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Tarzan
The classic Edgar Rice Burroughs character was brought to the big screen in over 40 live action films and then Disney scored when they took a crack at it in a 1999 animated musical rethinking of Tarzan that provides a lot of what fans of the character might expect with a degree of substance that they might not.
This take on one of cinema's most legendary movie characters begins with the character as a baby and shows how the child ended up being raised by a family of apes. The young boy is observed growing up and believing he is an ape, though he can't explain why he looks different from the animals raising him. Tarzan (voiced by Tony Goldwyn) is content living as the animal he thinks he is until the arrival of Professor Porter (voiced by Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter, Jane (voiced by Minnie Driver) and their guide, Clayton (voiced by Brain Blessed). Porter and his daughter are there merely to study gorillas, but Clayton has a more mercenary agenda and after saving Jane's life and learning of Porter's plans, Tarzan does what he can to stop them while questioning his entire existence and who he really is.
This character has a long and distinguished history on the screen, dating all the way back to 1928 with Elmo Lincoln playing the starring role. Johnny Weissmuller is the actor most associated with the role, but from the little I know of these movies, these movies seem to start off pretty much where this one ends. This film, sensitively and without dialogue, dialogues how baby Tarzan actually ended up being raised by apes and the creators of this story never forget this fact. The main character is presented crawling through the jungle with his knuckles dragging. We're almost halfway through the film before we see the character stand upright for the first time.
I loved the fact that the focus of this particular story was Tarzan's confusion about who he is and not so much his romance with Jane. It's lovely when he needs to be alone he retreats to one particular branch on one particular tree, something akin to Superman's fortress of solitude. The jungle animals' loyalty to Tarzan was alternately amusing and moving. There were a couple of loving winks to the audience reminding us that we are watching a movie...there's a wonderful moment where some of the animals happen upon the Porters' campsite and they glance a teapot that looked just like Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.
The film features ah exuberant song score by Phil Collins that works perfectly with the story despite its contemporary style. The songs include "Two Worlds", "Strangers Like Me" "Son of Man" and the Oscar-winning "You'll Be in My Heart", which became a top-40 hit for Collins.
The animation is rich and a lot of the colors have an almost pastel quality to them that give the film a dreamy look. The film features a superior voice cast and mention should also be made of Glenn Close as Tarzan's ape mother, Rosie O'Donnell as his ape BFF and Wayne Knight as his elephant BFF. An engaging and energetic musical adventure that, caught in the right mood, could leave a lump in the throat.
The classic Edgar Rice Burroughs character was brought to the big screen in over 40 live action films and then Disney scored when they took a crack at it in a 1999 animated musical rethinking of Tarzan that provides a lot of what fans of the character might expect with a degree of substance that they might not.
This take on one of cinema's most legendary movie characters begins with the character as a baby and shows how the child ended up being raised by a family of apes. The young boy is observed growing up and believing he is an ape, though he can't explain why he looks different from the animals raising him. Tarzan (voiced by Tony Goldwyn) is content living as the animal he thinks he is until the arrival of Professor Porter (voiced by Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter, Jane (voiced by Minnie Driver) and their guide, Clayton (voiced by Brain Blessed). Porter and his daughter are there merely to study gorillas, but Clayton has a more mercenary agenda and after saving Jane's life and learning of Porter's plans, Tarzan does what he can to stop them while questioning his entire existence and who he really is.
This character has a long and distinguished history on the screen, dating all the way back to 1928 with Elmo Lincoln playing the starring role. Johnny Weissmuller is the actor most associated with the role, but from the little I know of these movies, these movies seem to start off pretty much where this one ends. This film, sensitively and without dialogue, dialogues how baby Tarzan actually ended up being raised by apes and the creators of this story never forget this fact. The main character is presented crawling through the jungle with his knuckles dragging. We're almost halfway through the film before we see the character stand upright for the first time.
I loved the fact that the focus of this particular story was Tarzan's confusion about who he is and not so much his romance with Jane. It's lovely when he needs to be alone he retreats to one particular branch on one particular tree, something akin to Superman's fortress of solitude. The jungle animals' loyalty to Tarzan was alternately amusing and moving. There were a couple of loving winks to the audience reminding us that we are watching a movie...there's a wonderful moment where some of the animals happen upon the Porters' campsite and they glance a teapot that looked just like Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.
The film features ah exuberant song score by Phil Collins that works perfectly with the story despite its contemporary style. The songs include "Two Worlds", "Strangers Like Me" "Son of Man" and the Oscar-winning "You'll Be in My Heart", which became a top-40 hit for Collins.
The animation is rich and a lot of the colors have an almost pastel quality to them that give the film a dreamy look. The film features a superior voice cast and mention should also be made of Glenn Close as Tarzan's ape mother, Rosie O'Donnell as his ape BFF and Wayne Knight as his elephant BFF. An engaging and energetic musical adventure that, caught in the right mood, could leave a lump in the throat.