Disney’s Tarzan (1999) (Movie Review)

  When it comes to Disney’s animated works, their usually associated with fairy-tales, or at the very least a setting that fits in with “once upon a time”. Yet, every now and then the studio will produce a film with a unique setting, one that’s outside of the familiar. Sometimes it can be an excursion into the wonders of nature, as scene in animated films like “Bambi” and “Brother Bear”. What I really want to single out are Disney’s three animated outings into a jungle setting, which are “The Jungle Book”, “The Lion King” and “Tarzan”. I’ve always looked back on these three as Disney’s jungle trilogy, which separate themselves from Disney’s more traditional setting, yet still fit right in with the best of their animated offerings. With the release of Disney’s live action remake of “The Lion King” upon us, I wanted to dedicate this month to reviews of all three animated jungle ventures, and give my personal thoughts on them. Of the three, it’s Disney’s 1999 animated picture “Tarzan” that’s stuck with me the most as a personal favorite. Based on the novel “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this was a generations introduction to the classic source material, which is something that Disney specializes in. Obviously, Tarzan has had countless movies before and after, but for me, and many kids from my generation, we’ll always look back on this film as our introduction to him. This was the studios 37^th animated feature, and it subsequently marked the end of an era, the great Disney renaissance of the 1990’s that initially took shape with “The Little Mermaid”. As such, “Tarzan” marks a meaningful chapter in the studio’s legacy, and was one of the more successful films of it’s time. In fact, it was the best received sense the high standards set by its predecessor “The Lion King”.   
    

  The best thing about this movie by far is it’s ten minuet long opening sequence, in which we see the origin of how Tarzan came to be. Literally, everything from the opening title card, leading up to the first spoken line of dialogue is outstanding, and easily one of my favorite segments from any Disney film. The way everything is shot, edited and scored is just bursting with energy, and it gets me hooked every time. 

We see a family comprising of two parents and an infant boy shipwreck off the coast of an uncharted rain-forest. While they succeed in building their own private tree house, the parents meet a tragic end at the claws of a blood thirsty leopard named Sabor, leaving the baby orphaned. The leopards hunt continues as it stocks a nearby family of Gorla’s, and claims the life of an infant, leaving the parents without a child. The two broken families come together when the female gorilla named Kala discovers the human baby, and takes him in as her own son, giving him the name Tarzan. The beauty of this opening is that it’s all told through visual storytelling, in which lengthy scenes like Kala discovering the baby are brought to life just through the animation and character expressions, with no spoken dialogue. I’ll admit that the opening might have been even stronger if the song “Two Worlds” was replaced with an instrumental music track, as visual storytelling is best conveyed without hearing a human voice … even one that’s singing. Still it works, and truthfully, it’s my favorite song of the whole film. Years pass, and Tarzan becomes the honorary defender of the Gorilla’s family herd. Things change upon the arrival of a group of humans, and most specifically the arrival of a young woman named Jane, who not only wins his heart, but also teaches him the ways of the human world. This is when the central conflict of the movie takes shape, as Tarzan now finds himself conflicted between where he really belongs … with the humans or the apes.  

  Honestly, a part of me wishes that the film continued its method of visual storytelling and no dialogue, at least until the arrival of the human characters. That’s not to say the first act of the movie is week, just a pinch familiar as we see the young Tarzan trying to fit in, and win the approval of his sergeant father, a gorilla named Kerchak. There are some great individual moments like when we see young Tarzan covering himself in mud, and questioning why he’s so different. His turmoil and internal conflicts are also highlighted effectively, but once again, I feel that a longer run time could have explored his arc a little more. 

The one downside is that most of his childhood focuses on his mischievous ventures with his friends, when it could have given us more development of his character before transitioning into his adult years. Personally, I think the film could have benefited from a two-hour run time, just to let some scenes play out with a little more emotional weight. I really would have liked to see Tarzan make more of a connection to his ape father before the arrival of the human characters, and there was a perfect opportunity for them to talk and connect just before he gets drawn into the human world. Never the less, Tarzan’s arc in the film is still effective enough, and he proves a strong lead character. He shows all the aggressive animal behaviors one would expect, but he also has the curious wide-eyed innocence that allows the audience to connect with him. He’s a character that really lends himself to the world of animation more than most other Disney heroes, as so much of Tarzan's character comes from how he emulates other animals. While a live action actor can capture a similar performance, it would also be physically demanding to pull off the same range and energy as conveyed in the animation.

   With our hero taken care of, lets shift over to … my favorite character of the whole movie. 

Jane may not be a popular Disney princess, but I’d absolutely place her among my personal top 3 leading ladies. She’s irresistibly lovable, spirited, stern, has one hell of an attractive British accent, and sets a great example of a damsel done right. Seriously, not every female lead has to be a strong fighter, they just need to be interesting or charming, and that’s exactly what Jane is. So much of Jane's personality can be credited to voice actress Minnie Driver, as she put so much of herself into the role, and even added some character traits that weren’t even in the script. It also makes sense that she’d need rescuing, as she’s out of her element, but she also contributes as both the emotional center and the educator for Tarzan. On that note, while the romance between Tarzan and Jane isn’t exactly layered, they do still convey a lot, and share some wonderful scenes. Their first meeting is one of the best sequences of the movie behind the opening, it’s shot beautifully, has a sense of hummer, and the moment takes it’s time for Tarzan to sink-in his first interaction with another human. I love how he takes her glove off, feels a human hand for the first time, and it’s just a genuinely sweet moment that sets a connection with very little actually being said. I also love the moments of Tarzan teaching Jane the ways of the ape world, as it plays to the humorous sides of both characters, and really highlights their chemistry.     

  Now, it’s tradition for these jungle themed Disney ventures to feature a villain that comes in the form of a deadly jungle cat. As established in the opening, the initial antagonist for Tarzan is the ravenous leopard called Sabor, who is absolutely awesome. Every time she comes on screen, she’s intense, exciting, intimidating, and feels like a genuine threat for our heroes to face. I like that she doesn’t have a voice, she’s just an impulsive animal, but still conveys some subtle traits of character. Her connection to our heroes is also layered, deep, and it sets her up as a perfect foe for Tarzan to face. Unfortunately, my one and only real issue with this film is that Sabor is taken out of the movie way too soon, and replaced with a human villain, who really isn’t as cool by comparison. The nefarious hunter named Clayton spends the movie playing along as a friend, only to betray everyone in an effort to make money off of the Gorilla’s. It’s a boring motivation, and his betrayal isn’t that effective, as we all know what this guy is, and we’re just stuck waiting for him to make his move. I do like that his color scheme is yellow, which at least parallels with Sabor. I'll even give him credit that he does at least convey some charm and charisma, like when he manipulates Tarzan or the other people around him. Also, I’d never turn down a solid vocal performance from Brian Blessed of “Flash Gordon” fame … “Gordon's Alive”.

  Tarzan’s mother Kala is voiced by Glenn Close, and in my view, she’s the greatest mother character from any animated Disney film. So much of the heart and soul of the film comes from this character, and Glenn Close just infuses her with this warm and humble presence. Who would have guessed that the actress who portrayed the most popular film version of Cruella De Vil would make for such a loving mother? She’s also quiet the bad ass parental figure, as she stands up to her enraged husband, and in the opening we see her rescuing a baby from a savage predator. Lance Henriksen, famous for playing the android Bishop in “Aliens”, voices Tarzan’s step father Kerchak, and he’s got the perfect voice for a Silver-back Gorilla. While he’s not a villain, Kerchak provides Tarzan with the biggest emotional challenge, and while it’s effective, I think the movie could have given us more between the two.

   One of the more lovable additions to the film is Janes father Professor Porter. 

His mannerism may give the impression that he’s clueless, but on the contrary, he’s actually quiet smart. He’s just extremely excited, and has the heart of a child. He’s voiced by the late Nigel Hawthorne, who was a great talent with many Oscar nods on his resume, but I’ll always remember him best for his contributions to Disney animation. In fact, he had previously done voice work on Disney’s “The Black Cauldron”, but his role as Professor Porter is absolutely my favorite. Sadly, this was Nigel Hawthorne’s last big role before his passing a mere two years after “Tarzan” premiered. Along with the humorous interactions between our two leads, I think Professor Porter supplies some of the film’s best comedy. Unfortunately, there’s more comedic side characters, who aren’t exactly annoying, but I just never felt that they contributed that much either. Wayne Knight was one of my favorite comedians of the decade, but he’s given a thankless role voicing a timed elephant named Tantor. Again, he’s not bad, it’s just that the character is so one-note that anyone could voice him. Now I did like this character as a baby elephant, and I really wish he was Tarzan’s only child friend. At last we have Rosie O’Donnell voicing Tarzan’s closest ape friend Terk, who’s mildly annoying at first, and then she’s sidelined with nothing useful to contribute. Truthfully, this is the one character I feel could have been completely removed and we wouldn’t have lost anything.  

  Let’s talk about a special artist named Mark Mancina, as his instrumental music for “Tarzan” is another key ingredient that adds to the strength of the film. Not only does it add a great deal of excitement to the action, but it also enriches the setting with a majestic jungle atmosphere. Along with Hans Zimmer’s music for “The Lion King”, this is one of my favorite Disney music scores. As for the songs in “Tarzan”, well … their an acquired taste. Unlike all the other animated movies from the Disney Renaissance, “Tarzan” contains songs, but it’s certainly no musical like its predecessors. Whereas the other movies had actual musical numbers, this movie has energized montages, played over with songs performed by pop star Phil Collins. Speaking personally, this soundtrack only adds to the nostalgia and identity of “Tarzan”, to the point where I couldn’t imagine this movie the same way without them. Both the songs “Son of Man” and “Strangers like Me” have always stood out as personal favorites. In fact, whenever this movie enters my subconscious, I always find myself humming the lyrics to those two. There’s also one stand-out musical number in the form of “Trashing the Camp”, which is both bouncy and fun. Most importantly, this song gives us an amusing incite into the world of the apes, as mere noise and the sounds of destruction come off as cause to us, but exciting musical tempos for them.

  Then of course there’s the big Academy Award Winning original song “You’ll be in my Heart”, which is commonly praised, but it’s regrettably not a house hold title. Fun fact, at my sister’s wedding, this was the song my brother-in-law danced to with his mother, so it’s always been a favorite song of our families. It’s just a touching, soft rock baled that serves as the perfect melody for when the infant Tarzan is adopted. Describing a mother’s love while transcending differences was so emotional that for 19 weeks it topped the adult contemporary charts, and along with its Oscar win, it also won the Golden Globe award for best original song. My only issue with this song is that, in the movie, the song is initially sung by Glenn Close as the mother Kala, but then she’s abruptly switched out by Phil Collins, and that always kills the moment for me. Personally, I think this scene would have been so much more emotional if it had just been Glenn Close singing all the way through, and shelve Phil Collins until the end credit version. Like, it made sense for him to sing the other songs, but this was something deep that connected two principle characters, and thus, it should only be sung by those characters.   

  One of the films greatest accomplishments is the animation on display, like, it’s still impressive all these years later. Keep in mind that the computers used in the making of this film are “stone age” compared to what kids have in their bed rooms today. The visual design of Tarzan tree-surfing was a brilliant idea, and the things we see him do while interacting with the environment is very impressive. The colors pop on screen, and the design of the rain-forest is very subversive. Of Disney’s three jungle films, this one probably has the tightest setting, as it features less open space, and instead features its characters surrounded by giant trees, tall grass and lots of foliage on top of more foliage. Despite this, the rain-forest never once comes off as claustrophobic, as the environment is just so lively and atmospheric. The animators used a method called “The Deep Canvas” effect, in which lengthy scenes will feature characters moving though the environment, and all without the scene cutting away to a different shot. There are also deep tracking shots, in which the figurative digital camera would travel though this lush environment, you see all the details and it just makes the setting come to life.

   Along with the animation, “Tarzan” succeeds as the animated studios first legit action movie. Obviously previous films had some action highlights, but they still felt like they belonged in other categories. “Aladdin” was more of an energized musical, “The Lion King” was a coming of age adventure, “Hercules” was a goofy slap-stick comedy, and “Mulan” was a mostly grounded family drama. “Tarzan” from beginning to end is an action film, with a fast pace, lots of excitement, and some of the most thrilling action set-pieces featured in any of their animated films. Alongside Hercules battling the Hydra, Tarzan’s duel with Sabor is one of my favorite action highlights that’s not part of a Disney climax. I also love the Baboon chase, as it’s a perfect mix of excitement and some well-placed comedy. The figurative “camera work” on display during the action is bursting with energy, movement, and the fight choreography on display is on par with what live action has accomplished. In fact, many critics at the time were putting this film on the same influential action movie bar as “The Matrix”, which was another exciting hit that came out the same year.  
      

  Then we have our big action climax, which is the only piece of action that comes off as a bit mixed for me. Let me start by saying that I never approved of how all the internal struggles and conflicts in Tarzans character are quickly brushed aside for this forced finale. 

Basically, the chameleon finally reveals his true colors, and the nefarious Clayton attacks the gorillas with his band of armed brigands … and all with a single goal of making a shiny coin off their hides. It always felt like an excuse to close the movie with an exciting battle, and it comes at the coast of the film’s real conflicts. With that said, I’ve always loved the design of this sequence, as we have the cold-blue rain-forest backdrop clashing with the hellish red light emanating from the hunter’s flair guns. Even the comedy works really well during this battle, as it’s just funny enough without distracting from the intensity of the situation. The big showdown between Tarzan and Clayton is another mixed highlight. The staging during this duel is excellent, but what always takes me out of the fight is that Clayton himself just isn’t nearly as exciting an opponent as the previous animals Tarzan had tangled with. Look back at his tense duel with the leopard Sabor, as it featured two agile characters who were both equally adapted to the environment. This balanced out their strengths, and it just made for a nail-biting cat and mouse game. Clayton by contrast is out of his element during this fight, while Tarzan always has the home-field advantage. There’s actually a deleted scene in which their final duel was set on Clayton’s river boat, and it think it was far superior, both in setting, intensity and it featured our hero out of his element. In the plus column, this showdown builds to one of the greatest animated Disney villain deaths, and it’s subsequently one of the studios darkest moments.      

  Had the movie tweaked some details, given more focus on the emotional character ties, highlighted more of Tarzan's inner conflicts, dropped Rosie O’Donnell completely, and switched Clayton out with Sabor as the main villain, it could have easily ranked among my top five favorites to come from the studio. Regardless, “Tarzan” remains a personal favorite among Disney’s collective works, and it’s still my favorite of the animated studios three Jungle Adventures. The action is exciting, the two lead characters are lovable, the animation has aged remarkably, and a nostalgic soundtrack ties everything together in a nice bow. Aside from the movie, Disney’s "Tarzan" had other ways of impacting my childhood. I had a whole collection of the toy characters, PC games, books, and I’ll never forget the hours my sister and I spent playing the Tarzan videogame on the Nintendo 64 system. For the both of us back then, it was our favorite video game to be based off a movie. I’m sure that most would right off its more famous predecessor “The Lion King” as the superior film, and while that’s obviously a good one, it just never impacted my childhood the same way “Tarzan” did. It was something special that my sister and I grew up with together, and it’s stuck with us both as a family favorite all these years later.  

Thanks for reading my review of 1999's “Tarzan” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!