Tarzan Review
To celebrate 25 years of this great film, the last film of the Renaissance era, here is my review of Tarzan. This film still holds up years later, and the music by Phil Collins still holds up. Tarzan is about a man raised by apes after his parents are killed by Sabor the Leopard. There have been many adaptations of Tarzan films from the past, but this one is my favorite Disney film.
Tarzan's relationship with Kala is well-written, and you feel the characters. He lost his parents, and she lost her son. The Two Worlds, One Family song shows that, and I have to say the scene where Tarzan says goodbye to Kala is a tearjerker. My mom cried at the scene.
"No matter where I go. You will always be my mother."
This film has great animation and storytelling. As we see, Tarzan wants to be accepted by the apes, especially his adoptive father, Kerchak, who doesn't like him. The only ones who accept and love him are his Kala, who loves him after she lost her son, and, of course, Turk and Tantaor.
I love these two characters, voiced by Rosie O'Donnell and Wayne Knight.
They are some of the funniest characters in the film, especially Tantaor. As well Turk was funny too and fun fact originally Turk was a male ape but he wasn't Tarzan's friend and he at one point the character was going to be male, but they change his gender after Roise audition for the role.
One thing I love about this film is the action scenes and Tarzan swinging through vines and sliding on trees. In real life, he would have horrible splinters on his feet. To animate those scenes, the animators watch skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding videos to the get ideas.
One of my favorite scenes is when Tarzan fights Sabor, and he kills the leopard that killed his parents, even though he never learns about it until much later. An interesting fact about Sabor: many people didn't know if Sabor was a male or female leopard. However, in the original book, there was a female lion named Sabor, so it's likely Sabor is female, but in the Kingdom Hearts game, Sabor is described as male. I thought that, too, when I was a kid.
Then, we have the scene where Tarzan meets Jane, and we see their romance. This was also Tarzan's first time meeting a human like him. It's a good scene, and I found it funny when he tries to look under her dress, and she kicks him. Tarzan and Jane's romance in the film is well done, and the scenes in which he learns of the human world and how to write and read from Jane are great. I also love when he takes Jane to the jungle, and she sees his world. The romance really starts to bloom between the two.
The film ends with her staying in the jungle with Tarzan because she loves him, and they live happily ever after. In the book, Jane leaves for England and marries Clayton, but she eventually leaves Clayton to be with Tarzan, and they have a son named John.
Don't worry Tarzan and Jane always get together no matter what. Jane's father is funny in
The film's villain is Clayton, a hunter who wants to capture the apes and sell or stuff them.
He's just your average greedy villain, but he's still better than the villains we get now from Disney. I loved his fight scene with Tarzan because one scene I love is when Tarzan has Clayton's gun. Clayton tells him to shoot him and mocks him. Instead, he smashes his gun and says, "Not a man like you." It shows that Tarzan is more of a man than Clayton, as he is a savage who kills to get whatever he wants.
In the books, Clayton was actually Tarzan's cousin. Still, he took over his family estate after Tarzan and his family were presumed dead. Clayton learns who Tarzan is but keeps it quiet until he reveals Tarzan's true heirtage and ultimately dies in the books. He also married Jane, as I mentioned. This is another interesting fact about the original books.
I also love Phil Collins' songs like Two Worlds, You'll Be In My Heart, Son of Man, and Strangers Like Me. These songs still hold up years later.
The Cast in this film did a great job, like Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan, Minnie Driver as Jane, Wayne Knight, Rosie O'Donnell, Glen Close, Lance Henriksen, Nigel Hawthorne, and Brian Blessed.
Overall, I love Tarzan. It's now 25 years old, and it was the best Disney film to end the Renaissance. This film still holds up, and to me, it's the best Tarzan film. I give it an 8 out of 10.
Great film from childhood and still holds up 25 years later.
