Another Disney classic based on the character by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2012)

After such great Disney hits like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Mulan, Disney tried on another original story based on the Tarzan character by Edgar Rice Burroughs and boy did they succeed. It tells how Tarzan came to the jungle and how he came to be the protector of the gorilla family by any means necessary.
The story is very original with some emotionally touching moments that would make you cry and some intense dark moments. The songs by Phil Collins are great with "Two Worlds", "Strangers Like Me", and "You'll Be In My Heart" as the best. The characters are great and the interactions between them are pretty good. Tarzan is a great character with a darker back-story as a baby when his parents got killed by the cheetah. Jane, the love interest, is so beautiful and likable to enjoy and so was her father Professor Porter. The sidekicks including Terk and Tantor are funny and likable. Kerchak and Kala are also pretty good with their great interactions with Tarzan.
I hate to say this, but the only character that I hated the most was the villain Clayton, who was by far the worst Disney villain I've ever seen. The voice actor for him wasn't that bad, but the character itself kind of bothered me. He just wants to find and bring all of the gorillas from the island to get money and it kind of reminded me of Govenor Ratcliffe. It's the Pocahontas villain all over again! His personality was boring and even his Dialogue is also boring. It would've been better if Disney made the cheetah (who killed a baby ape and Tarzan's parents) into a Shere-Khan type villain and that would be cool. Instead we get a greedy human male villain trying to get rich and boy what a complete letdown for a villain! With the villain out of the way, everything else turned out great. The animation is unbelievably amazing with some creating surfing on the tree vines that Tarzan (I was like, "Wow! That was awesome and creative! Great job, Disney!" when I saw that scene) along with some nice visuals. The music from Mark Macina is also pretty good with a great mixture of drama, emotion, suspense, and adventure all together and the pacing well-done.
The voice actors are flawless and excellent. Tony Goldwyn did great as Tarzan, Minnie Driver did awesome as Jane, Glenn Close did great as Kala, Lance Henriksen did very good as Kerchak, Rosie O Donnell and Wayne Knight were hilarious as Terk and Tantor, Nigel Hawthorne (who later died in December 26, 2001) did very well as Professor Porter and Brian Blessed was very decent as Clayton.
Overall, despite the weak Disney villain, Tarzan is by no means a classic that would always be watched again and again to fans of Disney young and old.