Tarzan
Director: Chris Buck and Kevin
Lima
Screenplay: Tab Murphy from the
Story by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Starring: Tony Goldwyn, Minnie
Driver, Rosie O'Donnell, Glenn Close, Lance Henriksen, Brian
Blessed, Wayne Night, Nigel Hawthorne
John's Review
Tarzan has been put to film over 50 times. By my account this is
by far the most entertaining version. The story of Tarzan goes
basically like this, when young Tarzan's (Goldwyn) parents ship
sinks off the African coast, they make it to shore and create a
wonderful tree house ala Swiss Family Robinson. At the same time
a Gorilla mom (Close) loses her young son. When she stumbles upon
the house of our young hero, to find his parent brutally killed
by a leopard, she takes the baby Tarzan under her wing, much to
the chagrin of the tribe leader Kerchak (Hendriksen).
So now we have young Tarzan being raised by
apes. While growing up Tarzan has a habit of getting into trouble
with his best friend, Terk (O'Donnell), who usually ends up
saving Tarzan before he gets into too much trouble with Kerchak.
As Tarzan grows with his Popeye-esque forearms he begins to
question his identity and his role in the ape tribe. Then one day
while hanging ten, that's tree surfing, Tarzan hears a peculiar
sound which scares most of the other animals. That sound is a gun
shot. Out of couriousity Tarzan goes to check it out and finds
Professor Archimedes Porter (Hawthorne), Clayton (Blessed) and
Jane (Driver). he is instantly enamored with Jane. Jane gets
seperated from Clayton and her father and ignorantly disturbs a
group of baboons and is chased.
To the rescue comes Tarzan, who literally
sweeps her off her feet. The ensuing scene has Tarzan begining to
communicate with young Jane. This scene is fun and amusing. The
rest of the film involves the trust of Tarzan, Jane and Kerchak.
I won't give too much away. But if you are familiar with the
Tarzan story then you probably know the rest.
This film tries really hard to capture the
magic of the Lion King. It doesn't quite do it. This is not to
say this is a bad film, not by any stretch of the imagination.
It's actually a delightful romp for the whole family. The action
will keep young boys interested, the love story will keep young
girls interested and the animation will keep their parents
involved. Phil Collins songs are some of the best yet written for
Disney. And not since 'The Rescuers Down Under' have we had a
single Disney animated movie where the character's don't break
out into song. There is a musical interlude that is rather
amusing to young children, but fortunately it is not that long.
I could have done without Rose O'Donnell. I
find her voice grating and her personality annoying, other than
that, everyone is cast relatively well. The animation as
previously stated is par none, some of the best I've ever seen.
Last year's 'Mulan' was also a good movie with very few muscial
numbers. The year before that 'Hercules' was also fun. "The
Hunchback of Notre Dame' was not good, and don't even get me
started on the pathetic "Pocohantas'. I am glad that Disney
seems to be back on track. And at their present rate next years
'Animated Classic' ought to be one of the best ever. (Ever notice
how 6 months after Disney releases an animated film it is a
classic?)
I have to say of all the Disney movies this is
not my favorite. I still think Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin and
The Lion King are better. But in a post Katzenerg Disney, this is
their best effort yet.
Grade: B-
