Going ape

"Tarzan"
Overall Rating: ***


"Tarzan" is a franchise: Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote dozens of novels about him, which in turn sparked numerous movies (more than 70--according to the Internet Movie DataBase) and several television series (including an animated cartoon). It's not hard to guess why the Tarzan franchise is so popular: many philosophers have tried to imagine what people would be like if it weren't for society--Tarzan is simply a recent supposition, with dramatic rather than philosophic trappings. The question that seems tougher to answer is why Disney didn't adapt the legend sooner.

The story of Tarzan--or at least this version of it--opens with the infant Tarzan (voice of Tony Goldwyn) and his parents being shipwrecked off the coast of Africa. While Tarzan is still an infant, his parents are killed by a cheetah--but the gorilla Kala (Glenn Close) rescues him from the wildcat and adopts him. Yet, on the verge of being accepted as part of the ape group by its leader, Kerchak (Lance Henriksen), Tarzan has a chance encounter with Jane Porter (Minnie Driver)--part of an expedition studying gorillas--and is forced to choose between staying with the apes, or joining his fellow human beings.

As with practically anything out of the Disney studio, the animation is quite good. It's not the best Disney film ever, but it's still very well done. The exaggerated height of the trees and the overstated speed of Tarzan's swings, jumps, and falls actually turned me off in the previews; yet seeing the film in its entirety, it works well--the story is a fanciful adventure and the exaggeration fits nicely.

The real success is the presentation of the story. The film maintains suspense throughout: not having seen or read any Tarzan stories recently, I honestly didn't know where Tarzan would go in the end. The movie is also charming in places. For instance, Jane's coyness regarding her obvious romantic attraction to Tarzan is perfect: it fits with her character (the proper Victorian professor's daughter), it avoids any real sexual innuendos, and it forces you to smile. The best comedy is the slapstick stuff: the gorillas playing in the camp, for instance, are a riot. The best scene--without a doubt--is when Tarzan accidentally starts a stampede of elephants (they think he's a piranha).

"Tarzan" isn't perfect, however. The biggest problem is one scene towards the end that is somewhat confusing (something happens to one ape--though at first, I thought it happened to another ape). The music is also a minus in my book; I am not a big Phil Collins fan. The movie's heavy reliance on his talents is to blame. There really aren't any memorable songs in the film, but I'm not completely sure they intended the film as a musical--either way the music was much more relegated to the background and not as good as that in, for example, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" or "The Little Mermaid." Another problem is the all too numerous non-sequiturs. All right--you don't expect this one to make perfect sense, it's about a man who lives with apes. When Tarzan learns English in what seems like two weeks, however, it stretches things a bit too far--especially for the adults.

Will kids be fazed by the problems? Probably not; I wasn't terribly bothered by most of the flaws, and I get the sense that children will be even more forgiving on this one. Is there anything they can't handle? No, this film is as family-safe as any film I've seen in recent months. Some scenes may be a bit scary for some young children, but that's about it.

Some people have criticized the Disney company for an emphasis in its films on "non-traditional families." On that subject "Tarzan" takes the cake; but, if you can take the idea of a baby being raised by apes, then you'll probably enjoy "Tarzan."

Title: "Tarzan"
Release date :June 18, 1999

MPAA rating: G
Overall rating: ***

Aprox. run time: 88 min.
Directors: Chris Buck, Kevin Lima
Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs (story Tarzan of the Apes), Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White
Stars: Tony Goldwyn, Glenn Close, Minnie Driver

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/Tarzan.htm
Added to blog site: 8/5/09