Tarzan (1999) - Directed by Kevin Lima
Genres: Jungle Adventure, Romance, Action-Adventure, Family
OK, I'm a man who has high standards for faithfulness. At the same time, I can appreciate creative detours and original takes. For example, while I've seen no Frankenstein movie to compare to the novel, I don't deny that
Bride of Frankenstein was absolutely incredible, with the one painful stain on this otherwise perfect piece of art being the cheesy homunculi scene. This same feet goes for all of my favorite novels, ranging from children's classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Secret of NIMH to young adult novels like Jurassic Park to classic pre-copyright literature like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But the one that I'm probably gonna find the most complaints about is the average Tarzan movie. Even though
The Legend of Tarzan was decent, Tarzan was drawn more like an average human with a good bod. The same is not so with the Disney version, which, despite creative detours that can be hit-or-miss, do the titular character nothing but pure justice.
Disney's take on the classic character is an action-infused reworking of the origin story. Around the time two humans are marooned with their baby in Africa, the leader of a gorilla clan and his wife lose their only son to a leopard who also ends up killing the baby's parents. The gorilla mother, Kala, finds the boy and names him Tarzan. At first he struggles to become one with the jungle, but once he does, he's thrown for a major loop when he meets his own kind, especially when he falls in love with the young lady Jane Porter.
OK, typical plotting for a Tarzan film? Maybe. But how does the plotting go? Better than you might think. It's true that creative liberties were taken. Tarzan and "John Clayton" are no longer the same character, as this Clayton seems to not be related to Tarzan as he was in the original novel, named William Cecil Clayton. And he's much more villainous, which also seems odd when they could've easily taken the villain from The Return of Tarzan. Also, Kerchak's supposed grandhcild Terkoz is no longer a guy or a villain: he's an onboxious female gorilla played jarringly well by Rosie O'Donnell. This is likely to increase the number of female characters, as the token black lady of the original novel was absent. As well, Tarzan never discovers his parents' cabin in the woods on his own. He's shown it later in the movie, so the subplot of him learning to read or write English was thrown out the window more quickly than that old guy from
The Emperor's New Groove. Another thing is that Tarzan's new family, believe it or not, was not originally gorillas: it was a fictional ape-human species that had their own simplistic language, known as the Mangani. On the subject of Mangani words and languages, the naming pattern for some of the characters is treated exactly the same as the pattern for
The Lion King. Whereas Simba means "lion" in Swahili, Tantor means "elephant" in Mangani, and we have an elephant named Tantor. The same for "Sabor," the leopard. And two final changes: Jane and her dad are British, not American. And Kerchak is turned from a minor villain to an anti-hero.
Now the giant question is: DO THESE CHANGES WORK?
More often than not, yes they do. Despite the fact that Tarzan didn't teach himself how to read and write, his character was still very intelligent. His ability to imitate random sounds to perfection was incredible, and a perfect replacement for the reading English subplot. They use it brilliantly as a way to develop his character and his relations to the humans. Jane's change in heritage means very little as her character was still pretty well done, thanks to some good development and an effortless performance by Minnie Driver. And on the subject of changing from Mangani to gorillas, that was probably for the best considering that the movie was simply about exploring the wild as opposed to discovering a new species, although that subplot might've have been good for a more complicated movie than a simple family movie. And Terk acts as both a pro and a con considering that her character and her actress were incredibly entertaining, even though when paired with Tantor the two are essentially a knock-off of Timon and Pumbaa. And the whole process of Jane and her father teaching Tarzan was a beautiful experience to behold, as they really brought the best of Tarzan's personality out of it.
As for cons, Clayton isn't very active in the villain department. He's essentially just waiting to do one villainous thing at the end of the movie. As a result, the plot is only different from the average land-development protest movie like
Furry Vengeance,
Woody Woodpecker or the far superior
Pom Poko (this is the only qualification for putting the latter in with the other two) in the sense that an eco-political message was not shoved down people's throats, and that Disney just needed a villain. It's a bit obvious that the vast majority of the create prowess was put into the Tarzan's character, and the secondary focus was casting choices.
On this subject, the cast was perfect. Tony Goldwyn may not be the most famous guy, but his Tarzan was accurate, perfectly performed and just what the character needed. Then let's get to the women, who in my opinion were the better choices. It's one thing for Minnie Driver and Rosie O'Donnell to rock their roles as Jane and Terk. But you put Glenn Close in anything and the movie's quality goes up. She's never sounded so motherly as she did playing Kala. This was ELLEN BURSTYN quality mother-acting. And even then, the men still have the iconic Lance Henriksen from
Alien and
Pumpkinhead as Kerchak, in a role among the best of his performances. So we already have two of my favorite actors playing a married couple. I'm satisfied with this.
The movie has plenty of other strengths. Kevin Lima's direction was incredible, and probably his most creative. I say "probably" because I haven't seen
Enchanted yet. The imagery of the movie, especially in regards to the musical scenes where Phil Collins delivers another catchy song, is flawless and inventive. And Collin's solo music hasn't had songs this good since his early days in the solo department (of course, they still can't hold a candle to the majority of Genesis' Collins-lead album
Invisible Touch). And the action was phenomenal, and some of Disney's best. It's hard to do a proper animated action movie. The only other one I can think of where the action was this good is
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.
As far as criticisms in other departments go, there may be too many death scenes for younger audiences. Of the top of my head I count six deaths, but I'm not gonna say who they are. But it can be a pretty dark movie for the young tykes. Having said that, I watched
The Lion King since I was a baby, and by the time it registered in my mind that somebody died, I was already used to it. I mean, it was a cartoon, after all. So I'll let that be a judgement call for anyone who may or may not consider showing this to their younger children.
Disney's first venture into an action movie, and their return to literature since
Hunchback does have a couple problems in the adaptation department, but these problems are overshadowed by everything that was done right in that department, as well as everything done right in other departments such as action, casting and scoring. While there are changes I would make if I ever made my own Tarzan movie, this was a justice done to a character whose never had a single movie ranked among the greatest of all time. Obviously, Tarzan movies are a challenge to get right based on what the ratings online are, but despite the changes, this was nothing short of justice to Tarzan's legacy not just as a largely naked buff dude who wrestles apes, but as a thinker and a brilliant human-being for a jungle man.
Looking through this review, I can't believe how much I had to say about this. I didn't grow up with this movie the same way I did with many other Disney movies, as this was not one we bought after seeing it in theaters. But I guess this just shows how dedicated I am to the novel, as it remains one of my absolute favorites.
= 85/100.