A compelling animated piece that stirs emotion...

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2002)

There are a great many things that I could say about Disney's latest Tarzan venture, but as many of them would descend into incoherent and tearful babbles after a few moments, I do think I'll refrain. However, there are a few things about this movie that I WILL mention.
This movie made me cry. This is not, however, because I am a weepy sap of a girl who bursts into tears at the slightest provocation--no. I did not cry at the ending of "Ghost," nor "Titanic." The latter, as a matter of fact, made me more nauseous than anything, and believe me, it wasn't seasickness. Nonetheless, this movie made me cry--and more than once.

It was quite a stirring blow to my self-esteem, believe me, to find myself crying at an animated movie--and a DISNEY animated movie, for that matter--but time and ample consideration have led me to a few possible reasons for this emotional explosion.
First of all, the animation is very well-done. Most astonishing was the amount of expression and emotion that was able to be put into the faces of the apes, but really, everything was beautifully-drawn.
Secondly, the talents of the voice actors did a great deal to inject emotion into their respective scenes--Minnie Driver and Rosie O'Donnell were easily my favorites in that area, but I didn't notice any flaws in any of the others, either.
Then, of course, there is the MUSIC. If there is anything at all that makes Tarzan worth seeing, it's this. Whether one of Phil Collins' amazingly-emotional vocal tracks, or one of the beautiful instrumentals, the music adds so much to what might otherwise be mediocre character interactions, and "You'll Be In My Heart" has a bad habit of leaving me buried in a mound of Kleenex.
Finally, and probably most importantly, we come to the plot. Now, there IS a love story involved in this story, as there is in basically every Disney film in existence, but for me, it took a back seat to the more interesting and emotional problem of Tarzan's "family." If there was anything in this movie that made me cry, it was the relationship between Tarzan and his ape mother. "You'll Be In My Heart," which I originally thought (before having seen the movie) to be a love song between Tarzan and Jane, now has taken on a great deal more emotional meaning for me. It is, after all, a lullaby, sung to Tarzan by Kala to comfort both him and herself, and the sentiments of it--"I may not be with you, but you've got to hold on," "Why can't they understand the way we feel? They just don't trust what they can't explain," etc.--make it the best kind of love song.
Well, I'd say this review has gone on for long enough. So, to close, I'll simply say that Tarzan is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, despite how deeply it cut into my tissue supply, and definitely worth watching, even if you aren't a big fan of animation.