Yeah, this works !

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2015)

A different but brilliantly adapted version of Borough's classic novel. From the get go Tarzan will have you wide eyed and waiting to see what will happen next. The opening sequence is one of the most impressive I have ever seen in film. The opening sequence is just so powerful as it shows the contrast of the human family (infant Tarzan with his parents) and the gorilla family living happily before tragedy strikes both families which leads Kala to finding the baby Tarzan. All done without dialog, all done with the great song "Two Worlds" in the background.
Changing Tarzan's adoptive family to gorillas worked well because it showed a more gentle side to these great apes, which are often depicted as savage bruits in such films as King Kong and Planet of the apes. Tony Goldwyn did a great job as Tarzan; he hit the right balance of fun loving, relaxed and also emotional when it was required. However, Glen Close gave a soft, angelic voice to Kala that only a mother could have and her bond with both the child and adult Tarzan was at the emotional soul of the film. This was contradicted perfectly by Henriksen's performance as the un-accepting and judgmental ape leader Kurchack. Jane, Tantor, Turk were all great characters that all did well with adding humor at the appropriate times and what I liked about Driver's performance was that she was neither the defiant heroine nor the damsel in distress but rather she was simply a girl who had come to an untamed land and became enchanted with the world of a man she would later fall in love with. I would even go as far as to say that Jane is one of Disney's best female leads.I also give the movie points for the animations, most adaptations would have Tarzan swinging through the trees, but here he actually surfs through the trees.
However, I do feel that the villain (voiced by Brian Blessed) was slightly weak in comparison to other characters, Clayton is not very interesting in terms of motivation but I do feel he could have been more unique if he had been made to look younger, I would have preferred to see him have the looks of say John Smith from Pocahontas, he just seemed quite forgettable but held up in the film's final third. I also feel the film would have been more effective if Sabor was given a speaking part. Simply having the leopard growl and roar seemed to make him a brainless carnivore as opposed to an enemy and in my humble opinion Sabor would have been more intimidating if the had a speaking role to match his ferocity.
The film's strongest point was it's music and Phil Collins and Mark Mancina joined forces to create one of the greatest soundtracks I have heard in a very long time. With the exception of "Trashing the camp" which was sung by Turk, Collins used his actual voice for all of the songs and tunes such as "Son of Man" or "Strangers like me" or the Oscar winning "You'll be in my heart" will all go down as classics and give the film for being original and not sticking to the traditional musical tone.
As one of the final traditionally animated films to be considered a hit, and is probably the greatest depiction of the story of Tarzan ever put on the big screen. An absolute must see.