandishing headhunters, for instance, are turned into a sly joke that plays with Western stereotypes. Screenwriter Michael Green (“Logan,” “Blade Runner 2049”), who joined the project in late 2017, said the filmmakers wanted to reframe some of the ride’s unsavory aspects, a benefit of cinema that one doesn’t get via the pure environmental storytelling in a theme park attraction.

The film’s natives are in a businesses partnership with Frank, and they too think their costumes are silly. “What we were able to do is poke fun at the tourist perception of a what a native is supposed to be, and then you realize the joke is on them,” Green says. “They’re more sophisticated and dignified than they were being credited for. There’s moments that played to that. They’re in on the scam.”

The film makes a number of additional progressive tweaks.

The character of Trader Sam, the tribesman who will trade “two of his heads for one of yours” was removed from the ride but lives on in “Jungle Cruise,” portrayed as a mysterious, entrepreneurial figure by Veronica Falcón.

And, in a moment sure to further the debate on how Disney handles its LGBTQ characters, the film contains a coming-out scene for Lily’s brother, MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), in conversation with Frank.

While not exactly subtle, the moment is not specifically direct either, as MacGregor notes that he was ostracized from much of his family for his romantic interests leaning “elsewhere.”

“I suggested a bunch of things,” Green says, “and one of them was, ‘What if Lily’s brother is with her, and what if he’s gay?’ Everyone said, ‘That sounds interesting. Let’s see where that takes us.’ It was in every draft of the script, and every cut, where MacGregor tells Frank that the reason he’s so dedicated to Lily is because she’s the one who stood by him when he came out, and for that he would follow her into a volcano. It’s one of the things I’m very proud of. I don’t consider it an oblique reference.

“There’s no question about it,” Green continues. “If he has a romantic interest in a hopeful sequel, it will be with a man. If we’re lucky enough to get to make another one, we’d all like to see MacGregor have a romance.”

If characters in “Jungle Cruise” are broadly drawn, that’s very much by design.

Blunt’s Lily, for instance, is presented as a hardened adventurer, and the mysteries of Johnson’s Frank are played down until a surprise reveal late in the film. In the modern era of filmmaking, where every detail tends to be overly explained, those working on “Jungle Cruise” say there are lessons to be learned from theme park attractions, where audiences are escorted from scene to scene and fill in the blanks via our imagination.

“We wanted to make sure we were honoring the ride, making sure it wasn’t too dark, but making sure it was humorous,” says producer Dany Garcia. “It’s very similar to the history of the Haunted Mansion [attraction], where you have multiple points of view. It was the same way for us.”

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Todd Martens joined the Los Angeles Times in 2007 and covers a mix of interactive entertainment (video games) and pop music. Previously, Martens reported on the music business for Billboard Magazine. He has contributed to numerous books, including “The Big Lebowski: An Illustrated, Annotated History of the Greatest Cult Film of All Time.” He continues to torture himself by rooting for the Chicago Cubs and, while he likes dogs, he is more of a cat person.

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Disney's Jungle Cruise Ride to Get a Rewrite

January 25, 2021, 3:00 PM · One of Disneyland's original attractions is getting a rewrite.

Walt Disney Imagineering announced today that it will be rewriting the Jungle Cruise attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom . The changes will see the addition of an animatronic Jungle skipper to the popular Adventureland attractions but will not include the stars of the upcoming "Jungle Cruise" feature film.

"As part of this story update, we’ll get to follow a Skipper and his passengers as their journey goes awry," said Walt Disney Imagineer Kevin Lively - who's also a former Jungle skipper. "That’s right, for the first time ever, the Skipper role will not only be that of a live, experienced and witty guide, but also represented by a show figure within the attraction itself. In fact, the expedition will be up a tree after their sunken boat splits apart and chimps board the wreckage, with monkey business ensuing."

"Fans of the Jungle Cruise attraction may recall some boats that used to make their way around the river but haven’t been seen for a while —especially the Mekong Maiden and the Kwango Kate," Lively added. "Ever wonder what happened to them? Well, you might go ape when you find out. Ultimately, the jungle gets the last laugh."

With its collection of animatronic animals and natives within show scenes themed to jungle locations around the world, Disney's Jungle Cruise never had much of a narrative. It was always a collection of jokes around the set pieces - with the Skippers often going off script to write gags of their own. While Disney created an overall narrative for its Jingle Cruise holiday overlay, the new Jungle Cruise script will provide the attraction's first full-time narrative arc.

But let's face it. That's not the reason that Disney is changing this 66-year-old classic. Disney is rewriting Jungle Cruise to remove negative depictions of indigenous people in several scenes of the ride.

"As Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure experiences we create and stories we share reflect the voices and perspectives of the world around us," WDI's Executive, Creative Development & Inclusion Strategies, Carmen Smith, said. "With Jungle Cruise, we're bringing to life more of what people love - the humor and wit of our incredible skippers, while making needed updates."

Many fans had thought that Disney might change Jungle Cruise to add the stars of its upcoming "Jungle Cruise" movie, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Disney added Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow and other characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to those attractions after the films' success. But sources with Imagineer said that the film characters will not be part of the Jungle Cruise rewrite.

Imagineering sources said that the company will reveal later more detail about the changes, which are scheduled for later this year. There are no plans to make changes at the Jungle Cruise-themed Trader Sam's bars or the Jungle Navigation Company Skipper Canteen restaurants, an Imagineering source confirmed. Nor will there be changes at the Jungle Cruise installations at Tokyo Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland.

As for other attraction changes, Disney is revamping the Snow White ride at Disneyland, which is another of the 10 opening-day rides still in operation at the park. That new version will debut once the Anaheim park is cleared by the state of California to reopen. Last year, WDI also announced that it will retheme the Splash Mountain rides at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom to "The Princess and the Frog," removing characters and songs from Disney's deep-sixed, mistrel-inspired film "Song of the South."

For more on social justice in themed entertainment design, please read Can Theme Parks Get on the Right Side of History? from our 20 Great Reads for 20 Years of Theme Park Insider . And for more analysis of the Jungle Cruise changes specifically, watch for my column tomorrow in the Orange County Register .

* * * We wanted you to read this article before we make our newsletter pitch, unlike so many other websites. If you appreciate that — and our approach to covering theme park news — please sign up for our free, twice-a-week email newsletter . Thank you.

Replies (50)

Fantastic news. The Jungle Cruise has been woefully outdated for years, and several of the images were are downright racist. I'll never forget the day my kids and I were on the boat with a Black family who we'd been chatting with in line, their first time at the park, and the look on that dad's face when we passed by the "headhunter." I haven't taken my kids on the ride since, I'll be looking forward to seeing the new updated version.

And great call not adding the Rock. I'm sure that was motivated by the fact that the Pirates of the Carribean now ends with a model of a drunken confirmed wife beater rolling his crazy robot eyes . . .

This is really good news! I'm stunned they have the restraint to not add The Rock, but (happily) not disappointed!

An Animatronic Skipper? Eww! I hope the "Only" part means they aren't ripping the soul out of this thing.

I'm okay with this as the ride has needed such updating for decades and this sounds much better than other shifts. Remember, they used to have the lions feasting on a zebra which was a bit much for little kids so not the first time it's been altered.

It reminds me how the Western River Expedition would have had Native Americans with literal red skin and huge noses doing rain dances and scalping. Just imagine how that would have gone down years later...

Frankly, sounds much better than, say, audio-animatronic Dwayne Johnson put in to tie with the movie so looks good.

I love when Disney keeps things updated and interesting. I may be 65 years old but I'm no stick in the mud when change comes calling. All is ask is that they incorporate the "backside of water" into the new script.

Actually, I feel like setting the over/under on "backside of water" jokes in the new version at four.

Pitchfork? Check. Torch? Check.

What bothers me about this idea is that the skippers will be locked into a script with little or no room for adlibs. The unapproved jokes that came from the skippers emerged organically. The presence of a locked-in story shuts down any chance for the skips to drop Adventurer's Club level humor. No way a sparkly of WDI writers is gonna type up the funny (probably giving the allegedly humourous lines to the robot) as good as something a skipper on his 100th trip of the week comes up with off the cuff.

"... and chimps board the wreckage, with monkey business ensuing"?

As for Carmen Smith (WDI's Executive, Creative Development & please reference the back of this business card to read the remainder of this corporate title) yeah, there is plenty of inappropriate material. So fix it. And while you're at it improve the landscaping. Add animals. Improve lighting and sound systems and boats.

But screw that "we're gonna re-write the story." Tell Lively to get back on the boat and give the skips a green light to cut loose. You'll get better material in a week than you will sitting in a cubicle hacking away at MSWord.

"Monkey business"? So stupid. So VERY stupid.

Sidenote: It's a pride of lions. A murder of crows. A sparkly of Imagineers.

Looking forward to this The times, they are a’ changing.

I think it's going to be similar to GMR, a live skipper interacting with preset show. Plenty of room for ad libs.

Interesting that they chose to revamp this ride over Peter Pan. I guess it'll be easier to change out scenes on an outdoor attraction that can just be covered with scrims.

If Skippers are included, maybe and hopefully there will be a connection to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers!? Then SEA can come to Disneyland in a big way besides just the Tropical Hideaway next door.

"Take a look at those butterflies, folks. Don't they look amazing. Well you can pick them up at Wal-Mart for $12.95 apiece. Which means they're available for $49.50 at the gift shops here in the Magic Kingdom."

Do think Mr. Lively's team is gonna take the dialogue in that direction?

Sadly, Disney has left themselves no choice but to formally script the Jungle Cruise. They have made diversity/inclusivity a Key, and the cultural stereotypes and humor derived from them throughout the Jungle Cruise are at odds with that Key. Disney can no longer give Skippers the leeway to adlib their jokes that could cross the line between what is considered "funny" and what is considered "offensive" by today's standards. Even if animatronics and scenes are stripped of culturally offensive imagery, the Skipper could still inadvertently stumble upon a reference (either one from years ago or one they invent on the fly) that could get them into trouble. Only a fully vetted and "approved" script can work now that Disney has drawn this line, meaning that Skippers putting on impromptu stand-up routines will be ancient history.

It's unfortunate that society has come to this point where we cannot laugh at each others' differences, but that's where the world is going. What used to be one of the most unique and entertaining jobs in the theme park industry will soon become just like all the rest because the world is incapable of laughing at itself.

100% agree with Russell here...

For me the draw of the ride has always been the unique ride experience between each “Skipper” simply because the improv routines varied by the individual...Change the scenes, I’m perfectly fine with that...Seeing a group of white hunters run up a tree by a rhino rather than a group of indigenous hired guides does exactly zero to change the ride experience for me...

To have the CM’s all work from a script draws them closer to the ride experience the Great Movie Ride offered...Which to me was always clearly scripted, even with the occasional ad lib here and there...In short it felt inauthentic...

It is what it is at this point and even though I’m generally fine with updates to reflect modern society (The Splash Mountain re-theme gets two thumbs up from me for example), outside of changing some scenes, this one feels wrong...

Oh Joy! While I agree that some storyline references are inappropriate and need to be scrapped, the vast majority (>99%) of material that the skippers used is appropriate. Now we’re getting rid of any character and uniqueness the ride had in favor of a excessive politically correct, sterile corporate script.

I won't judge this until I experience it myself (if I can ever travel again!) but PC rewrites are seldom an improvement. Heaven forbid someone is "offended" and lodges some self rigteous complaint...

More PC BS from Disney. I am surprises that they will continue to have human being as an operator. There is nothing like the greed of Disney. I figured that they would solely use an animatronic guide.

Russell: "Sadly, Disney has left themselves no choice but to formally script the Jungle Cruise."

Me: They absolutely have a choice. Tear the attraction out and build a 'Moana' family themed coaster or dark ride. The Jungle Cruise takes up a big chunk of valuable real estate and The Rock won't care because he's in both flicks.

Russell: "Disney can no longer give Skippers the leeway to adlib their jokes ..."

Me: Disney doesn't give them leeway to adlib anything. The skippers already have a spiel. All content has to be run through WDI.

@Russel Meyer: Actually, the "ad-lib" aspect has been almost dead for Jungle Cruise for years. Read David Koenig's excellent "Mouse Tales" books, they detail how Disney had Cruise captains stick to a script and even memos on "no non-1930s references" in the late-90s. Sure, the occasional bit for a certain guest on board but as TH Creative says, all jokes have to be run through the bosses to get the okay.

Even the old Adventurer's Club had to stick to much the same spiel night after night with only light alterations and nothing really crossing the line. This idea the captains make scores of this stuff up on the spot is just pushed by Disney to make it sound more spontaneous than it really is.

The Jungle Cruise has been tightly scripted for ages. Skippers who dared deviate from "approved" spiels were always taking a chance. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn't. This is no different.

I absolutely LOVE that skips aren't just telling the story, but are part of the story in this new version.

And yes, I'm glad that the whole "people of color about to be gored by a rhino, with a white guy on top in safety" thing is not being removed, but replaced with the same gag without the racism. I'm hoping that the "native uprising" scene is being replaced, and that the "new animated skipper figure" that is mentioned will replace Trader Sam.

The times, they are a-changing. And Disney needs to change with them. I have loved the Jungle Cruise for decades, but it's time to make a change. Disneyland should not be a museum for past prejudices. And I absolutely love the direction that Imagineering is taking with this change (and I'm also very glad that they are introducing a new storyline instead of shoe-horning the Jungle Cruise movie into the attraction like they did with Pirates of the Caribbean).

I am a definitely a fan of this update as described, and as I hope the things not described fall into place to match the announcement.

Really, the one time I remember big ad-libbing on Jungle Cruise was in 1992 when a cold snap had temps in 40s and skipper going "Welcome to the hot...steamy...humid...blazing jungles." And I'm sure even that was already a scripted bit they just pull out on cold days.

Otherwise, I can easily see which jokes are coming on the ride as it doesn't deviate as much as some act like it does.

I'm with Kenny--since when were the skippers allowed to go off script? When did any of them tell racist or inappropriate jokes? I've been at Disneyland at least twice every year for the past decade and all I've ever heard are a bunch of bored teenagers reciting the same tired jokes, usually in a monotone voice that sucked any remaining life out of the experience. A change to that is more than welcome, and if an animatronic captain adds more technological pizazz to the ride it can only benefit it.

As for this comment section: Watching people lament the rise of equality and inclusiveness--as if it's a zero sum game and white people are somehow going to lose something unless they're allowed to put down other people--is just one more depressing sign of the times. It's whitey's last angry gasp, the ultimate 'take your ball and go home' crybaby nonsense. Either go raid the Capitol with your other racist buddies or please, shut it.

"Disneyland should not be a museum for past prejudices." 100% that.

With all the cuts at Disney, I suspect it will be years before this sees the light of day. Disney still has a whole attraction to retheme (Splash Mountain) that was announced last year already.

And James Trexen...if both these changes do actually happen, then Peter Pan will be next.

You can find a ton of skippers adlibbing on Youtube. Funny stuff.

And TwoBits nails it with the Splash Mountain reference. I strikes me that Disney is trying to get ahead of the inappropriate stuff before October 1st.

Man, that 50th anniversary celebration has turned into a huge disappointment.

Kenny Vee: "I absolutely LOVE that skips aren't just telling the story, but are part of the story in this new version."

Me: They were always part of the story.

I guess "ad lib" wasn't the right term to use, but from reading stories from CMs that have held the role of Skipper, there is some freedom to develop new jokes and lines that are eventually incorporated into the "script" (more like an encyclopedia). It's a collective effort that has created an ever-evolving book of jokes and lines that skippers use. Yes, those lines are vetted and "approved" through supervisors, but it's typically been a bottom-up process where the Skippers develop ideas that are based directly on guest impressions, and not the top-down approach that sounds like will be the path moving forward.

Also, maybe I've been duped, but I've been on a JC trip (at Disneyland - the WDW version definitely is a more constrained script than the original version) where a second Skipper was on board and the lead Skipper explicitly stated to the crew that they're trying out new lines/jokes, many I had never heard before (including current pop culture references that could have never gone through vetting beyond operational staff in the days since the reference became relevant).

Ad-libbed yes but still pre-approval so they don't say stuff Disney doesn't like to hear. And recall again how for the '90s they insisted on "always pretend it' the 1930s' to tie into the Indiana Jones ride, Disney has always pushed major creative control on the spiel.

Attraction scripts don't go through ops or supervision. Scripts go through WDI.

Kenny Vee has it right: "The Jungle Cruise has been tightly scripted for ages. Skippers who dared deviate from "approved" spiels were always taking a chance."

The more I look at this the more it looks like window dressing.

The Jungle Cruise has needed some love for a long time but a story (which we can only HOPE will be coherent) and a robot skipper seems unnecessary.

At WDW do the thing with the chimps in the boat. There is a perfect space just past the scene where the gorillas have raided the camp.

Change the figures in the rhino scene to make them look ... Whatever.

Lose the boat full of skulls (if it is still there) and wall off the dancing guys. Remove the attacking guys (which are lame to begin with) and maybe add a pop-up figure (not too late to change your mind and write a check to The Rock and Ms. Blunt).

Other than that, upgrade the skins on the animals. Improve sound systems. Upgrade the landscaping and maybe add a waterfall across from the Veldt.

And just leave the skippers alone.

"Oh look! That family of lions is watching over that sleeping zebra. 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight?' That reminds me of my favorite Disney movie: TRON."

It is still early stages, remember so like many planned redos, they might change it up before it reaches the final version. It sometimes seems Disney puts out ideas like this to gauge the public feeling first then adjust as it goes on so they might shift more.

I can go with some changes to animals and getting rid of the "attacking natives" (an effect that really hasn't aged well) and the chimps in the boat part is a gag so perfect I'm amazed it hasn't been done before now.

But I would say stay away from use of characters from the movie, that doesn't work out that well (see Pirates) so that's one change I'm happy Disney doesn't make.

I totally agree with TH Creative that the "skippers" aren't telling their own stories and jokes here. They have a script that they have to adhere to. No way does Disney take a chance that a "skipper" might say something offensive. Just like they don't actually let them steer the boats either. I'm glad Disney updates their rides and attractions. Imagine how boring it would be to see the same thing over and over and over. Disney World is going to be a completely different park by the time I get back down there.

I think it's sort of like, say, the Genie in the Aladdin show or some of the bits of Monsters Inc/Adventurer's Club, they have leeway for ad-libbing but still very strict guidelines on what they can and cannot say.

And sadly, for every skipper who can be fun like that, there can be another just sticking to the script so it sometimes depends which captain you get and how much they're into it.

How soon after Peter Pan’s eventual changing will we see Jack Sparrow removed from PotC since Johnny Depp has had recent issues.

@TwoBits: Actually, I've been wanting Sparrow removed for years, not for the Depp stuff just that it's way too distracting in the first place. And come on, not like Pirates hasn't been changing stuff already over the decades.

It's why I'm very happy that among these Cruise changes isn't adding anything for the coming movie.

This certainly sounds more like a PC move than a genuine attempt at improving the attraction, but at least it seems to preserve the parts of the attraction that work. If it turns out well for the ride, great. If not, perhaps it will pave the way for a replacement. While the Jungle Cruise isn't a bad ride by any means, by today's standards it's a third tier attraction that occupies a significant chunk of land, and particularly in California where space is at a premium it may have outlived its usefulness if these changes don't increase interest in the attraction.

@Russell What's so unfortunate about not being able to "Laugh at each other's differences"? Were there equivalent jokes and differences we could laugh at on this ride?

Love it! Why don't they just do it all in one go instead of doing it progressively? Replace all humans with pre-programmed robots and modify all animatronics to be featureless, colourless and gender neutral.........and only serve vegan food!

@sxcymike - That comment was more aimed at our society at large and the evolving need to view EVERYTHING through a diversity/inclusion lens, and nothing specific regarding the Jungle Cruise. Aside from the various jokes/lines in the Natives scene and Trader Sam, there aren't any other socially/racially insensitive jokes on the ride that I have personally been exposed to (I have heard of, but never experienced, certain culturally sensitive jokes/lines in the Temple scene). My comment was more geared towards the overall trend in society that seeks to neuter the art of comedy. I have often thought that comics that rely on "blue" and racial humor were being lazy, but some of the best (like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock) have used social commentary to not only elicit laughs and supercharge their routines, but to make statements about the absurdity of the world around us. Viewing other cultures and people through the lens of humor helps us to understand and relate to each other and to bring us closer as a society, but there are those in the world that seek to make people feel guilty and shameful for chuckling at a joke that has just a tinge of racial/social stereotyping.

Not everyone on the planet views the world in the same way, and everyone needs different techniques to relate to cultures/people they see as foreign. Humor is an important way for us to create that connection to each other and to help cope and understand certain situations. Sometimes humor can cross lines that can make certain people uncomfortable, but that should not justify the call to stop using humor to relate to our differences. Learning to laugh at yourself is just as important as learning to embrace and respect how others are different from you.

Thanks to my pal Russell for his thoughtful perspective. Also, Disney Springs is a theme park.

More PC moves by Disney today, this time on Disney+:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9179987/Disney-blocks-sevens-watching-racist-Peter-Pan-Dumbo-Aristocats.html

Today it’s the under 7 crowd...eventually it will be aimed at tweens, then teens, then adults.

@Russell my question was coming from someone who always walked passed said attraction, so thank you for that response. However, since there are those with the mindset of living homogeneously, I have no problem with such a diversified/inclusive lens.

@Russell the obvious response is that if the jokes flowed in all directions equally, you might have a point. But the jokes inevitably flow in one direction, away from the white hegemony. It's perfectly easy for you to laugh it off because the racist imagery and "jokes" (as you call them) usually aren't directed at you.

When America is no longer plagued by its racist core, I'll join you in your "jokes for everyone" crusade. But it's not, so you can keep your "jokes" to yourself.

Have you ever watched an uncensored Dave Chappelle routine thecolonel - most notably his most recent Netflix special? What about Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, or Larry the Cable Guy? Key and Peele aimed a lot of comedic commentary at the white middle class, and In Living Color spread the jabs across racial/social/gender lines before we even had words for the groups they were satirizing.

Laughter is sorely needed in this world, and some of the funniest situations within society occur when people of different backgrounds are put into the same setting (a priest, a rabbi, and an atheist walk into a bar...). Those "jokes" not only provide entertainment and a needed emotional connection, but help to illuminate the absurdity and silliness of what are just different ways of reacting to the same problem that make us a diverse society. If we have to sanitize and homogenize our world to the point where we cannot see the humor in our differences, this planet will become a very depressing place.

I'm with you Russell. Perspective is everything.

I cannot laugh with the ban of "those jokes".. The ban in itself is a new terrible witch-hunt ! All the "political correctness" of the past 2 decennia is becoming creepy ... DANGEROUS fashistoide ! Up to the point that jokes are not allowed anymore, but killing the joker (and complete social environment, such as through the Islamic terror... , example Brussels Airport attack in 2016, at 7km from my birthplace) becomes "accepted" matter in the eyes of those who reject the joking.... The morality is turned completely upside down.

ALL existed, by the way, and still exists. Head-hunting, canibalism, witch-hunting etc etc etc ... brushing images and reflexions of those historical FACTS under the table, is just as unacceptable as the denial of the holocaust (to give an example).

Headhunting! Canibalism! Witch-hunt! Food for thought.... (Kudos to Russell)

Russell, you nailed it! Thank you!

and Herwig, you are spot on!

My two bits about the Jungle Cruise - It has needed an update for a long time. If Disney wants to get rid of what they perceive as insensitive material, so be it. As long as it is entertaining and fun, then I'm all for it.

Heck! I'd even ride it if they swapped out the Donald Trump animatronic in the Hall of Presidents with the Trader Sam animatronic on Jungle Cruise. Solve two problems at the same time, and it might make the attractions better!

Thanks, Tim !

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Disney's Jungle Cruise: Paul Giamatti Liked The 'Nutty' Script

Paul Giamatti had lots of praise for not only the script of Disney's Jungle Cruise, but for his hilarious cockatoo sidekick as well.

Sometimes, there's nothing like a classic campy villain, and it seems like nobody knows that better than Disney . Well, maybe every comic book ever created could also make that claim. But today, Disney is the one flexing. Its upcoming theme park ride movie Jungle Cruise looks to be committing to that whole idea, and the actor behind one of its gleeful baddies is only too happy to take part in the process.

Paul Giamatti, perhaps best known for being that one guy from that one movie, appears to have had the time of his life hamming up his comparatively small role in Jungle Cruise . Speaking in a recent interview between takes, the American Splendor actor had high praise for not only the rather zany script but for the production team that allowed him to make the role his own. Kind of like Johnny Depp's take on Captain Jack Sparrow , except with less of a Keith Richards vibe.

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"It's really nutty. It was strange and kind of fantastical. I liked it a lot," Giamatti said when asked about the script by Collider. "I thought it was really a wacky script. They gave me a lot of latitude with the character, which was nice." What's notable about Giamatti's role is that his character, the cartoonishly villainous harbormaster named Nilo, is actually a rather minor role in the grand scheme of things. While not the main antagonist like Jesse Plemons' Prince Joachim, it seems like Nilo may end up in a similar situation to Michael Mando's Vaas from Far Cry 3 , who broke out of his own small-ish role in the story to become the game's biggest standout character.

It turns out the filmmakers gave Giamatti a lot of leeway in how he played the character, even allowing him to build Nilo from the ground up to an extent. That freedom included his cockatoo friend, Rosita. While he originally wanted a monkey as his partner, once a cockatoo was suggested instead, he loved the idea. "She's a lot of fun and she has a sort of key little thing throughout the sequence," he said about his bird buddy. "She's very sweet."

Jungle Cruise , like previous entries in the bizarrely prolific "Disneyland rides turned into movies" film genre, tells a story that's largely a vehicle to cram in as many references to its namesake as possible. That's not to say it looks like it won't be very good. In fact, Giamatti's own enthusiasm for it all definitely lends it an air of legitimacy. The film also stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt  as an intrepid adventuring riverboat captain and passionate scientist, respectively, hoping to find the mysterious Tree of Life (how about that? A crossover between Disney parks .)

So between its campy script and a stellar cast, Jungle Cruise may be more than just some cash grab. Frankly, it might still be one, but at least Disney seems intent on making it look like it isn't. Either way, however it turns out, there had better be a metric deluge of animal puns being flung at the audience throughout the whole experience.

Jungle Cruise releases on Disney Plus Premier Access (for $30) and in theaters beginning July 30th, 2021.

MORE: This Home Invasion Thriller Subverted The Familiar Genre

Source: Collider