Review of Tarzan (1999) by Doctor P — 12 Aug 2011

Last of the Disney Renaissance.

"Tarzan" has some really amazing animation. The coloring is quite possibly the best the studio has ever done, the detail to characters hair or fur is noticeable, as well as having some great movement for the characters that actually make it look as close as possible to the real animals. The only fault (a minor one at that) in this area is the cg, granted it's not the worst but it just does not mesh as well as some of the previous films did with it.

With the exception of two songs ("You'll be in my heart" and "Trashin' the Camp") the songs in the film are not sung by the characters. Still the songs are sung greatly by Phil Collins, as well as the songs sung by the characters. The score also has some nice bits.

The film has some fun characters. Tarzan is portrayed well enough by Tony Goldwyn, though he's at his best when he interacts with the humans because of his childlike curiosity to them which is very humorous without feeling out of place. The best characters in the film though are quite possibly Tarzan's parents (Kala and Kerchak) who bring most of the emotion for the film, and his best friends (Terk and Tantor) who provide most of the humor in a well placed manor. The villain is nothing special though, Clayton has some fun moments but that's just it and nothing more, he never becomes a great villain, let alone a great Disney villain because he's never taken to his full potential.

Story wise Tarzan is nearly perfect but has a few annoyances. To start with the silly climatic battle between a lot of the characters (mainly good supporting characters with random villain goons) appears yet again with this film (think of the other movies from this era and one may realize it's somewhat common), which is where the movie gets a little too silly. The other problem is that it repeats other common bits from the era, such as the main character being somewhat of the outcast in his society for either being different in the way he thinks or his appearance.

"Tarzan" is a solid film with some weaknesses but it finds it's way to over come them for the most part.

Up Next: New millennium, New era, and a new set of classical music shorts.