Tarzan (1999)

Tarzan swings through the iridescent jungle swiftly, ending Disney’s Renaissance era with wild exuberance. Two worlds, one family. An innocent little boy, approximately four-years old, was escorted for the first time to a cinema complex. Politely requesting a bucket of sweet polystyrene popcorn, he walked into the dimly lit auditorium scavenging for an appropriate seat that would maximise his film experience. The trailers initiated, suppressing the inner excitement of the full feature that was yet to commence. Then, it happened. The Disney logo emerged. It was time. A family surviving a shipwreck, colonising an uncharted jungle whilst the emphatic voice of Phil Collins powered the narrative. A leopard savaging a baby gorilla, then brutally slaying the English couple, leaving only their infant son crying. His sorrowful echoes reverberating through the rainforest, until a female gorilla acquires him. Adopting a human child. Tarzan. The four-year old, naive to the cruelty of nature, was transfixed by the colourful animation. The plethora of emotions. That pure Disney magic. It was the commencement of a new-founding love for cinema. An adoration he could never shake off again. Yes, that four-year old, was me.

Subjectively speaking, Tarzan is more than just another Disney classic from their animated library. Even more than just an adaptation of Burroughs’ epic. It was a trigger. A sweeping adventure that upheld every emotional resonance possible. The brooding romance between explorer Jane and fully-adolescent Tarzan. Thematically presenting ostracism through two interconnected species, conveying the “Two Worlds, One Family” conflict within Tarzan. Who we are raised to be and who we are truly meant to become. Comedic buoyancy through the supporting characters of Terk and Tantor, supplied with their own catchy rhythms. Dark antagonisms through Clayton’s treacherous hunting techniques, viewing gorillas as merchantable assets. An exploration into the vivacious rainforests of Africa. All culminating to form a wonderfully effervescent coming-of-age tale. One of Disney’s most overlooked, for sure.

The art direction is the strongest of the Renaissance period, combining traditional hand-drawn animation with pioneering three-dimensional backgrounds. Often incorporating visual montages to steer the narrative into the intended direction. Watercolour backdrops to enhance the naturalistic environment. Bright character designs to contrast the darkened background. Sublimely directed by Lima and Buck. Then, Phil Collins just being the legendary musician that he is, providing the tale with apathy and soul. The “Two Worlds” anthem, “You’ll be in my Heart” and “Strangers Like Me”. Mancina’s score actively preventing the characters from singing and turning into another unnecessary musical. As I said, subjectively I refuse to liken Tarzan to just another animation from the “House of Mouse”. It was my first cinema endeavour after all.

However, objectively, there are narrative stumbles. It’s the breeziest story, condensing an epic plot into less than ninety minutes. The most noticeable consequence of this, is the rushed editing on certain segments. The introductory two minutes is a whirlwind of emotional storytelling that, unfortunately, holds minimal foundations. The montages of Tarzan growing up also lacked narrative heft, providing nothing more than visual delights. Goldwyn, Close and O’Donnell had insufficient power within their voice roles. Although Driver and Blessed were delightful. And, as much as I adore the song, the repetitious reprises of “Two Worlds” throughout minimised lyrical diversity.

The entire story is told faster than a shotgun firing, but I refuse to shake my undying adoration for this feature. Tarzan was the film that made me the cinephile that I am today. If I hadn’t received that euphoric pleasure from the cinema back in ‘99, well, these amateur reviews probably would never have been written. Ever. So for that, Tarzan and Disney have my eternal gratitude.

<em>'Tarzan'</em> is one of those films that I had always assumed I had seen, though evidently I hadn't and this was my first time watching. It's a cracker!

Phil Collins' music is tremendous, it truly adds a lot to the film - "Son of Man", which I already knew about, is a great song which works very well with the montage. Some of the editing is rather sharp, while the animation is pleasing on the eye.

Tony Goldwyn (Tarzan) and Minnie Driver (Jane) suit their respective roles nicely, as do Glenn Close (Kala) and Brian Blessed (Clayton). Rosie O'Donnell is the one I enjoyed most, as she portrays Terk - which isn't really a massive character, yet O'Donnell makes her memorable.

It does feature things you've seen from earlier jungle based films, like 1967's <em>'The Jungle Book'</em> and, as expected yet still amusingly, 1997's <em>'George of the Jungle'</em>. The early scenes in-particular, which rely firmly on Collins' music - from the midway point it's more level, whilst also taking its own route with this type of story.

I'm interested to find out where the two follow-up films go.

**A Disney production that promised much more than it delivered.**

Like any child born in the last few decades, I lived with Disney movies as a child. However, for some reason I don't remember, I was never attracted to this movie and I ended up never seeing it until today. Having seen it, I am really unimpressed.

The biggest problem I felt in this film is the poverty and lack of inspiration of the script, which is a loose adaptation of the original story, written by Edgar Rice Burrough. The characters aren't the best designed, there are a lot of annoying characters around here (Jane's father, the gorillas, and particularly Terk and Tantor, a very unhappy side character duo) and even Tarzan is poorly designed and uninteresting. The prevailing feeling is that the writing team didn't know what to do with the task at hand and improvised something.

To make matters worse, there are a lot of logic problems in this movie. For example, there is no exact notion of time that passes, so we are left with the idea that Tarzan learned the first human words in an almost instantaneous way. Another thing that doesn't make a lot of sense is the way Tarzan himself doesn't recognize the physical differences between himself and the gorillas he lives with, as well as the immediate similarities between himself and Jane. At some point, he will have seen his own reflection, will he not? I don't mean to say that the film is bad… but the truth is that I feel that Disney has already given us much better and more interesting work.

Overall, I think the voice cast didn't do a bad job, with everyone involved doing their best and doing everything that was asked to the best of their ability. Personally, I didn't really like some of the options. Tony Goldwin, for example, voiced the film's central character in a relatively mediocre way, but his voice has nothing particular or charismatic about it (well, the character has been stripped of any charisma). For me, it was Glenn Close who stood out the most, but with very little to say, and Rosie O'Donnell is the one who pissed me off the most, with a very unpleasant voice.

The strong point of the film is the elaborate visuals and the animation, very well executed thanks to the high quality CGI. I'm not sure, but perhaps this was one of the first films by the studio to use computer animation on a more regular basis. What is certain is that the look of the film is exquisite, it is a little different when compared to the older films of the mid-decade. And if it is a fact that Disney films have, in general, a very particular attention to the soundtrack and the songs, this film maintains that characteristic, having hired Phil Collins to write and sing several songs. Unfortunately, and even though the film won the Oscar for Best Song for “You'll be in my Heart”, I didn't really like any of them and I find the film's sound particularly bad.

"Tarzan" is rescued from the clutches of a tiger and raised in a colony of gorillas. As he gets older, he bonds with the animals around him and ultimately, with a few reservations from the alpha "Kerchak", becomes an internal part of the family. Enter a group of British explorers determined to see gorillas and our hero see "Jane" for the first time: the love story begins. Their guide "Clayton" betrays them all - he wants to sell the apes for £300-a-head in Europe and a colourful, perilous battle of "civilisations" ensues. The animations are a bit simple, vey angular - but the characterisations are much stronger. It isn't just a love story with an happy ending; we are taken on their journey of self-discovery as they both introduce the other to their own, drastically, different worlds... Great vocal efforts from Brian Blessed, Minnie Driver and Nigel Hawthorne add some extra fun and lots of pace to this action adventure complemented by a few good songs from Phil Collins.