A film still in my heart

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2020)

I find films that mark the end of an era quite interesting. Such categorization largely applies to TARZAN, often considered the penultimate entry of the Disney Renaissance. TARZAN is among the more dramatic movies of this period, along with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST or MULAN, though it has unobtrusive comedy as well. Like many of the Renaissance films, it features a protagonist who yearns for something more out of their life. Like many Renaissance films, the visuals are gorgeous.
Undoubtedly, it is a beautiful film: the backgrounds and character animation are jaw-dropping in how gorgeous they are. When I was rewatching TARZAN the other day, my heart ached for the days of traditional animation at Disney. CG animation can be very lovely, but it's hard to imagine these visuals having comparable impact. I love the character designs here, particularly Jane: her face is not the traditional Disney Princess look. She looks very unique.
However, TARZAN is not only the end of an era, but a liminal film, suggesting the strange (sometimes great, sometimes not) movies which were to come out of Disney in the early 2000s. The Phil Collins music, easily the most divisive aspect of this film, replaces the Broadway style musical numbers of the previous Renaissance films, and this sort of musical accompaniment style would be used in several of the films to come such as LILO AND STITCH (where Elvis music accompanies montages), BROTHER BEAR, and TREASURE PLANET. Overall, I like the music-- I think the music fits the story well and they're catchy.
TARZAN is not the best of the Renaissance films, but it is damn good and I enjoy rewatching it every few years. I actually remembered a great deal of shots and dialogue too-- I must have watched it more times as a kid than I remembered. It strikes me as a beautiful movie from the twilight of one of Disney's golden ages and it's weathered the years well.