Tarzan is the main character of the story. He is thrown into a world of danger and excitment when his parents are killed by the leopard, Sabor. He is orphaned by the kind gorilla, Kala, and is soon part of the gorilla "troop". Even so, he still feels like an outcast with his human ways as a young boy, unable to climb the trees and brave the jungle. The gorilla leader Kerchak wants little to do with Tarzan, thinking of the young boy as a threat toward his family. As Tarzan grows, he learns to except his responsibilty in the jungle and with training and friendship from his friends Terk, his gorilla "sister", and a neurotic elephant, Tantor, Tarzan becomes at home in the trees, a born acrobat of the jungle. As an adult, he gets revenge on his enemy Sabor, killing him with his spear and strength, as well as saving Kerchak's life. But this is only the beginning...human's have come to his jungle home. Tarzan meets Jane when saving her from a pack of angry baboons, and their love for each other soon grows. Professer Porter, Jane's father, shares the same immense facintaion in Tarzan. But the other member of the group, Clayton, thinks of Tarzan as only of a way to get to the gorillas. Unknowing of Clayton's tricks, Tarzan leads Clayton to his gorilla family, while with Jane he learns how to become a proper English gentleman. He soon finds himself torn between the human world which he longs to know more about, and his gorilla family.
Lead Animator: Glen Keane (adult) and John Ripa (child)
Voice Talent: Tony Goldwyn (adult) and Alex D. Linz (child)
Jane is a bubbly young English lady who has come with her father to the dangerous jungles of Africa to study the gorillas. Although the jungle differs greatly from her previous life, Jane seems right at home in the trees and camp. She is very creative, and loves to draw almost everything she comes across. This soon gets her in trouble when she finds a baby monkey to draw, but is chased by a pack of baboons instead. This is when she meets Tarzan, who saves her from the clutches of the baboon. Tarzan and Jane are incredibly fasinated in each other. Jane and her father, Porter, are so excited by Tarzan because he seems like "the missing link" between man and beast, the decided they should take him to England. To prepare him for his English life, Jane teaches Tarzan about the ways of man, which strenghtens the bond between them. Tarzan returns the favor by showing Jane the gorillas and teaching her the way of beast. This eventually leads Jane to want to stay in the jungle with her animal friends.
Lead Animator: Ken Duncan
Voice Talent: Minnie Driver
Kala is a soft-spoken, gentle, and sweet gorilla. When she hears the cries of baby Tarzan, she quickly comes to his rescue, coming upon a house high in the trees. When discovering Tarzan, Kala feels sympathy and motherliness towards the small boy, and ends up saving him from Sabor. Because she had previously lost a small one of her own, she immediatly has a fondness towards the baby she names Tarzan. After pleading with her husband to let Tarzan stay, she finally gets her way, altough Kerchak still feels a hatred toward the boy. Kala helps Tarzan as a young boy understand that even though people may not be the same on the outside, they are all the same on the inside, in that they have a heart, and that Tarzan will always be in Kala's heart. When Tarzan meets Jane and the other explorers, and is offered the chance to go to England, Kala loves Tarzan deeply and doesn't want to loose him, but she also knows that he needs to be with his own kind. But she is overjoyed when Tarzan returns to save her from the people Tarzan thought he could trust. Kala is one, if not my favorite, character in Tarzan.
Lead Animator: Russ Edmonds
Voice Talent: Glen Close
Kerchak is the strong and stern head of the gorilla group. He thinks of Tarzan as a hazzard to the protection of his family, and would rather do away with him, but because he loves his mate Kala so dearly, he allows the strange man to stay, "but that doesn't mean he's his son". Kerchak later ends up in a battle with Sabor, but is saved when Tarzan comes to the rescue. This probably starts a little trust between the two, but Kerchak doesn't want to show it. Tarzan feels that Kerchak is "threatened by anyone different" from himself. Later Tarzan proves himself worthy when he returns to save the gorillas from Clayton and the other men who have come to take the gorillas.
Lead Animator: Bruce Smith
Voice Talent: Lance Henriksen
Terk is an energetic tomboy gorilla who treats Tarzan as her younger brother. Although she likes Tarzan a lot, she doesn't want him around when she's with her other friends, and says that the only way Tarzan can be with them is if he gets a hair from an elephant. Tarzan is willing to do almost anything in the name of friendship and causes a stampede, nearly crushing one of Kala's children. This makes Kerchak even angrier at the innocent young buy, but luckily Terk is always there to stick up for her bud. As a child, Terk is usually accomponied by two other gorillas, Mungo and Flynt, but as an adult, she becomes good friends with Tantor the elephant, even though they contrast greatly. But both of them have one thing in common, they are both willing to stick up for their friend, Tarzan. When Terk discovers the camp, it becomes her own musical playground as she "Trashes the Camp".
Lead Animator: Mike Surrey
Voice Talent: Rosie O'Donnell
Tantor, although large, is terrified of almost everything, or at least a little scared. From germs, to water. He mostly provides the comical relief for the film, although, when he grows into an adult, he loses some of his frightfulness, and actually ends up to be a large and good fighter. He spends most of his time with Terk, even though the two might seem like an odd couple. Tantor is probably one of the characters with the biggest heart, (besides Kala, of course) but when Terk gets out of line when Tarzan is in trouble, Tantor gets him back in line. Tantor's biggest worry is if "someone get's hurt it's always going to be me".
Lead Animator: Sergio Pablos
Voice Talent: Wayne Knight
Sabor is a fierce leopard that brings heartbreak to Kala when she kills her baby. But Sabor not only killed the small baby gorilla, but killed both of Tarzan's parents. Luckily, Kala discovers Tarzan high in the treetop home his parents had built before Sabor finds him. Kala barely escapes with the young child alive. The first act of the film is of Sabor as the villain, but the act ends in a final showdown between Tarzan and Sabor, Tarazan only having a spear and his strength. Tarzan kills the beast in the end, and saves Kerchak from a near death. Sabor is also one of my favorite characters.
Lead Animator: Dominique Monfery
Clayton is an adventurer and explorer, also the main villain of the story. His smooth and gentleman-like ways, lead Jane and her father to believe that he is only there to protect them, but his true reason there is for the gorillas and the fortune he plans to make from them. When Jane and Porter discover Tarzan, Clayton could care less about the curious man until he realizes that Tarzan's innocent and unknowing ways could help Clayton get closer to the gorillas with ease. Kerchak doesn't trust Clayton though, and almost kills the man when he sees his gun, which is Clayton's probably only friend. Clayton finally gets close enough to the gorillas to cage them and nearly trap Tarzan. This ends up in a brawl between Clayton and Tarzan, high in the trees.
Lead Animator: Randy Hancock
Voice Talent: Brian Blessed
Porter is a bit of a clumsy yet very intelligent professor and father of Jane. Although he is an expert scientist, he has never seen a gorilla in person and is thrilled upon the discovery of Tarzan, who lives among the animals he longs to meet. Jane and Porter both share a loving bond between father and daughter and are excited by every small detail Africa has to offer. Because of all his excitment, Porter is also a fairly easy target for Clayton to trick.
Lead Animator: Dave Burgess
Voice Talent: Nigel Hawthorne
Other Characters:
The Elephants: Tantor's family. His mother seems to get a bit tired of Tantor's constant concerns about germs and such, but they also become frightened themselves when they think Tarzan is a "pirana" when he tries to get a hair from one of them to be admitted into Terk's "club".
The Baboons: The baboons are fiercly protective of their young, which Jane learns a little too late when trying to draw one of them. Tarzan saves Jane from them, although they do manage to steal her boot and umbrella.
Mungo and Flynt: Terk's two best gorilla friends; don't think highly of Tarzan hanging around them.