'Jungle Cruise': Veronica Falcón on Playing Trader Sam and Joining ‘Ozark’s Final Season

She also shares what it was like working on ‘Perry Mason.’

The original Jungle Cruise attraction at Disneyland opened with the theme park on July 17, 1955, and after various changes and updates, it’s now inspired an epic adventure for the big screen, giving one of the characters from the ride a very welcome reimagined twist. While wisecracking skipper and pun-lover Frank Wollf ( Dwayne Johnson ) makes his way down the Amazon with resourceful researcher Dr. Lily Houghton ( Emily Blunt ) and her brother MacGregor ( Jack Whitehall ), their search for an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities brings them face-to-face with numerous dangers, supernatural forces, and Trader Sam ( Veronica Falcón ), who is now a strong-willed woman leading her tribe in the jungle of the Amazon.

During this 1-on-1 virtual interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, Falcón talked about her Jungle Cruise audition process alongside male actors, going on the adventure of a lifetime with this cast and director Jaume Collet-Serra, bringing the look of the character to life, imagining the type of woman Trader Sam is, and how much fun it would be to get to further explore the character in some way. She also talked about her role in the upcoming fourth season of Ozark , her experience on Perry Mason , and the impact that COVID made on her Falcon and the Winter Soldier role.

Collider: I was very excited about this movie and your character. I also cover theme parks and I’ve been going to Disneyland since I was a child, the whole idea of this movie was so much fun to me and I love the changes that they made to this character.

VERONICA FALCÓN: That’s good to hear.

There has been a lot of talk about how problematic this character is, for a long time. I love the female energy that they’re bringing to some of the rides at Disneyland now.

FALCÓN: Yes, me too. I think it’s fantastic.

When this role of Trader Sam in a big Disney movie based on the Jungle Cruise ride came your way, how much were you actually told about it? How did they describe the character? What did they tell you?

FALCÓN: There were very little things that they told me. I knew they were still deciding if they wanted a woman or a man to play it, so I knew they were casting actors that were both female and male. I knew the character a little bit because, like you, the first time I came to Disneyland, I think it was probably the first or the second ride I jumped in. I remembered the character. I knew it was gonna be different. I don’t exactly recall the description in the casting, but it the character was a little bit of a merchant, a little bit of an inventor, a little bit of a chief of a tribe, a little eccentric, funny, and had a good business sense. The way I read it, it read to me that it could be a bit eccentric, and I loved that. I loved not only that he was taking care of his tribe, or her tribe in this case, but in the beginning, we didn’t know if it was a man or a woman, and I loved the creativity of the character. He can turn something into a business and he can turn something into something it was not meant to be used for. That creative aspect, being protective of the tribe and trying to provide for them and help them, I really liked about the character. The idea that I could potentially be cast to play a character in a Disney ride was fantastic for me. As a little girl that came from Mexico, to finally go to Disneyland for the first time in my life at 11 or 12 years old, and to think that I was going to possibly be able to do a character like that was quite a fantastic.

RELATED: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt on Why It Took So Long for ‘Jungle Cruise’ to Get Made

It’s cool because it is one of those classic rides that was there on opening day, and it’s a ride that everybody goes on, since it’s not too scary. It’s really fun that they were able to pay homage to that, but still make changes to the character.

FALCÓN: Thank you for saying that.

It seems really fun to get to be a part of a big epic adventure.

FALCÓN: It is a lot of fun. I didn’t think I got the movie. I did the audition and, of course, this is one of the characters that comes once in a lifetime, in an actor’s life. You want it, but you don’t know. I work hard at it and I hope they like the audition, but that’s all you can hope for. You know you are gonna be competing with actors that are equally as good or much better than you, so you really throw it out there and just have to let go because you can not worry about that too much. Something really funny happened. I auditioned for this role and two or three weeks later, I was in Mexico city. A dear friend of mine, who’s a fantastic actor that does work all over, in the States and in Mexico, was auditioning for this part. He told me, “I’m auditioning for a really interesting part in a Disney movie.” I said, “I know which one.” And he was like, “How do you know?” And I said, “Because I auditioned for that too.” He was like, “But you’re a woman.” And I said, “Yeah, you’re a man. And here we are. I don’t know who they’re going to choose.”

It was funny. He’s such a fantastic actor. It would have been very interesting to see him, if the character had been male, but I got lucky. So, after that happened, I thought, “Okay, it’s probably not gonna be for me.” I really respect him as an actor and I was sure they were seeing a lot of great people, so I let go of that and I went on a family vacation with my son. I was in Barcelona, which is actually the city where (director) Jaume Collet-Serra is from. They called me and were like, “The director wants to talk to you.” So, I talked with Jaume. He was very nice, and he explained to me what they wanted and what they liked, and that was that. Three days later, I got the call that I got to play this role. It was very surreal, the whole thing, to just go there and be able to play this character and see Dwayne [Johnson] dress as a skipper and the whole Jungle Cruise thing. The sets were incredible. It was incredible. The tagline of the movie says, “The adventure of a lifetime,” and I felt like it was my adventure of a lifetime.

As an actor, you want to be able to tick at least one box, whether that’s a good script, a good director, or a good cast, and you have all of those things, along with this big adventure, and then the Disney connection and the ride. It just seems like so many cool and fun elements at once.

FALCÓN: Of course, you have all of these checked boxes, which are great, but on top of that, I got to work with people that are very kind, very generous and very supportive, which is not always the case. You can find all sorts of people, but in the case of Jungle Cruise , I was very lucky. Mostly, I’m very lucky with the casts and the people I work with, but especially in Jungle Cruise . The way Emily [Blunt] and Dwayne and Jack [Whitehall] and Jaume and Disney received me, they were so kind and supportive. I’m not just saying this. When you see Dwayne and Emily and Jack joking around and the chemistry they have in the movie, it’s real. It really happened behind the scenes. So, I had like the most fun because I would just look at them or sometimes participate in this great rapport that they had. It was one of those wonderful projects.

Was there also a process for figuring out the look of the character, once you had been cast? Did you try various looks before the one we see in the film, or was there always a very clear idea of what she would wear and how she would look?

FALCÓN: Paco Delgado and Joel Harlow are fantastic. They’re really masters of what they do. The design of the character was already done. They were adjusting little things. Not only were they incredibly prepared, but they were also very open and generous. If I had something that was not comfortable or I couldn’t move, or I wanted to suggest something, they always incorporated that. My character is very gestural and moves her hands a lot. I was talking about it with Joel, our makeup designer, and he was like, “Okay, so maybe I’ll put more stuff on your hands,” and he put the eye [on my hand], like you see on the poster. They really are so good at what they do. They know that an actor needs to make the design together. It’s not just the actor. It’s a whole bunch of people working, so that the character can be seen the way it is, and we all are very respectful of one another. Paco Delgado, our costume designer, was the first guy I met and I saw these incredible amount of pictures, paintings and costumes that he was thinking about for the character. I was just really amazed because I really loved all of them. We tried some of the costumes and some things were a little difficult to move in, and he would adjust it and I would be able to move. That’s what makes them great. Not only are they creative, but they also know how to work with actors and how to help us create the character and move with their costumes and with the makeup.

I love that we get a real sense of history and a backstory with this character and with her relationship with Frank. Did you think much about what she’s doing, when we don’t get to see her, and what kind of life she lives when she’s not scheming with him?

FALCÓN: Absolutely, I thought about it a lot. One of the things she loves doing is experimenting with things. She’ll find something left from an expedition, like some eyeglasses, and she would find 10,000 different uses for the eyeglasses. I also can imagine her training and playing with kids. She’s a little bit of a kid herself because of this creativity. I also can imagine her sitting and meditating, looking at the stars and thinking of either some really deep philosophical question that she doesn’t even know how deep it is, or how she’s gonna trick Frank again, or how they can make a better deal. I can see her totally worrying about what’s going on in the Amazon. In those days, it wasn’t as terrible as it is now. I can see that she’s someone that could see ahead. I also could imagine her dreaming about traveling. She’d love that. She loves animals. She loves food. All of those things, I really imagine in her world.

One of things that helped most, and I wasn’t expecting, the first time I saw the tree where she leaves in the a village, literally I’m not kidding you, I almost felt like crying. It was that beautiful. It was lit in such a way where you step into it and I was like, “That’s her world.” It really felt like that. I remember telling that to Dwayne and to our producers. I said, “I’m sorry, guys, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but this is really fantastic.” I was very, very excited about it. They were probably like, “Yeah, we know it’s fantastic. We worked hard at it.” I was very surprised by the feelings.

RELATED: Producers John Davis & John Fox on ‘Jungle Cruise,’ Visiting the Secret Disney Vault, and How the Movie Industry Has Changed

You’ve also joined the final season of Ozark . Since you don’t typically get to read scripts for an entire season of a TV show ahead of time, what made you want to be a part of that series? Was it specifically the character, or had you seen the show?

FALCÓN: They invited me to audition, and I was just hoping for the best. It’s not like I choose projects. I’m not in that position. But I do get to audition for great shows. Of course, I had seen Ozark and I loved it. I love Laura [Linney] and Jason [Bateman]. I follow Laura Linney, as an actress. She’s incredibly talented and inspiring. So, when I audition for her Ozark , it was just exciting to be invited to audition for them. When they gave me the role, it was incredibly exciting. It’s funny because it’s very, very different from what I do in Jungle Cruise. As an actor, it’s a really great gift, if you’re given the opportunity to play characters that are so incredibly different. I’m very grateful for that.

What can you say to tease the final season and your character, and how she’s going to fit into this world?

FALCÓN: I can’t tell you much. I can tell you that it’s a season that is gonna really blow everyone away. They’re gonna love it. Most of the time you don’t get the script, but little by little. But they had worked so hard on this show and they’re so precise that they sent me the scripts. It was a big bunch of scripts to read. I was like, “Oh, my God, I hope I can finish it in some time.” I literally read them in two nights. That’s how good they were. I was reading them like, “Oh, my God, no. Oh, my God.” If that was my first reaction when I read the scripts, I think that once you see them on screen, you’re really gonna go crazy. Everybody will. It’s not only great writing and great actors, and everybody is good on the show, but it’s the heart that they put into the work. It was the same with Jungle Cruise . Every single show or film that I’m blessed to work with, that is successful, I think a lot of it has to do not only with the quality, but also with the heart and the soul that people are really putting into it. That cannot be faked. People can see it and sense it. That’s why I think, even though they’re very different, they’re both very successful because of that, aside from all of the other things.

What’s it like to join such a popular show and to do so in its final season? Does it make things more nerve-wracking? Is it more reassuring? Do you always get nervous on a new project?

FALCÓN: I always get nervous the first day, especially if I haven’t worked with a cast. Of course, as I said, I’m a big fan of Laura, as an actress, and the moment I met her, she was so warm. She opened her arms and said, “Veronica, welcome to Ozark .” I fell in love with her right away. I said, “Oh, my God, this is gonna be fun.” And the same with Jason and with (showrunner) Chris [Mundy], and with everybody else. It is a bit nerve-wracking because they are just so good at it and you just want to do good. It was the same with Emily and Dwayne and Disney. They’re so good at what they do and they are so precise, and you just wanna honor it and you just wanna be good. That puts a little bit of pressure on, but once you start working, it’s just fun because they’re so good at it. You just need to be prepared and be ready with what you have to do, and then they will help you out. It’s great.

How was your experience on Perry Mason ? That’s another show that was a real surprise to me because I went into it thinking it might be one thing, and then I fell in love with the look of the show, especially being from Los Angeles and getting to see Los Angeles in a way that I haven’t really seen it.

FALCÓN: Yeah, that was another one of these incredibly blessed projects. I read the character of Lupe, and when HBO sent the casting, they were really open for different ages. They were casting actors from 30-something to 40 or 50-something. I thought I would not really have much of a chance because Matthew Rhys is younger than me and it’s not always easy to get these roles, as older actresses, even though, thank god, that’s changing, which is very necessary. But I knew it was HBO and I know they’re so good and so professional with every decision. I thought, if they like it and if they think it works, even if I’m older or younger, they will just give it to me because it works, so I don’t have to worry about that. I knew that. I thought I might not get the chance, but even if I didn’t, just to audition for the role was gonna be fun. So, I auditioned for it, and luckily I got it. And then, I got to meet Matthew Rhys, because most of my scenes are with Matthew, and again, it was like what happened with Jungle Cruise and Ozark . It was great people doing great work, being incredibly kind, generous, and supportive. It was amazing, and I’m getting spoiled. I get to work with people that are at the top of their game, but they’re also so genuinely supportive and nice, and happy to have a Latina actress in the show, and happy to work with different kinds of actors. That’s very inspiring and it’s very important.

What was it like to shoot the sex scene in Season 1? Do you have a laugh when you do something like that?

FALCÓN: Yes, you do. First of all, it’s incredibly choreographed. Whenever we get asked these questions, all of the actors say, “It’s very technical,” and everybody rolls their eyes and says, “Yeah, sure it is.” But it really is, especially with that scene because we had to break the bed, literally. It was very funny when we were rehearsing because we just got into all of these positions, trying to figure out a way that it would be believable that they could break the bed. We laughed a lot. One of the loveliest things was that Matthew was always like, “Are you comfortable? Are you okay? Do you feel okay?” It was lovely. We had a lot of fun doing that scene, but it was very technical. Nowadays, in production, what have what is called an intimacy coordinator, who’s there to make sure everything is okay and you’re comfortable, and everybody’s being heard, and all the scenes are precisely done. We rehearsed that scene for around two or three hours, and then the day after, we shot it. It was fun, and people seem to like it. It’s a funny scene. I like the way the woman takes control. I think it’s important to see all sorts of scenes, when you’re watching sex scenes.

Will you be in Season 2 of the show? Have you had conversations about returning?

FALCÓN: Well, they will do a Season 2 and we all were happy. I know they were happy with my work, and I was certainly incredibly happy with being a part of it. Of course, if they would invite me, I would love to do it, but they’re figuring out the whole second season. I guess we’ll hear about it, if they need me for the season. But if I don’t get invited, I’m still gonna watch the show and applauded it because I love everyone and I think it’s a great show. It’s very well done.

And it’s beautiful to look at it.

FALCÓN: Yeah, I’m also a fan of that Los Angeles. For me, it was beautiful to see how they rebuilt so many parts of the city, and then go visit them. I’m a big fan of that era.

It sounds like your role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was greatly affected by COVID. How much more had you shot than what we got to see?

FALCÓN: Well, I was hired to be in four episodes. We went to Prague to do that, and I finished the four episodes. Actually, the day that I finished shooting my last episode, that was the day that everything got closed for COVID. It was incredibly strange for everybody because we still couldn’t believe it. We had no previous experience, none of us, all over the world, for what happened. We couldn’t believe it. It almost felt surreal. So, I remember arriving at the hotel and they said, “Okay, we need to get everybody out. This is very serious.” They didn’t finish the show in that moment. They had to go back and do it. And then, at the end of the day, they had to reconstruct and rearrange the show, and in that reconstruction and rearrangement, my character got to be less and I’m only in one or two very, very little scenes.

They did a great show, but everybody was adapting to the circumstances. They did wonderfully. The show was very liked by the audience. Maybe one day, I’ll get to play that character again, or maybe they’ll do something with it, but if not, I totally understand what they did because we were all trying to do the best we could with what we had. That was so many hours of work and so much time, that whatever they needed to do, in terms of editing, to make the show work for the audience, that was absolutely the right call. I still had a wonderful time shooting there. I got to visit Prague, which I had never been to before, and I love the city. Everyone was kind. It was a wonderful two weeks that I was there. I’m so glad to hear the show is doing great.

It was such an odd situation because, when production shut down, everybody thought it might just be a couple of weeks. And then, people wondered if anything would ever be able to get back into production again. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier really seemed like one of those shows that was heavily in the middle of all of that. Did they call and explain everything to you? How did you find out about what they were doing?

FALCÓN: They are very decent. I knew what was happening because I was there, and then they did call my agent and say, “Listen, we love Veronica, but this is what happened. We look forward to working with her again.” That’s more than a lot of companies would do. Marvel and Disney do take care of their talent. At least in my case, I had a wonderful experience with both of them, which is the same. But they give a quick call to my agent and I really appreciated it because they really didn’t have to. They are solving bigger problems, like having a huge production with a lot of people and a pandemic on top, and they still had the time to tell me what happened. I would have been fine, either way, but I really appreciated the call. I totally understand and, believe me, we’re all trying to do the best we can with everything that’s happening.

You’re doing projects that are all over the map, as far as genre and the types of characters that you’re playing. At this point in your life and career, what do you look for? Is there something that’s most important to you? Does it start with the script? Is there anything that is an absolute no for you? How do you approach that?

FALCÓN: I like characters that are well-written. That’s one thing that, for me, is very important, how well written the character is and if it’s rounded and believable, and all of that. Of course, I love working with people I admire, that I think I can learn from, and that can provide a professional challenge, to learn and to be a better actor. I’m very curious about all sorts genres and media. The only absolute no, for me, would be disrespect. When there’s a set or someone that is disrespectful to anybody, to people in general, or they’re unkind, that’s a no-no for me. I don’t care who they are. We have to treat everybody with respect and kindness. But luckily enough, I’ve never had to worry about that. I’ve been very, very blessed with that. Now, I just want characters that are challenging and take me from one place on the spectrum to the other. I would love to do a Shakespearian character, for example. That’s something that I’ve never done in film or in television. I did a little bit of theater like that. I would love to do characters that require a lot of physical work because, let’s face it, I don’t know how much longer I can do that. Of course, we’ve seen Helen Mirren do action and she’s killing it and she’s gorgeous, but I think she was gorgeous the whole time. It’s not like I’m gonna turn into Helen Mirren. I wish. I would love to do something that’s shot in a place I’ve never been, just because you have a chance to meet the people and to be in that location. I want a good story. It’s the story that calls me.

I would be all for like a Disney+ series of Trader Sam and what her life is like, outside of what we see in Jungle Cruise .

FALCÓN: Yeah, I would love to do something like that. That would be like an absolute gift, to be able to explore a character that way. I could only be so blessed, if that happened. After going through the pandemic, I’ve been an actor for over 30 years and every single thing I get now, I just see it as a gift I try to work very hard, I try to honor it, and I try to do the best I can. That’s already a lot.

With the female pirate that’s been added to the Pirates of the Caribbea n ride and now a female Trader Sam, I think it was an awesome choice to change the role in that way.

FALCÓN: Me too. I love that Disney is doing that. It’s really important for women and for little girls everywhere and, in general, for everybody because it’s not only a woman thing. The more we treat each other with equality and with respect, the better we’ll all be, whether you’re a man or a woman. Disney is doing their part, and I love being a part of that.

Jungle Cruise is in theaters and available at Disney+ Premier Access.

A gay character sparks debate and a reformed Trader Sam emerges in Disney's 'Jungle Cruise'

jungle cruise movie trader sam

  • British comedian Jack Whitehall plays a gay character in Disney’s “Jungle Cruise.”
  • Whitehall’s MacGregor Houghton “comes out” in a “Jungle Cruise” scene with Dwayne Johnson’s Frank Wolff (never using the word "gay").
  • The film features a rebooted Trader Sam, a character recently removed from the Disney Parks’ Jungle Cruise after criticism over the ride’s racist depiction of Indigenous people.

This  "Jungle Cruise" has some notable passengers. 

While Disney's action-adventure-comedy (now in theaters and Disney+ via Premier Access) revolves around  Dwayne Johnson 's punny Amazon River captain Frank Wolff and Emily Blunt' s pioneering scientist Lily Houghton, two characters of note draw outsized attention in the film based on the famed Disneyland ride.

British comedian Jack Whitehall  plays Lily's brother MacGregor Houghton, who is gay, even coming out in a scene with Wolff (though notably without employing the word "gay").

Meanwhile,   controversial shrunken head dealer Trader Sam, recently removed from the Jungle Cruise ride after criticism for its racist depiction of Indigenous people, reappears onscreen in the reimagined form of Mexican actress Veronica Falcón.

Here's how the characters took their places onboard "Jungle Cruise" which took $90 million in worldwide box office and Disney+ Premiere Access over opening weekend.

The Rock, Emily Blunt:  Reveal that most awkward 'Jungle Cruise' kiss, dirty jokes cut by Disney

MacGregor Houghton subtly comes out to his Jungle Cruise captain

Disney has been criticized for the lack of LGBTQ film representation in movies, and called out for blink-or-you'll-miss-it gay character moments in films such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "Onward."  In "Jungle Cruise," Whitehall's MacGregor subtly comes out in a scene with Johnson's Frank.

MacGregor explains how he's turned down three prospective engagements to women in 1917 London society. "My interests happily lie...elsewhere," MacGregor says. Frank hoists his canteen, saying. "Well, to elsewhere." 

The word "gay" is not mentioned in the scene that further explains MacGregor's bond to his sister: audiences learn MacGregor's remaining family, and society, have turned their back on him "all because of who I love." 

Both Blunt and Johnson say the understated scene is their favorite "Jungle Cruise" moment.

"It didn't matter if he said the word 'gay' or not," says Johnson, a producer on the film. "What really mattered was the truth between two people, two human beings, sharing a drink and talking about the things they loved, the people they loved and who they are."

'Beauty and the Beast':  That 'gay moment' may have been much ado about nothing

"We didn't want to come across like we're standing on a soapbox," Johnson adds, noting the scene shows diversity and inclusion were "owned and held in regard" in the film.

Blunt praised screenwriter Michael Green for crafting the scene "with delicacy and simplicity." 

Producer Hiram Garcia says the "Jungle Cruise" filmmakers never set out to include a gay character in the period piece. "We didn’t know this is where it was going, the character naturally progressed that way," says Garcia, who insisted there was no oversight from Disney. "There was no battle to it, they loved the scene as well."

Early reaction to the gay character was mixed, with  one Twitter user stating, "Disney will really do anything to avoid using the word 'gay' in its mainstream content."

"The gay character in JUNGLE CRUISE is cute and is generally right about things," another Twitter user wrote. "Spin him off, give him a travel show."

For critics calling the character's opaque phrasing a cop-out, Garcia says, "It was never about staying away from wording... It just felt elevated and elegant. And the scene is quite touching."

Rebooted Trader Sam returns as a female character

Disney Parks announced in January that it was revamping the original Disneyland attraction after criticism of the ride's portrayal of Indigenous people. Vowing a changed attraction that would "reflect and value the diversity of the world around us," Disney revealed the updated ride at  its California park earlier this month .

The cannibalistic Trader Sam was removed from the attraction, which now ends at Trader Sam's Lost and Found with a sign posted that reads, "Back in 15 minutes, Sam."

But "Jungle Cruise," the movie, shows an entirely new Trader Sam (played by "Ozark" and "Perry Mason" actress Falcón) as a leader of a peaceful tribe who mischievously works a con game with Frank to bilk unsuspecting passengers.

Garcia says Disney had suggested a new Trader Sam from the beginning.  "Disney basically said, 'This (character) is an area we have always been unhappy with. We want to figure out how we can elevate it. What’s the version you want to tell in the film?' And we had a really good time it."

Blunt says the Trader Sam conversations were "deliberate" between the filmmakers, Disney Studios and Disney Parks. 

"We understood that we needed to maintain that whimsy and spirit of the ride with all the nostalgia, but we also need to bring it into this modern era of what's appropriate," says Blunt. "We had to be sensitive to how people want to be represented and respectful of cultures."

As to whether the revamped Trader Sam will return to the parks' attractions, Michele Himmelberg, a spokesperson for Disney Parks says, "there are no further plans for Trader Sam at this time."

  • Jungle Cruise (film)
  • South American characters
  • Jungle Cruise original characters
  • Jungle Cruise (film) characters
  • Heads of state
  • Inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest
  • Neutral characters
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Trader Sam is a supporting character in Jungle Cruise portrayed by actress Veronica Falcón .

  • 1.1.1 Background
  • 1.1.2 Arrowhead of Lukarina
  • 1.2 Development history
  • 2.1 Jungle Cruise
  • 2.2.1 Jungle Cruise (attraction)
  • 5 References

History [ ]

Biography [ ], background [ ].

Sam was a woman born into the Puka Michuna tribe of the Amazon rainforest . By World War I , Sam was the chieftain of this tribe under the moniker of, "Trader Sam". This alias came from Sam enjoying bartering, going so far as to wear silverware presumably recovered from her dealings.

Trader Sam also had an ongoing deal with Frank Wolff , an immortal conquistador who helped save the Puka Michuna from the mad Lope de Aguirre in 1556. By the 1910s, Wolff ran a charlatanizeid riverboat service for the colonial Jungle Navigation Company in the port-town of Porto Velho . Wolff would spread myths about the Puka Michuna being headhunting cannibals in order to profiteer off their existence while hiring actors to imitate them.

Arrowhead of Lukarina [ ]

In 1916, Frank Wolff found the lost Puka Michuna artifact The Arrowhead of Lukarina in the possession of British explorers Lily and MacGregor Houghton . This artifact could lead to the mystical Tears of the Moon tree which the Puka Michuna guarded and which joined with the arrowhead, could free Frank of his curse. Frank posed as a skipper enlisted by the two, only to lure them into a Puka Michuna ambush where Trader Sam recovered the arrowhead.

While in Puka Michuna territory, Lily Houghton traded a top-hat with Sam in return for her translating the arrowhead. However, the immortal Lope de Aguirre was also seeking after the arrowhead while in the service of Lily's rival, Prince Joachim . Sam advised Frank and the Houghtons to escape from the attack while she made off with her family.

Following this, Sam accompanied MacGregor Houghton back to Porto Velho. However, they were intercepted by Joachim's U-boat submarine . Sam abandonned ship before being able to be captured and her later fate is unknown.

Development history [ ]

Sam is inspired by Trader Sam , the shrunken head salesman from Disneyland's original Jungle Cruise ride. Sam was one of the most recognizable characters from the attraction but was removed in a 2021 refurbishment, due to the current sensitivities.

Appearances [ ]

Jungle cruise [ ].

Trader Sam is a supporting-character in this film.

Other connections [ ]

Jungle cruise (attraction) [ ].

Sam shares her moniker with the ancient immortal barterer, "Trader Sam" from the Amazon rainforest who worked with and for the Jungle Navigation Company. The chieftain's top hat which she traded from Lily Houghton also mirrors an umbrella which the ancient Sam's cousin Chief Nah-mee wore in the 1930s and which later appeared in Trader Sam's Gift Shop! . While Chief Nah-mee and the original Trader Sam are known to be cousins, it is yet unknown if the film Trader Sam has any connection to the two men.

  • The chieftain is the third character in the Jungle Cruise to have been given the moniker of, "Trader Sam". The first was Disneyland's original Trader Sam and the second was Chief Nah-mee. These characters are also paralleled by the Shaman of Songs on Na'vi River Journey in Disney's Animal Kingdom .

Gallery [ ]

Jungle Cruise 2021 Stills 07

References [ ]

  • 2 Frank Wolff
  • 3 Lope de Aguirre

‘Jungle Cruise’: Did Disney Leak Trader Sam’s New Look?

in Movies & TV

jungle cruise movie poster

Trader Sam in the Jungle Cruise Movie

Straight from the Disney press release, we learn the following:

Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride , Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” is an adventure-filled, 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.

Glancing at the amazing new poster, we’re filled with old-school adventure, mystery, and Indiana Jones-like danger. Much like the first Pirates of the Caribbean film based on the original Disney Parks attraction, we’ll see the movie come to life with attraction references and inspiration (maybe Inspiration Falls had something to do with it? You’ll be inspired to go… deeper into the jungle).

You can see Skipper Frank Wolff and Dr. Lily Houghton, who we’ve been introduced to through previous advertisements and trailers for the film. But we’re also just now getting looks at supporting characters in the film like those being played by Edgar Ramírez and Jack Whitehall, with Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti, supposedly down the left side of the issue.

Credit: Disney

The right side is where the visual imbalance lies, drawing us to another character, dimly lit in a native dress and what appears to be body paint. Is this Trader Sam? And if it is, the character appears to be female!  While the IMDB page for 2021’s Jungle Cruise contains a full list of cast and crew, you might notice that many (not just a few) actors remain uncredited in their roles. Disney surely has many secrets to reveal on July 30th when the movie premieres not only on Disney+ but also in theaters everywhere. There is no Trader Sam listed in the credits.

is this trader sam in the jungle cruise?

Another suspicious event occurred back in in 2018, when That Hashtag Show released a video episode on Facebook telling us that Disney was in the process of casting Trader Sam for the new movie, and they were looking at both male and female actors for the part. While That Hashtag Show gives no references for their claim, it’s certainly attention-getting when combined with this new poster from Disney. Watch the clip below:

Jungle Cruise Movie Trader Sam

Take a peek at the newest Jungle Cruise trailer, which promises adventure, supernatural goings-on, curses, and plenty of danger in the jungle. Dwayne Johnson has promised we’ll have the backside of water, so let’s hope he keeps his promise!

Inside the Magic fans keeping up with our Jungle Cruise news will remember that Disney has stated the movie will not be integrated into the Adventureland boat ride  but instead will remain on the silver screen. Ride purists instead will be able to enjoy more Skipper puns and extended scenes in the refurbished attraction lending details of the overall ride story and the removal of problematic sequences.

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Veronica Falcon Jungle Cruise Interview

Interview & Giveaway: Veronica Falcón Talks Jungle Cruise & Trader Sam

By Tyler Treese

Disney’s  Jungle Cruise is now out on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD . We’ve got five 4K copies of the film to give out of the summer hit, which starred Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in the top roles and features a great cast rounded out by Veronica Falcón, Edgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti.

To enter our giveaway, you can either comment on our Facebook post about the interview or retweet our Twitter post . It will last until Nov. 30 and you must be in the U.S. due to it being a physical prize.

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with  Jungle Cruise star Veronica Falcón about playing Trader Sam, her great co-stars, and her acting goals.

Tyler Treese: I really enjoyed Jungle Cruise, and obviously, it’s based on this great Disney ride. Did you know much about the ride before you got this role?

Veronica Falcón : Yeah, of course. I mean the first time I went to Disney when I was young, I think the first time I was like 11 years old, and that was probably one of the first rides I do. So yes, I knew about it and it was just amazing to get this role.

Is that kind of a crazy moment for your career? This ride that you’re familiar with and took as a kid, now you’re in a film based on that. Just how wild is that?

It’s very cool, but it’s also very surreal. I remember the night of the premiere, the premiere was in Disney and we could take the ride. It was just such a beautiful moment at the same time. So yeah, it’s great. I take it very seriously. We all grow up with these movies and we love them so.

I thought this was a really neat way to update the character of Trader Sam from the ride. It’s really a fresh take on this old idea. How fun was it to really put your own spin on the character of Trader Sam?

I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s a great idea that, that it was a woman and you put a little bit, but it’s really Disney’s spin. They are the ones that thought about it and I was just a lucky actor to do it. I think it’s fantastic. I think both women in [the film], Emily Blunt’s character and mine, they’re both women that are ahead of their time. They both come from different worlds, but they both are smart, intelligent, independent. They’re are their own person. And I think it’s very important to put images out there like that of women, even in a comedy or whatever I think is just important and I loved playing Trader.

There’s so much interesting lore in Jungle Cruise. Does having that extra backstory really help you when it comes to getting into the role and fleshing out your character?

It really does and it doesn’t because the script was so well-written and the character is so well-defined. I mean, I didn’t go so much into the backstory of Trader as it is in the [records] of Disney because it’s very extensive and it really is a new take of the character. So I took some things from that, of course, but mostly everything within the construction of Trader comes from the actual script of the movie. There are references to other things, and I read the backstory, the character, because Disney always has a backstory for all the characters and you can just research it on the internet if you want, or you can ask for it if you’re like an actor and they’ll give it to you, but it’s a new take on the character.

So I thought it was important to really base the construction mostly on the script. I got the opportunity to play with great actors and with a fantastic director. I remember the first thing I did in Atlanta was they took me to do a costume fitting. When I saw the costumes of Trader you know, you’re there, like everybody was on top of their game, like Paco Delgado with costumes and Joel Harlow with makeup and hair, the team of makeup and hair were fantastic. So once you go into that, it’s pretty simple to do it actually because they create this role for you and you just have to inhabit it.

The fan reaction was so positive to the film and it came out at a very specific time where families were finally going back to theaters and it seemed like a big triumph. It was finally a fun action movie that everybody could enjoy. Just how great has the reaction been on your side and were you surprised at just how much of an event it felt like?

Well, yes and no. Nobody was expecting the pandemic, none of us. That was terrible and it’s still terrible for so many people. So to be able to put a movie out there, like business, putting a movie out there in this very precise time when we’re starting to go little, little by little back to old life and have people laugh and enjoy it and have a joyous time, I think is incredible.I’m very, very grateful that I’m part of that because we all need to laugh and this is a lovely story. It was three years from the moment we shot it until the premiere. It was three years and it usually doesn’t take that long, but we had the pandemic, we had so many things and I think it was very beautiful to be at the premiere and see people reacting in a communal experience of a film. I just think it’s great that we can laugh again. It’s important.

Nobody does bigger films than Disney and Dwayne Johnson. How was it working with him and did anything surprise you about working with Johnson?

Well, it didn’t quite surprise me because I’ve seen him. My son is a huge fan of Dwayne, so we follow him on Instagram. He seemed like a very real, very authentic human being, very kind. So it wasn’t surprising when he actually was that. He’s funny, he’s kind. The same [with] Emily, they’re really lovely human beings. They’re really hardworking, but at the same time they’re generous and they’re kind and they’re professional. So, no, I wasn’t surprised because when you get to that level of, I honestly think that people that are as loved as Dwayne, there’s a reason, and the reason is because the man is lovely. He’s kind and funny and generous and he thinks of other people and they always made me feel very welcome. It was my first big studio movie, so I have nothing but wonderful things to say about him, about Emily, and everybody else.

You’ve shown such great range in your recent roles in this, The Forever Purge, and Ozark. Are there any types of roles or films that you haven’t gotten to do yet that you would really like to show another side of yourself?

I’d love to do something like a Wes Anderson film. I love Wes Anderson and the Cohen brothers. I would love to do a superhero [film], although I’m a little old to play a superhero, but maybe I can be a villain or something. I dunno, maybe star wars. Those are the things. So I could go from a very indie, very character-driven piece, that I would love to do to be in one of those iconic movies. Like I already got one, which is very lucky, but one can only hope.

You had such an amazing career in Mexico. What has been the biggest challenge working in Hollywood? Has there been any challenges adapting or is it pretty similar?

No, it is similar. It depends on who you work with and there are good and professional people everywhere. And there are people that don’t work as they should everywhere. It’s not particular to one country. I’ve been very lucky throughout my career because I mostly work with really professional, amazing people. But I think the hardest thing for me to adapt is not even acting in another language because I started my career in English. Then I started to be an actor in English. So I had access to that from very early on. I think [the challenge] is actually being far away from my own country, especially in moments like the one we just lived. That’s probably the hardest because even though part of my family is with me, my father, my brothers, my beloved friends are in Mexico and I miss it sometimes. But yeah, overall it’s been a great experience to work here and I’m very grateful to be working the way I am.

Tyler Treese

Tyler Treese is ComingSoon and SuperHeroHype's Editor-in-Chief. An experienced entertainment journalist, his work can be seen at Sherdog, Fanbyte, Rock Paper Shotgun, and more. When not watching the latest movies, Treese enjoys mixed martial arts and playing with his Shiba Inu, Kota.

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Small Details You Missed In Jungle Cruise

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt in Jungle Cruise

One of the original Disneyland rides finally has a movie to its name. "Jungle Cruise," starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt , is the adventure-filled big-screen adaptation of the attraction that boasts more than 60 years of corny jokes and skipper-led boat rides through a campy, animatronic-filled jungle.

At its heart, the Jungle Cruise ride is about bringing the wonders of the world's rivers and jungles to Disney parks' visitors. Passengers of boats named after famous rivers (Amazon Belle, Nile Princess, Suwannee Lady, etc.) get to see animatronic exotic animals and plant life from around the world, all in one place and under 10 minutes.

Jungle Cruise has been a beloved Disneyland attraction since day one, and is one of the few original rides from opening day in July 1955 that's still operating. There have been some major changes to the original Jungle Cruise ride over the years, including injecting the journey with a lovable stream of silly, punny jokes from the skippers and ridding the ride of racially insensitive and outdated imagery.

"Jungle Cruise" the movie showcases a spin on the spirit of the ride with a nostalgic riverboat adventure in the vein of "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Indiana Jones," and "The Mummy." Johnson and Blunt star as skipper Frank Wolff and Dr. Lily Houghton, respectively, on a journey down the Amazon river in search of an ancient healing tree that purportedly holds the power to change modern medicine forever. Of course, there are some nefarious characters they meet along the way who are also after the tree's petals — called "tears of the moon" — including a German prince (Jesse Plemons) and a group of tropical zombie conquistadors led by Aguirre (Édgar Ramírez).

As a movie based on an attraction in Disneyland, "Jungle Cruise" is chock full of Easter eggs and other small nods to the ride's Adventureland home. Here are some you may have missed.

Dr. Albert Falls

A fictional character in the Jungle Cruise/Adventureland universe, Dr. Albert Falls was introduced in the attraction as a joke — the namesake of the famous Schweitzer Falls, which he "discovered."

Albert Falls' characterization grew with the expansion of the Jungle Cruise backstory in 2015. Now, Albert's books and other items found on his travels are featured on shelves in the Skipper Canteen restaurant, and there's a bronze bust of the famed fictional explorer in Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel.

In the "Jungle Cruise" film, Dr. Albert Falls is an offscreen character whose travel documents, maps, and an arrowhead are sought after by Blunt's Dr. Lily Houghton and Plemons' Prince Joachim in their search for the coveted healing tree. In the beginning of the movie, Lily breaks into and snoops around an English archaeological society's archives and finds the arrow she's looking for inside a crate labeled with "Dr. A. Falls." Albert Falls is also briefly mentioned a couple of other times in the film when Lily and Frank are discussing the exploration of the Amazon and the search for the "tears of the moon."

Jungle Navigation Company Ltd.

Founded by the aforementioned Dr. Albert Falls, the Jungle Navigation Company Ltd. is a fictional business set within the Adventureland and Jungle Cruise world of Disney parks. It's the parent company and operator of the Jungle Cruise tours of the world's rivers and also boasts the popular Skipper Canteen mess hall-style eatery. The company was introduced to Disneyland's and Magic Kingdom's Adventureland as part of updates to the parks in the 1990s.

The Jungle Navigation Company's Skipper Canteen menu is also full of nods to the Jungle Cruise attraction, including dishes named after Albert Falls and the attraction's boats. There's also a "Not Piranha" sustainable fish dish, which is made all the more funny after seeing Frank serve up fresh piranha in the "Jungle Cruise" movie.

Also in the film, a sign bearing the Jungle Navigation Company Ltd. logo is seen at the docks, where harbormaster Nilo Nemolato (Paul Giamatti) manages a fleet of river boats. Unlike Albert Falls, Nilo is a crusty, sunburned businessman — a memorable tertiary antagonist to whom Frank owes money.

Rosita the cockatoo

Fans of Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room were likely thrilled to see a brief but memorable "Jungle Cruise" cameo by Rosita the cockatoo.

The white-feathered Rosita is one of the "showgirl birds" who appear in the attraction perched on a mobile and singing "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing." However, Rosita's spot on the mobile is empty because she left the group for adventures elsewhere. She now inhabits various spots around Disneyland, including the Tropical Hideaway and a riverside cage on the Jungle Cruise attraction.

In the "Jungle Cruise" film, Giamatti's character, Nilo, has a pet cockatoo named Rosita, who repeatedly squawks the memorable line "Frank owes me money" after Lily and Frank break into Nilo's office. In press notes, Disney said the Moluccan cockatoo's real name is Lover Girl and was one of Giamatti's favorite co-stars — in fact, it was actually Giamatti's idea to include a cockatoo as his character's sidekick.

The Backside of Water

It's the eighth wonder of the world and one of the greatest continuous jokes in theme park ride history: the backside of water. Jungle Cruise ride fans will laugh at this joke no matter how many times they've heard it and seen the other side of the famous Schweitzer Falls. Boat skippers tell passengers they like to call it "O2H."

In the "Behind the Attraction" series on Disney+, imagineers behind the Jungle Cruise ride and some longtime skippers said the backside of water joke is an essential part of the experience. If the joke isn't told, guests will remind the skippers of their misstep.

Likewise, including the backside of water joke was a must for the "Jungle Cruise" film. It was featured prominently in the first trailer for the film with Johnson proclaiming to his passengers, "Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've been waiting for ... the backside of water." That joke, and all the others Frank deadpans, elicit groans and eye rolls from the tourists.

In a similar nod to the human-made river cruise at Disneyland, the character Frank is shown to have rigged many of the tricks in the water and along the shore to give his boat tour a more adventurous feel. To create the backside of water, he put together a system of water troughs and pulleys to produce a small waterfall at the best moment to deliver the one-liner.

All the puns

The Jungle Cruise ride we know and love today isn't the same one that ferried passengers along the world's rivers on Disneyland's opening day in 1955. For almost a decade, nature and wildlife education was the focus of the original Jungle Cruise attraction. The corny "dad jokes" and dry humor didn't make it into the ride until the 1960s. Alongside the backside of water, skippers now make jokes about a group of lions eating a zebra "on the rocks" and sharing the meal "with pride." There's also the Nile crocodile named Ginger who ... snaps. The skippers call her "one tough cookie."

Johnson's character Frank really leans into the punny skipper role in "Jungle Cruise." Kicking off a spiel of hilarious and cheesy puns, he points out a pair of toucans beak-wrestling in a nearby tree, noting "only two can play." When he gestures to some sandstone rocks, Frank says  "some people take them for granite" one of his "boulder attractions." As Frank continues, his audience's groans and eye rolls grow in intensity. He even prompts a silent "wow" from one passenger after saying he got "canned" from his previous job at an orange juice factory because "I couldn't concentrate."

Later in the movie, when Frank, Lily and McGregor (Jack Whitehall) are being taken to the village of native "headhunters" (really Frank's hired performers), Frank says it's not a great place to "be headed."

Animatronic Hippos

The Jungle Cruise wouldn't be the Jungle Cruise without its animatronic animals, especially the hippos. In the Disneyland ride, the boat slowly moves through the hippo pool while the skipper tells the passengers to stay still so as not to rock the boat and disturb the massive animals. At one point, the skipper "fires" a fake pistol to scare some of the hippos away from the boat.

A brief but similar scene happens in the "Jungle Cruise" movie. As Frank narrates the many ways the Amazon jungle has killed previous explorers — "everything you see in the jungle wants to kill you ... and can" — the boat rumbles past a stationary fake hippo protruding from the water. Then, as Frank is activating a bunch of his tricks to entertain the passengers, he uses a pistol kept near the boat's wheel to fire at a rope and unleash the mechanical roaring hippo.

Hippos aren't native to the Amazon region — a fact pointed out by a young girl on the boat, whom Frank shushes — so they aren't seen again in the rest of the film. There are, however, about 80 hippos living around Colombia's Rio Magdalena. These hippos are the descendants of the "cocaine hippos" owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar, who brought them to the country in the 1980s.

At the beginning of 2021, the Jungle Cruise ride received some major storytelling updates to get rid of "negative depictions of native people," which included getting rid of the unofficial Jungle Cruise mascot, the Trader Sam animatronic. Though Trader Sam had different animatronic iterations in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, the character was described by critics as a racist caricature of Indigenous African peoples.

Trader Sam got another revamp in the "Jungle Cruise" movie. In the film, Veronica Falcón portrays Trader Sam as the leader of the tribe of Indigenous people who guard the healing tree. She makes several quips about "working" with Frank in playing outdated stereotypes of native peoples for his river cruise story and how she makes money off of colonial notions of her people.

The portrayal of Trader Sam and her people doesn't always hit the nail on the head when it comes to reimagining the character. There is a moment when Trader Sam dons Lily's brother McGregor's top hat in a small nod to the Magic Kingdom version of Trader Sam, who's not only holding several shrunken heads but also wearing one as a necklace. But critics have said the new Trader Sam is a "hearty attempt to reimagine a less racist version of the character."

The Nautilus?

This one may be a bit of a stretch, but Prince Joachim's submarine (also known as unterseeboots during World War I, when the film is set) is strangely reminiscent of the Nautilus vessel from Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Plemons plays the cartoonishly villainous German prince who brings a submarine to the Amazon and frees the squad of supernatural bad guys to help him claim the healing tree. Though the interior of the submarine is cold and cramped, Joachim somehow also has extravagant, luxurious quarters that solidify his bumbling caricature of a colonizing villain.

The famous Nautilus submarine was created by Jules Verne and featured in his novels "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1870) and in the Disney film of the same name from 1954. The Nautilus is shaped like a fish and has a shingled ramming fern at the bow. Joachim's submarine boasts a similar serrated ramming fern at its bow, but so did many other German UB-II-type submarines during World War I.

Magic Kingdom at Disney World had a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction that featured a 20-minute submarine ride aboard an adapted version of Nautilus, but the ride was shuttered in 1994.

The African Queen

The 1951 adventure classic "The African Queen" is one of the key elements that inspired the layout and storytelling of the original Jungle Cruise boat ride in Disneyland. Seventy years later, its inspiration lives on in the "Jungle Cruise" film.

The film is based on the 1935 novel of the same name and stars Humphry Bogart as a skipper ferrying a woman (Katharine Hepburn) down a river in a boat named the African Queen. The movie is also set during World War I and has long been heralded by critics as thrilling, adventurous, and funny with a hint of lighthearted romance. 

While "Jungle Cruise" is obviously based on the theme park attraction, it clearly also takes inspiration from "The African Queen." Looper's review of the film said Johnson's Frank "looks like the human growth hormone version of Bogart" with Blunt's character giving "her ambitious scientist a little glint of Hepburn."

Frank also sports a nearly identical skipper outfit to Bogart's Charlie Allnut, complete with a red scarf tied around his neck and a black-billed white cap. The design of Frank's creaky, hodgepodge riverboat named La Quila also pays homage to Charlie's African Queen.

Disney's True-Life Adventures

Though "Jungle Cruise" is set in 1916, it does have a nod to "Disney's True-Life Adventure" nature documentaries, which premiered in the late 1940s, ran through 1960, and inspired the original Jungle Cruise attraction at Disneyland.

During a quieter moment in "Jungle Cruise," Blunt's character Lily uses a box camera to capture motion pictures of the wildlife and scenery of the jungle while sailing down the Amazon River. She captures soundless, black and white shots of butterflies, birds, and foliage while Johnson's Frank stares in awe. He's never seen a motion picture camera before, so Lily lets him try it out.

Lily also explains the excitement of motion pictures and how they can bring any place in the world right to you. It's a similar sentiment shared by Walt Disney and his team when shooting and sharing the "True-Life Adventure" features as well as creating the Jungle Cruise ride. Both the feature and attraction were made to bring the world to an audience — and give that audience a greater appreciation for wildlife and nature.

Nothing Else Matters

Yes, veteran heavy metal rockers Metallica reworked an orchestral version of "Nothing Else Matters" for a key scene in Disney's "Jungle Cruise" movie. It's an unexpected but delightful detail that somehow fits in a flashback scene set in the mid-1500s with Spanish conquistadors and a tribe of Indigenous people in the Amazonian rainforest.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich talked about the Disney collaboration in September 2020, saying it goes back to "lifelong rock fan" Sean Bailey, who is Disney's production president. Ulrich worked with "Jungle Cruise" score composer James Newton Howard to rearrange "Nothing Else Matters" into a piece that's instrumental (pun intended) to the dark, frenzied scene. In an interview with Collider, Ulrich said the version is a "very unusual" morph of the iconic song.

The scene is a flashback to the 1560s, first in Algiers and then in the Amazon, as Aguirre (Ramírez) and his fellow mercenaries search in vain for the healing tree to save Aguirre's daughter. Just as they're at their weakest, the group is saved by the tribe that guards the tree. In a bout of anger-filled impatience, Aguirre and his men kill most of the tribe because of their reluctance to share the secrets of the tree. They are then cursed with immortality and an inability to leave the sight of the river or else face brutal consequences.

The scene is quick and feels a bit jammed with a lot of plot points that can be hard to follow, but the new arrangement of "Nothing Else Matters" is a dizzying, welcome addition to a score otherwise filled with spirited adventure ballads.

How Jungle Cruise Addresses the Disney Ride's Most Problematic Aspects

The original Jungle Cruise ride has been criticized for its depiction of indigenous peoples, but the movie finds a clever way to address this.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Jungle Cruise , now available in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.

In 2020, America experienced a cultural and, in particular, racial reckoning that resulted in the reevaluation of everything from team mascots to grocery branding. Disney -- with its theme parks closed and its streaming service still in its infancy -- found itself under the microscope, too. In response, the pop cultural juggernaut added content warnings to offending movies on Disney+, such as Dumbo  and Lady and the Tramp , and it went a step further by announcing that certain problematic rides would receive updates or be rethemed altogether . Interestingly, one of those rides was also the inspiration for a big-budget, star-filled live-action film: Jungle Cruise .

Jungle Cruise was an opening day attraction back in 1955, meaning it's been part of Disneyland since the beginning. In contrast,  Splash Mountain is based on what's widely considered to be Disney's most offensive film, Song of the South , and didn't appear at parks until 1989, while Pirates of the Caribbean debuted in 1967. An insensitive scene in that ride, in which women were being sold at auction, was replaced by one with a female pirate. As for Jungle Cruise, it began life as a gentle, educational boat ride, but morphed into a bad pun comedy tour over the years. As off-putting as some of the jokes are, it's the ride's depiction of indigenous people as head-hunting savages that necessitated some retooling.

RELATED: Jungle Cruise Has Its Own Tragic Take On Pirates of the Caribbean's Villains

Presumably, the creative team behind Jungle Cruise  saw the controversy coming years before. Production on the film began in 2015 and wrapped in 2018, with the well-thought-out plot changes already in place. Jungle Cruise was supposed to premiere in 2019, but was delayed once prior to the pandemic then moved to July 30, 2021 to give it a better chance at the box office. The film features Dwayne Johnson as Frank the Skipper, the movie's version of the ride's wisecracking guide, and Emily Blunt as Lily Houghton, the intrepid academic who hires him to take her downriver to find the long lost Tree of Life.

Jungle Cruise  opens with a self-aware scene that plays out as if the audience is taking a brief trip on the purposefully lame Disney attraction. Tourists with cameras and pocket money to spare crowd onto Frank's rickety boat, groan at his dad jokes and endure what are obviously fake threats to their safety. When the native tribe appears, clad in war paint and headdresses and armed with spears and blow darts, the passengers duck and cover, but Frank and the indigenous people let the audience in on the grift. They're not offensive stereotypes. Well, they are, but it's only a part they're playing, working with Frank to lend some "authenticity" to the adventure these mostly Anglo Saxon wannabe explorers are paying to have.

RELATED:  Disney's Jungle Cruise Cast & Character Guide

Around the movie's midway point, Frank, Lily and her brother, MacGregor, are struck with tranquilizer darts and carried off to the locals' neck of the woods, where for a moment, the audience might be fooled into thinking Jungle Cruise could wind up with a content warning. Frank does warn Lily that the "real" natives are on their route and that they'll eat her flesh if she runs afoul of them. Lily and MacGregor believe themselves to be in danger, but it becomes clear, as Frank scam-translates for her, that this is all still business as usual. When Lily overpowers one of the tribespeople and attacks them with their own spear, the person behind the creepy mask gives up the gag. It turns out, these locals hate the over-the-top costumes Frank makes them wear and the harmful stereotypes he insists they embody just as much as woke parkgoers do.

The most egregious element of the ride is the cameo of Trader Sam, a native who sells shrunken heads. Here, the character has been gender swapped and is played by Mexican actor, Veronica Falcón. She's also been promoted from shifty salesman to multilingual female chief, a fact which later makes the very white, very male society of scientists scoff in outrage. This Trader Sam is definitely less of a stereotype than Jesse Plemons' maniacal German prince. Jungle Cruise implies that the tribe she commands is more worldly and modernized than the ride gives them credit for, while also trying to keep their culture alive and protect the secrets of the Tears of the Moon.

RELATED:  Does Disney's Jungle Cruise Have an End-Credits Scene?

It's a semi-clever twist and a slightly more clever way to deal with the ride's 1950s-style myopic racism, though the movie doesn't really give the indigenous characters much dimension or much to do. One tribesman takes out a bad guy with a golf club, and even Trader Sam is relegated to featured player when she could've easily been more integral to the plot. But the trick does turn a critical eye back onto the European visitors to the Amazon and what they mistakenly assume about the people who call it home. The bon-voyagers see people who are different than them as either a curiosity or a hazard, no different than a jaguar or a piranha.

The story within the story, in which Spanish conquistadors pillage from and kill the Amazonian people, adds a dash of the evils of colonialism and makes the tribe even more sympathetic. In the end,  Jungle Cruise 's depiction and use of its characters of color isn't perfect, but it shows that Disney can avoid the painful mistakes of its past and turn out a final product that is just as fun and family friendly .

From director Jaume Collet-Serra, Jungle Cruise is currently in theaters and available to stream via Disney+ Premier Access.

KEEP READING:  Every Disney Film Based on a Park Attraction Ranked, From Worst to Best

jungle cruise movie trader sam

The Nerds of Color

Pop culture with a different perspective.

jungle cruise movie trader sam

Veronica Falcón on Playing Trader Sam in ‘Jungle Cruise’

The surprising reveal of a Disney Parks icon in the Jungle Cruise film paves a lot of potential for fan-favorite character Trader Sam. Mexican actress Veronica Falcón ( Queen of the South, Ozark ) plays the re-imagined character known for their history on the attraction and popular themed bars on both coasts. However, in Jungle Cruise , she is introduced as a long-time friend of Dwyane Johnson’s Frank, whose relationship with Sam and her people goes way back.

Fans are excited to see new perspectives and expanded stories and with Falcón’s scene-stealing moments in the film, perhaps more of the character’s story. Maybe in the Society of Adventurers and Explorers series coming up on Disney+.

The Nerds of Color was fortunate enough to get to have a spoilerific conversation with Falcón about the film, creating Trader Sam, and her history with the world of Disney.

Watch Disney’s Jungle Cruise in theaters or on Disney+

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  • Entertainment

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.

jungle cruise movie trader sam

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.

World-Famous Jungle Cruise Reopens at Disneyland Park on July 16, 2021

“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.”

World-Famous Jungle Cruise Reopens at Disneyland Park on July 16, 2021

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.

jungle cruise movie trader sam

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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Jungle Cruise Star Veronica Falcón On Her Experience Playing Trader Sam [Exclusive Interview]

  • August 8, 2021

Manny Gomez

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Jungle Cruise

Disney’s Jungle Cruise has now concluded its second weekend in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. For its second weekend, it brought in just under $15.7 million giving it a 55.2% drop from last weekend for a worldwide tally of $121.8 million. For all of the challenges that we are currently facing, Jungle Cruise is doing well. It’s a fun film with two very popular actors Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Based on the classic Disney ride.

Here is the synopsis for Disney’s Jungle Cruise

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. She 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. 

Jungle Cruise

ALSO SEE: LATEST SHANG-CHI SPOT SEE’S RAZORFIST IN ACTION

One of the characters that has jumped out of the classic ride and into the big screen is Trader Sam. In the film, she is played by Veronica Falcón. This version of the character is the chieftain of the Puka Michuna tribe that watches over the Tree of Life. She is an ally to Frank in the film as she helps him make his Jungle Cruises more exciting and “realistic”. She plays a part also in revealing the mythos behind what Lily is looking for.

With the release of Jungle Cruise , LRM Online ’s Emmanuel Gomez spoke with Mexican actress Veronica Falcón. During the conversation, she tells us about her experience in playing a character that is part of such a rich history of a Disneyland attraction. She describes what it was like working behind the scenes with the CGI characters and with Johnson and Blunt. She describes how her Mexican heritage is part of where she found her inspiration for Trader Sam. Last but certainly not least she also gives us a comment on what to expect from the final season of Netflix’s Ozark . It’s a great conversation that you can check out below!

jungle cruise movie trader sam

Disney’s Jungle Cruise is now playing in theaters everywhere. As well as Disney+ with Premier Access.

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Jungle cruise: the 10 best characters in the movie.

From Captain Frank Wolff and Dr. Lily Houghton to Trader Sam and the evil Aguirre, Disney's Jungle Cruise has no shortage of well-drawn characters.

Disney's adventurous Jungle Cruise  sails into theaters Friday, July 30th, 2021. Based on the popular theme park ride of the same name, the film has drawn middling reviews so far. However, one of the biggest plaudits of the film, so far, includes its stellar ensemble cast who plays a range of fun, lively characters.

RELATED: Jungle Cruise - 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Movie

While Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt lead the epic voyage to find the sacred Tree of Life Flower, the film also includes several memorable characters, some of which have even made Disney movie history.

Fans of the Disney World theme park attraction  are sure to recognize the name Trader Sam, the iconic figure who appears in several attractions including Jungle Cruise, Main Street Cinema, Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, and more. In the film, Trader Sam is a fierce warrior chieftain who leads the tribe protecting the Tree of Life.

While the character has been portrayed as a man in the past, the film reimagines Trader Sam (played by Veronica Falcón) as a strong-willed woman in charge of her tribe. The character is extremely important in the way it's reimagined and pokes fun of colonial stereotypes.

Sancho & Melchor

Alone, they aren't much to speak of. Together, however, the minor characters Sancho (Dani Rovira) and Melchor (Quim Gutierrez) comprise one half-decent antagonist on a dogged quest to procure the Tears of the Moon in the Amazon, and they add a menacing dose of excitement to the mix.

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

While the two armed conquistadors mainly provide inept challenges for Frank and Lily to triumph over time and again, the ruthless baddies add thrilling chases through elaborate sets and help to clearly establish who to root for and who to cheer against.

As one of the few children in the film, Anna (Simone Lockhart) is a minor-key character who reminds the audience how perilous the jungle is for youngsters. The vulnerability Anna shows in the face of danger while searching for the Tree of Life helps ratchet up the tension and suspense and reinforce the terror of the natural environment.

While Anna helps foster more fear and draw appeal from the younger crowd, her character doesn't enjoy all that much screen time. Still, her stone-faced rebuke of Frank's "backside of water" joke remains a standout moment.

James Hobbs-Coddington

While he is a minor character who does not add much to the plot of the film, Sir James Hobbs-Coddington (Andy Nyman) lends a regal air of British aristocracy that underscores how valuable finding the Tree of Life is to even the most affluent people in the world.

Moreover, Hobbs-Coddington provides a characteristic counterpoint for Lily and McGregor, showing two vastly different sides of the British backgrounds from which each character hails. His character provides context for the other more important main characters in the film.

Prince Joachim

The award for the over-the-top scene-stealing goes to Jesse Plemons, who plays the wildly unhinged Prince Joachim, an unscrupulous German aristocrat who pays for and leads a military voyage into the Amazon to find the Tree of Life.

RELATED: Jesse Plemons' 1o Best Roles, Ranked (According To IMDb)

As the main villain in the film, Prince Joachim adds the requisite terror and unpredictable guile to become an apt foil for Frank and Lily. Plemons has a blast playing the thick-accented and mustachioed madman who wants to keep the Tears of the Moon all to himself. Without his violent opposition, the film would be less exciting.

Nilo Nemolato

Other than Plemons, no actor in Jungle Cruise appears to be having more fun than Paul Giamatti, playing the salty Italian harbormaster, Nilo Nemolato . Armed with a thick accent, a pet toucan on his shoulder, and far too fancy a wardrobe for the jungle, Nilo operates the harbor where Frank's boat is docked.

Giamatti seems to have a blast in the film as the crabby Nilo, who threatens to monopolize tour guides in the area and put Frank out of business. He provides genuine humor and as well as a moral quandary that increases the dramatic stakes of the story.

Edgar Ramirez plays one of the scariest characters in Jungle Cruise as Aguirre, a cool but ruthless mercenary who agrees to lead a rival riverboat full of unsavory characters through the jungle in search of the Tree of Life.

As one of the chief bad guys in the film out to thwart Lily's quest, Aguirre provides the necessary dramatic conflict to make Frank and Lily's heroism truly resonate in the end. No stranger to playing frightening villains, Ramirez sells the role of a supernatural Spanish conquistador with a sinister scariness that goes a long way in gripping the audience.

McGregor Houghton

In Disney's first coming out scene, McGregor Houghton's (Jack Whitehall) importance as a character extends beyond the big screen. In the film, McGregor is Lily's younger brother and high-maintenance assistant who wants no part of the journey through the jungle.

RELATED: 10 Best Teen Shows With LGBTQ+ Representation

Aside from the importance of LGBTQ+ representation, McGregor provides several laughs in the film, mainly relating to his over-packed luggage and lack of preparation for the perils of the Amazon. Whitehall steals scenes throughout the film as one of the most colorful and sympathetic characters.

Lily Houghton

As the female lead of the film, Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) is clearly one of the best characters  in the movie. The British botanist is full of idiosyncratic quirks and an adventurous spirit that makes her an ideal companion for Frank, even if her brother McGregor isn't always up to the task.

After a great heist scene that introduces Lily and demonstrates her capabilities, Lily continues to show her character by launching hilarious barbs at Frank while evading danger and searching for the Tree of Life. Blunt owns the role with seamless ease, fully immersing herself in the shoes of a scientist whose admirable virtues match her lovable eccentricities.

Frank Wolff

Dwayne Johnson brings his trademark machismo and charisma to the role of Frank Wolff, the jaded but wizened steamboat captain in charge of transporting the Houghton siblings through the heart of the jungle to find the Tree of Life. As the male protagonist, Wolff's magnetic appeal comes from his status as a reluctant hero who is far more than capable than he lets on.

Moreover, the hilarious zingers and waggish interplay between Frank and Lily make the movie far more entertaining than a typical action-adventure film. Wolff's surprise singing, guitar playing, and silly puns add dimension to the big lug with a heart of gold.

NEXT: Dwayne Johnson & 9 Other Action Stars Who Voice Disney Characters

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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 Cruise

Paul Giamatti, Dwayne Johnson, Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramírez, Emily Blunt, and Jack Whitehall in Jungle Cruise (2021)

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

Skipper Frank Trailer

  • Frank Wolff

Emily Blunt

  • Lily Houghton

Edgar Ramírez

  • MacGregor Houghton

Jesse Plemons

  • Prince Joachim

Paul Giamatti

  • (as Quim Gutierrez)

Dan Dargan Carter

  • Sir James Hobbs-Coddington

Raphael Alejandro

  • Chief's Daughter

Sebastian Blunt

  • Society Guard

Mark Ashworth

  • Society Member

Allan Poppleton

  • Society Worker
  • All cast & crew
  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Dwayne Johnson & Emily Blunt Answer Burning Questions

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Did you know

  • 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

  • deloudelouvain
  • Oct 26, 2021
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  • 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
  • New Zealand
  • United Kingdom
  • Czech Republic
  • 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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Dwayne Johnson Talks Reteaming with 'One of the Greatest Actresses' for a Possible Jungle Cruise 2

Dwayne Johnson praises Emily Blunt as "one of the greatest actresses ever" and discusses their films The Smashing Machine and (maybe) Jungle Cruise 2.

  • Dwayne Johnson is down to make a Jungle Cruise sequel in the future.
  • Johnson and his Jungle Cruise co-star, Emily Blunt, will work together again in the MMA biopic titled The Smashing Machine.
  • Johnson and Blunt discuss The Rock's attempt to woo the actress to take their Jungle Cruise, which fared fairly well at the box office in 2021 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt are joining forces again, but not for Jungle Cruise 2 ... at least, not yet. While attending the 96th Academy Awards, Johnson revealed that he will be working with his Jungle Cruise co-star on an MMA-related biopic, The Smashing Game , next. However, Johnson would like to see Frank Wolff, aka Francisco Lopez de Heredia, set sail again with Dr. Lily Houghton. Johnson responded to a question about making a follow-up to the 2021 Disney film in an interview with Variety :

Possibly. Down the line, yeah, I’d wanna do it. Maybe, we’ll see.

When Johnson was asked about teaming up again with his Jungle Cruise co-star for The Smashing Machine , the actor said in the same interview:

“I can’t wait. We’re shooting The Smashing Machine. Benny Safdie is writing and directing it. It’s a biopic about one of the godfathers of MMA who struggled with addiction. He struggled with love, he struggled with success, struggled with loss. And Emily, one of my best friends, and one of the greatest actresses ever, is obviously nominated tonight. I’m very happy for her and all her ‘Oppenhomies.' And, it’s with A24 and we’ll shoot that next. I can’t wait."

Johnson added:

“It’s much different than what we did with ‘Jungle Cruise,’ but I got to tell you there is no greater partner in our industry than Emily who I would want to have to rip this thing open. So, you know, she was filming with Benny Safdie on Oppenheimer a few years ago, and they were talking about The Smashing Machine, we were talking about it back then. So, this is a long time coming, man.”

Dwayne Johnson Had to Convince Emily Blunt to Take Their Jungle Cruise

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Producer Hiram Garcia said Jungle Cruise 2 would be a worldwide adventure , but nearly three years after the original film hit theaters, the sequel’s ship has yet to set sail. And while promoting the Disney flick back in 2021, Dwayne Johnson revealed that his creative and charming ways of trying to woo Emily Blunt — The Rock shot a video for the actress to watch — to join the big-screen adventure were “ghosted.” Johnson said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter :

“I had always admired her as an actor, but also when I would watch her on talk shows, she had this personality that was effervescent, that was cool and very, very charming […] I must have shot it about five or six times because I had not communicated with Emily yet. I had not even met her. And I wanted to let her know via this video just how important she was to this movie and how I only wanted her in this movie. And it was great. And I… I actually never heard again from Emily. Didn’t respond at all. Just ghosted me.”

8 Things You Didn't Know About the Cast of Jungle Cruise

While the acting duo was doing press together, Johnson and Blunt's chemistry and sense of humor clearly shined through. And Blunt hilariously addressed the video Johnson made to try and convince the actress to join him on their eventual Jungle Cruise . Blunt said in an interview that she did with Johnson for Lorraine :

“Listen, I didn’t want you to know that I was in at that point, okay? I was playing that game: a little cat and mouse. But no, it was the most touching video. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It was an overture. I felt very flattered and then a little bit scared for my life, because it was stalkerish [Johnson laughs].”

Johnson and Blunt's team-up led to Jungle Cruise making $221 million worldwide in a box office climate still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. And even though a Jungle Cruise sequel was announced back in 2021 , at the time of this writing, there’s not an official release date attached to the project.

IMAGES

  1. Jungle Cruise Movie Review

    jungle cruise movie trader sam

  2. Jungle Cruise: Veronica Falcón on Playing Trader Sam in the Disney Movie

    jungle cruise movie trader sam

  3. Is Trader Sam In Jungle Cruise? Controversy Explained

    jungle cruise movie trader sam

  4. Disney's Jungle Cruise Cast & Character Guide

    jungle cruise movie trader sam

  5. PHOTOS, VIDEO: New Trader Sam's Gift Shop Scene Unveiled Aboard Jungle

    jungle cruise movie trader sam

  6. New Concept Artwork Released For Trader Sam Scene in Jungle Cruise

    jungle cruise movie trader sam

VIDEO

  1. Jungle Cruise Movie explained in Hindi/Urdu

  2. Jungle Cruise 1998

  3. Jungle Cruise at Disney World circa 2010

  4. Jungle Cruise │VFX Breakdown by UPP

  5. My review of the jungle cruise movie and its connection to the 1999 mummy trilogy and Indiana jones

  6. Jungle Cruise 2007 Disneyland Home Movie

COMMENTS

  1. Trader Sam

    This article is about the character from Disneyland's Jungle Cruise.For the character of the same name from the Jungle Cruise film, see Trader Sam (chieftan).For Trader Sam's Walt Disney World counterpart, see Chief Nah-mee. Trader Sam is a character from the Jungle Cruise. He is also the central character and namesake of the Trader Sam's bars at the Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Polynesian ...

  2. Jungle Cruise: Veronica Falcón on Playing Trader Sam in the Disney Movie

    The original Jungle Cruise attraction at Disneyland opened with the theme park on July 17, 1955, and after various changes and updates, it's now inspired an epic adventure for the big screen ...

  3. 'Jungle Cruise': Gay character sparks debate, new Trader Sam debuts

    The cannibalistic Trader Sam was removed from the attraction, which now ends at Trader Sam's Lost and Found with a sign posted that reads, "Back in 15 minutes, Sam." But "Jungle Cruise," the movie ...

  4. Veronica Falcón Shares What It Was Like To Play Trader Sam In ...

    Before the movie is released for free on Disney+ on November 12, on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on November 16, Falcón shared what it was like to play Trader Sam, work alongside some of the biggest stars ...

  5. Is Trader Sam In Jungle Cruise? Controversy Explained

    Warning: Spoilers for Jungle Cruise to follow.. Jungle Cruise is here, the Disney adaptation of one of its most famous theme park rides, and the story includes a controversial character who was removed from the ride: Trader Sam. Following in the footsteps of Pirates of the Caribbean, also based on Disney park ride, and apparently inspired by many action-adventure movies before it (perhaps a ...

  6. 'Jungle Cruise' Charts a Different Course With a NEW Trader Sam

    Yes, that's right. Trader Sam, a character Disney fans know well from the Jungle Cruise attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, is also a character in the new movie. Only there is ...

  7. Trader Sam

    This article is about the character from the Jungle Cruise film.For the character of the same name from Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, see Trader Sam. Trader Sam is a supporting character in Jungle Cruise portrayed by actress Veronica Falcón. Sam was a woman born into the Puka Michuna tribe of the Amazon rainforest. By World War I, Sam was the chieftain of this tribe under the moniker of ...

  8. 'Jungle Cruise': Did Disney Leak Trader Sam's New Look?

    Trader Sam in the Jungle Cruise Movie. Straight from the Disney press release, we learn the following: Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Disney's "Jungle Cruise" is an ...

  9. Interview & Giveaway: Veronica Falcón Talks Jungle Cruise & Trader Sam

    November 24, 2021. By Tyler Treese. Disney's Jungle Cruise is now out on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD. We've got five 4K copies of the film to give out of the summer hit, which starred Dwayne Johnson ...

  10. Small Details You Missed In Jungle Cruise

    Trader Sam got another revamp in the "Jungle Cruise" movie. In the film, Veronica Falcón portrays Trader Sam as the leader of the tribe of Indigenous people who guard the healing tree.

  11. How Jungle Cruise Changes Trader Sam & the Disney Ride's Other ...

    Jungle Cruise was supposed to premiere in 2019, but was delayed once prior to the pandemic then moved to July 30, 2021 to give it a better chance at the box office. The film features Dwayne Johnson as Frank the Skipper, the movie's version of the ride's wisecracking guide, and Emily Blunt as Lily Houghton, the intrepid academic who hires him to ...

  12. Jungle Cruise Interview: Veronica Falcon on Playing Trader Sam

    Jungle Cruise actress Veronica Falcon chats about the funny script, working with the cast, and putting her own spin on the classic character of Trader Sam.ht...

  13. INTERVIEW: Veronica Falcon AKA Trader Sam in Disney's Jungle Cruise

    Disney's Jungle Cruise is out now in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access, and I was lucky enough to speak with Veronica Falcon who portrays the iconi...

  14. Veronica Falcón on Playing Trader Sam in 'Jungle Cruise'

    The surprising reveal of a Disney Parks icon in the Jungle Cruise film paves a lot of potential for fan-favorite character Trader Sam. Mexican actress Veronica Falcón (Queen of the South, Ozark) plays the re-imagined character known for their history on the attraction and popular themed bars on both coasts.However, in Jungle Cruise, she is introduced as a long-time friend of Dwyane Johnson ...

  15. How Disney's Jungle Cruise Film Adapted the Problematic Ride

    The Jungle Cruise movie loosely follows the theme park attraction's storyline of early 20th century adventurers exploring the jungle, ... Most notably, Trader Sam appears in Jungle Cruise, ...

  16. Veronica Falcon Interview: Jungle Cruise

    Jungle Cruise actress Veronica Falcon chats about the funny script, working with the cast, & putting her own spin on the character of Trader Sam. Jungle Cruise, currently out in theaters and on Disney+, is a loving reimagining of the iconic park ride. While the themed journey has a backstory already, thanks to the ride's half-century history ...

  17. Jungle Cruise Star Veronica Falcón On Her Experience Playing Trader Sam

    Disney's Jungle Cruise has now concluded its second weekend in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. For its second weekend, it brought in just under $15.7 million giving it a 55.2% drop ...

  18. Jungle Cruise: The 10 Best Characters In The Movie

    Published Jul 29, 2021. From Captain Frank Wolff and Dr. Lily Houghton to Trader Sam and the evil Aguirre, Disney's Jungle Cruise has no shortage of well-drawn characters. Disney's adventurous Jungle Cruise sails into theaters Friday, July 30th, 2021. Based on the popular theme park ride of the same name, the film has drawn middling reviews so far.

  19. Jungle Cruise (film)

    Jungle Cruise is a 2021 American fantasy adventure film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a screenplay written by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa, and Michael Green.It is based on Walt Disney's eponymous theme park attraction.Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Édgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti.

  20. Jungle Cruise (2021)

    Jungle Cruise (2021) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Menu. ... Trader Sam: Dani Rovira ... Sancho: Quim Gutiérrez ... Melchor (as Quim Gutierrez) Dan Dargan Carter ... Gonzalo: Andy Nyman ... Sir James Hobbs-Coddington ...

  21. Jungle Cruise (Film)

    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 ...

  22. Jungle Cruise (2021)

    Jungle Cruise: Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. With Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall. 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.

  23. Dwayne Johnson Talks Reteaming with Emily Blunt for Possible Jungle

    Summary. Dwayne Johnson is down to make a Jungle Cruise sequel in the future. Johnson and his Jungle Cruise co-star, Emily Blunt, will work together again in the MMA biopic titled The Smashing ...