Welcome to the JUNGLE

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt take the helm for a rip-roaring river adventure along the Amazon

- STEVEN PERKINS

The success of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean proved beyond doubt that theme-park attractions could be a thrilling source of inspiration for a smash-hit movie.

This week, another beloved Disney ride gets the blockbuster treatment, with Jungle Cruise one of the original rides at Disneyland in California now being turned into this summer's must-see movie.

The old-style adventure is set in 1912 where botanist Dr Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) embarks on a mission to find the Tree of Life, said to have the ability to cure any illness and break any curse.

Lily is hoping to retrieve one of its petals known as Tears of the Moon for the advancement of modern medicine, and convinces steamboat captain Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to take her on an expedition down the Amazon River.

With innumerable dangers and supernatural forces along the way, Jungle Cruise has a lot in common with 1980s adventures such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone.

'It's so warm and joyful. I think we all felt nostalgic about making it,' says Blunt. 'Lily is so tenacious and exciting, determined, completely free-spirited and kind of weird a really interesting character. She's not the damsel in distress that you'd expect in this genre.'