one of the absolute best animated films

Rating: 10/10 (3 July 1999)

Having seen just about every Disney animated film more than once through numerous babysitting jobs, I have very strong opinions and affections toward the films. In my opinion, the best Disney movies were Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and Aladdin. Personally, I do not like Fantasia and while I believe Snow White is the most important to the genre, I do not especially care for it. I was thrilled last night to add Tarzan to my list of favorites, particularly in regard to the slump that Disney has been in since The Lion King. Tarzan itself. First the animation, it was gorgeous! The story unfolded great, and if some people disliked the narrative, it was likely because it has been filmed 24 times before! The characters and voices were almost all good. Minnie Driver as Jane was wonderful, completely hilarious, smart, sweet, sassy, a totally sympathetic heroine. Tarzan was good, even Rosie O'Donnell, who I expected to turn in another lame sidekick to the long Disney list made me laugh over and over. The music was wonderful, no awful Prince of Egypt junk to make me squirm in my seat! I wouldn't be surprised to have the CD wind up in my house! While it has been nice to have the characters sing, there should be room for difference, and the "heroine singing a song about how she doesn't fit in" has happened way too often and was good to lose! To be fair, I can state my problems, but shall preface them by saying they made little impact on the film- 1)the villain. He just wasn't that exciting or unique, but still, the real demon Tarzan was conquering was himself and who he saw himself as.2) I noticed that Disney seems to run into a pattern 3) The elephant character was kind of unnecessary.
FINAL WORD: SEE IT!