Tarzan (1999)
So so sorry for the lateness again, chums. Work. Has. Been. Crazy! Thankfully term finishes in a few weeks (I work at a University) and things should quieten down!
Tarzan was one we looked forward to watching a lot when it first came out on home video (we never got to see these movies at the cinema). I remember us all grouping together on my parents’ bed to watch the movie and then quoting Tantor at each other for weeks afterwards. I also remember a really good Tarzan show at DLP which involved lots of trampolinists dressed as gorillas! Over the years I definitely haven’t watched Tarzan as often as some of the others however, and found when I watched it the other day that I’d forgotten quite a lot of it. It’s certainly not a bad film, but we’re certainly getting into the dodgy territory of turn of the century Disney.
There’s some good solid animation here, including nice use of computer animation for the swinging through the trees bits. This works very well for Tarzan and makes him look suitably impressive and the environments look rich and almost 3D in places. This is miles better than the computer animation in Hercules (the hydra) or Mulan (the Hun army) which were only a few years prior to this. It also holds up pretty well I think and is still better than some of the live-action computer generated effects that you see, if that Tarzan movie from a few years ago is anything to go by.
The characters are fine, if a bit forgettable. The highlight is definitely Jane who is genuinely funny. I know I’ve been saying that a lot about the Disney heroines recently (with Meg and Mulan being prime examples), but it’s so nice to see them being given some good comedy lines over the last few films, as they can be a bit poe-faced sometimes. Also Jane’s reactions to the situations she finds herself in are extremely English (“Yes, yes, good wildman. You stay there. Very nice.”) and probably similar to what my reactions would be, which makes me warm to her.
Tarzan is quite a good character, though it seems like more thought went into the look of him than the writing. He looks spectacular, all of his movements are great and he also has a very expressive face. This is obviously more important for the character of Tarzan than the writing so we’ll chalk that one up as a win.They also manage to pull off having their main character be more than half-naked throughout the whole movie without it getting weird.
Tarzan’s sidekicks are pretty good when they’re children (especially Tantor, that bit about piranhas and the water being ‘questionable’ is one of my favourite bits of the movie) if slightly less so when they’re older. Still, Rosie O’Donnell’s character Terk is an unusual Disney character, being an extroverted tomboy, and she has bags of personality so is always fun to watch. The trashing the camp bit is brilliant.
The movie does suffer for want of a decent villain though, as it doesn't really take the time to develop the ones that it introduces. The villain for the first 20 minutes or so is the leopard, who is presented as just a leopard (like he’s not an evil leopard, he’s just doing what nature dictates) so you can't really blame him for anything he does.
Then there’s Kerchak, Tarzan’s adopted father (sort of) who isn't really a villain, but is an antagonist for Tarzan due to him being unnecessarily harsh to the poor kid. This adds a level of complication that the plot doesn't really need. Tarzan spends his childhood trying not to be eaten by the leopard and earn the intractable Kerchak’s approval, which he is still trying to do when the main villain, Clayton, turns up. Then Clayton is introduced, but is a bit underdeveloped. He’s not a terrible villain, but he doesn’t have enough personality to stand out among other Disney villains. He does get one of the grizzliest endings for a Disney villain though - that one stuck with me when I was kid! In general the plot moves along at quite a pace (with a lot of really awesome montages), not giving one conflict time to resolved before the next thing pops up.
The music is the most obvious highlight of the film; Phil Collins crushed it! The songs and instrumental sections merge together very effectively, which creates one ‘sound’ for the whole piece rather than the songs sounding distinctly different from the incidental music as they do in some Disneys. I listen to this soundtrack all the time, including during my morning swim! It’s more pop-y and less experimental than the really incredible Disney soundtracks (such as the Lion King and some of the Pixars) but it’s still pretty darn good.
For me, Tarzan is not as good as Hercules or Mulan. I don’t think it’s a less well made film, but it’s just less my thing. It’s saved from being forgettable by a truly brilliant soundtrack. However, something tells me we have some lean years ahead of us as far as Disney Animation Studios goes, so maybe I should savour Tarzan while I have the chance