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Dwayne Johnson’s Frank deploys a series of dad jokes at the beginning of Jungle Cruise in a clear call-out to the ride that inspired the film.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Jungle Cruise, now available in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.
Disney is no stranger to silly wordplay, with many of their films finding ways to insert some form of banter or snark into their characters. The protagonists of Marvel, Star Wars and Disney films often have a sly tongue and a clever wit, and that affection for jokes is front and center in Jungle Cruise.
Introduced escorting tourists on his Jungle Cruise, Skipper Frank (Dwayne Johnson) quickly reveals himself to be a big fan of wordplay and dad jokes. Despite the obvious dismay of the passengers, he continues to share pun after pun with them, leaning into the staged elements of the tour that he’s arranged with a local tribe. Frank tells a number of such gags in quick succession, such as “you’ll see toucans playing their favorite game of beak wrestling. The only drawback is only two-can play,” “look at those elephants bathing over there. You know, you may think that’s water coming out of their trunks but it’s snot,” and “before this job, I worked in an orange juice factory. Got canned, couldn’t concentrate. They put the squeeze on me, too.”
As with any fan of dad jokes, the groans of the passengers as he makes the gags only seem to encourage Frank to indulge even more in his habit. This is actually very in keeping with the spirit of the Disney Parks ride that inspired the film. First launched in Disneyland in 1955 and recently renovated, the Jungle Cruise attraction is a slow and leisurely ride in a small boat through the various jungles of the world. The Boat Captain reads from a defined script that leans heavily into similar word-play. In fact, many of Frank’s jokes are lifted directly from the ride, including the orange juice factory and the toucans.
Frank even replicates the fan-favorite “eighth wonder of the world: the back-side of water” gag. It plays into his overall con of the Jungle Cruise, with many of the little beats and tricks of the tour matching props from the original ride — including a false hippo that bursts out of the water to try and scare people. In short, it’s an extended homage to the ride that also establishes Frank’s basic character and his surprisingly light but artificial attitude. It also sets up the film’s sense of light-hearted fun even when dealing with cursed conquistadors and ruthless enemies.
The original attraction largely lacks a narrative through line, primarily being a pleasant ride full of little gags. Since Jungle Cruise can’t get by just on those elements, it instead largely focuses on Frank’s journey into the jungle alongside the explorers, Lily (Emily Blunt) and her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall). But the wordplay and light tone established in those early minutes with Frank continues throughout, and it serves as a quiet tease of how much of Frank’s tactics — and history — are fabricated for the appearance of it. But by allowing him to basically recreate the popular ride’s aesthetic for a short period, Frank is able to imbue Jungle Cruise with a strong connection to its original inspiration while also just having fun with some silly jokes.
To catch all of Frank’s puns, see Jungle Cruise in theaters or on Disney+ Premier Access.
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