Jungle Cruise

image for Jungle Cruise

Short takes

Not suitable under 13; parental guidance to 15 (violence, scary scenes, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Jungle Cruise
  • a review of Jungle Cruise completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 2 August 2021.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 13 Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes and themes.
Children aged 13–15 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, scary scenes and themes.
Children aged 16 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Jungle Cruise
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Fantasy themes and violence
Length: 127 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

In 1916 London, Dr Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) tries to open the eyes of a male-dominated, scientific association to the possibilities of an ancient tree whose flowers have miraculous medicinal properties. Disregarded and dismissed, she sets off for the Amazon with her wary brother, MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), determined to find the legendary ‘Tears of the Moon’ for herself. Here she enlists the help of Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to take her down the river on his decrepit, yet endearing, boat. The German Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemmons) has also heard the wondrous tales of a tree so powerful its flowers can cure death itself. He wants it to win the war for his country and will stop at nothing to keep Lily from finding it. Lily, however, is not to be underestimated and her dream of finding the tree and studying the flower in an effort to help all of humanity is what keeps her going. The journey into the heart of the Amazon is filled with danger and deception, with poisonous creatures and inhospitable terrain but also with a band of undead conquistadors cursed by the jungle and the ancient tribes who were once its keepers. The conquistadors are also searching for the tree in the hopes that the ‘Tears of the Moon’ might lift their curse and set them free. It would seem however, that the tree itself is well concealed and that only those with the purest intention would have any hope of finding it.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Ancient curses; The undead; Gender discrimination; Deception; Greed and selfishness.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Lily kicks a man and threatens him with a spear. She knocks over a display of swords which fall, blade down, around another man.
  • Skeletons are shown hanging from trees.
  • A tarantula and scorpion fight to the death, while rowdy men bet on the outcome.
  • Frank is attacked by piranhas. He is surrounded and it looks like they are feasting on him but he is later shown to be fine with his shirt in tatters.
  • Frank’s pet jaguar appears to attack men in a bar.
  • Lily is kidnapped and thrown into a cage with screaming birds. She manages to escape the cage by kicking a man in the crotch, slamming another guy in to a wall, shoving spicy peppers into a man’s face and freeing caged monkeys.
  • Prince Joachim shoots at Frank’s boat and later tries to sink them with a torpedo. Frank manages to steer the boat past an old building which gets destroyed, as do all the other boats in the little bay.
  • Frank shoots his gun into the tree and a rat falls down dead. He places this in the water and, with a net, gets out a pile of fish, all of which taste like blood.
  • Lily, Frank and MacGregor are hit with darts and kidnapped by a primitive tribe.
  • Lily and MacGregor both punch Frank in the face.
  • An old conquistador suddenly comes out of the jungle and tries to kill Frank by slitting his throat. More conquistadors suddenly appear and all are intent on killing villagers. A man is stabbed and set on fire. Lily punches a man when he tries to strangle her.
  • A character is shot in the head and another is knocked unconscious.
  • Frank is stabbed in the chest and falls through the trees, knocking against branches as he plummets to the rocks below. Lily watches in horror and later pulls a sword out of his heart.
  • In a flashback the conquistadors are shown destroying an Amazon village. They are later trapped in a cave and cursed, never allowed to leave the sight of the river.
  • Prince Joachim and his men fight against Lily and Frank as they attempt to reach the tree. The prince is crushed by a rock and Frank and Lily are left to fight the undead conquistadors on their own.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • The undead conquistadors have holes throughout their decaying bodies, one is surrounded by bees and oozes honey wherever he goes as bits of his torso are missing. These men are universally grotesque but one in particular has snakes burst out of his body every time he is stabbed or cut. Any scene with this character is generally disturbing and there is one jump-scare where snakes suddenly burst out of his face.
  • There is a tribe of head-hunters living in the jungle that capture Lily, Frank and MacGregor. It appears as though they will be eaten, however this is not the case. The appearance of the head-hunters is quite frightening with dead animal skulls worn for masks along with war paint and tattoos. They pound on drums and the scene is tense and foreboding.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • There is an intense scene where Lily and Frank must navigate some treacherous rapids and nearly go over the edge of a waterfall. The music is loud and suspenseful and it looks like there is no escape from the impending fall, nor any way that they could survive. Frank manages to steer the boat to the shoulder, and they drift away from the rapids.
  • In a flashback to an earlier time, a young girl is shown on her sickbed. She needs a miracle to survive and her father heads off in search of the legendary ‘Tears of the Moon’. He promises to save her and to return as quickly as he can, but he never makes it back and she ultimately dies.
  • Men are overtaken by the jungle, entwined in vines and dragged across the ground where they are held in place and appear to turn to stone. The jungle is filled with their screams as this process takes place and they try frantically to escape. They are petrified with screams of agony and anger frozen on their faces.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Some children in this age group may also be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • An old-fashioned Buick is driven down the streets of London, its logo prominently displayed.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is innuendo that MacGregor might be homosexual.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Frank and Lily kiss on a couple of occasions.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Frank offers Lily a drink while pretending to be someone else.
  • Patrons in a bar drink and one man collapses on the floor, completely inebriated.
  • MacGregor brings a crate of wine on board the boat and Frank agrees that this crate can stay.
  • Frank’s jaguar gets into the wine and is obviously drunk as it staggers around on deck before vomiting and passing out.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Hell
  • Ruddy
  • Crusty old Farts
  • Shove it up your association
  • Wimpy.

In a nutshell

Jungle Cruise is an action adventure film based on the famous Disney theme park ride. Touted as a family film, this one is not for young children due to frequent violence, some scary scenes and creepy characters. Blunt steals the show and is an excellent role model for young women but the film is best suited to teen and adult audiences.

The main messages from this movie are to follow your dreams no matter where they may take you, that sacrifices will be rewarded, broken hearts can be healed and ultimately that good will prevail.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Persistence
  • Determination
  • Courage
  • Ingenuity
  • Faith.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The belief that women or girls are incompetent and that they are not as resourceful or resilient as men.
  • Taking things that do not belong to you and using them for your own personal gain.
  • Lying or deceiving others.
  • The notion that you can do whatever you want to natural resources without any thought of the environmental impact your actions might have.