The Most Amazing Animated Film

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 1999)

Oh, shut up. Say what you will about Disney and its animated features, but this one is really one to watch.
Cross the best elements of Lion King, Hunchback, with hints and sniffs of Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast and Hercules, and you get this amazing film. Sure, you might feel like you watched a part of the movie from elsewhere, but the movie as a whole works so well that you quickly forgets about it and are completely emersed into the story.
In fact, Tarzan is worth the ticket just for the animation along. Seeing Tarzan swing and surfing around in the jungle is very, very satisfying and surprisingly exciting, not to mention the fact that it's just so damn cool. Most of the jungle is modeled in full 3D with the "Deep Canvas" technology, and the result is an exhilarating ride. In fact, I went ahead and saw Episode 1 in the same day, and came out totally unimpressed by its visuals. The pod race, for example, does not have the same sense of tense excitement and speed as the battle with Jaguar or the monkeys scene in Tarzan. With the best animation I've seen ever, Disney proves once and for all that Tarzan is a story best told in animation, because it is simply impossible to achieve the same effect in the real world.
Fortunately, it is much more than pretty visuals. Its opening scene is one of the most powerful and ingenious that I've seen in ages. And it's also a lot more exciting that most other action films out there, real actors or otherwise. The tense and exciting scenes must be seen to be believed, the jaguar (maybe it wasn't a jaguar... I forget what it's called) fight and the mad chase scenes in particular.
I know I'm using way too many "exciting" here, but that's really what it is, a wild ride from the beginning to the end. And the best part is, this movie seems to have two plotlines -- one for the kids, one for the adults. And, as a teenager, I can laugh with the kids and also plunge into deep thoughts with the adults about one's true identity.
Overall, this is the best animated feature I've seen in years. If you don't like animated films, you should still at least watch this one. Amazing, amazing film.