Jungle Cruise age rating, parents guide and UK release date

In what looks like a great act of casting, Disney has paired up Dwayne Johnson (Jumanji 2 The Next Level) and Emily Blunt (The Huntsman: Winter’s War) for its ride-becomes-film adaptation, Jungle Cruise. It has now been confirmed for a UK release date (details below) in the middle of summer 2021, so here’s everything you need to know about the film, including the age rating, our parents guide, runtime and cast.

Inspired by the Disney theme park attraction of the same name, it sees the two stars being thrown into an adventure together up an Amazonian river surrounded by thick rain-forest. The story sees Blunt playing scientist Lily Houghton, who is in search of the Tree of Life, which she believes is real and has healing powers that could help all of humanity. As she follows the trail with her younger brother McGregor (played by Jack Whitehall), she manages to enlist the services of river boat captain Frank (Johnson), who reluctantly agrees to take them for a price.

However, they have a little opposition along the way, which you can see in the trailer below, with her colleagues in London against her and a rival German team also trying to get to the Tree of Life. You can also see some of the more monstrous portions of the deep, dark Amazon coming to life, culminating in the reveal at the end of the trailer of Édgar Ramírez (Break Point (2015)) as some kind of cursed villain.

Cast

In addition to Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Whitehall and Édgar Ramírez, the Jungle Cruise cast also includes the always impressive Jesse Plemons (Fargo Season 2) and Andy Nyman (Shaun The Sheep Movie 2) as Lily Houghton’s former colleagues. 

The film also stars Paul Giamatti in an as yet undisclosed role. He doesn’t feature in the trailer at all, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he fits into the action. Giamatti is best known for his hard hitting roles and doesn’t always come off so well in family action films. His brief spot as Rhino at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the nail in the coffin for the Andrew Garfield era Peter Parker films, so hopefully things go a little better in the upcoming Disney film.

Jungle Cruise UK release date

The Jungle Cruise UK release date has been confirmed for Friday the 30th July 2021, having been put back a little over a year from it’s initial slate of the 24th July 2020. It looks set to be one of the many big blockbuster films out during the summer with so many being held back due to the global pandemic. Obviously, with the powerhouse mouse might of Disney behind it, you know it’s going to get a lot of attention, and with the combined efforts of Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson behind it too, it could easily go on to be one of the biggest of the year.

It currently has the entire week to itself as the only new film out in cinemas, so it’ll have a pretty free run at the box office and should pick up the number 1 spot with ease. However, it does come on the back of the Top Gun 2 release on the 17th July, so depending on its reception there we’ll be enough continued views for the Tom Cruise sequel to challenge Jungle Cruise.

You can follow us on Twitter to see more news and updates on upcoming animated films, and you can see more on the film in the run up to the release with the official Twitter page at https://twitter.com/junglecruise.

Age rating and parents guide

The age rating for the UK has now been announced by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) with the Jungle Cruise release date done and dusted. It has been given a 12A certificate, which is a big divergence from the usual for Disney live-action films. Both Aladdin and The Lion King picked up age ratings of PG, so it’s a surprise to see it not getting the same treatment. It has a similar certification of 12 in the US.

The parents guide notes include moderate violence and threat, so there isn’t too much to be concerned about, which you can also see in the trailer below. However, there’s definitely a slightly darker note to the threat than in Aladdin and The Lion King with the cursed conquistadors.

Trailer

The Jungle Cruise trailer is about as tight as it gets. Disney is the master of trailers and this is paced perfectly to give you just enough story and action without giving too much away. The tease of the cursed baddy at the end works well and the cast is faultless, but there is a little too much of a reminder of their other similar-ish roles in Mary Poppins and Jumanji.

We’ll update you with more details on Jungle Cruise as it becomes available and you can check out our movie news section to keep tabs on the latest, or visit the official movie webpage on the Universal site at https://movies.disney.com/jungle-cruise.