Tarzan

Rating: 4/10 (21 September 2005)

In the past there were many live-action films featuring the famous king of the jungle with his iconic ululating yell (call), created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Walt Disney Pictures brought us this first cartoon version telling the story of the ape man, from early beginnings to being the man. Basically the story begins in the 19th Century, an English couple and their infant son are swept onto a deserted jungle island after escaping a burning ship, the couple build themselves a home in the tree, and meanwhile female gorilla Kala (Glenn Close) is devastated to lose her own child after it was killed by rogue leopardess Sabor. One day though Kala hears the cries of the orphaned human baby, she takes the child and escapes an attack by Sabor, her mate Kerchak (Lance Henriksen) allows but disapproves her wanting to raise the child as her own, naming him Tarzan. As a young boy Tarzan (Home Alone 3's Alex D. Linz) does make friends with young female gorilla Terk (Rosie O'Donnell) and paranoid male elephant Tantor, but he finds himself unable to fit in with the gorilla pack, so he takes great efforts to improve himself. As a young man Tarzan (Ghost's Tony Goldwyn) kills Sabor during an attack, gaining the reluctant respect of Kerchak, but the pack's peaceful life is interrupted by the arrival of English explorers, consisting of Professor Archimedes Q. Porter (Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter Jane (Minnie Driver), and their hunter- guide Clayton (Brian Blessed). Jane is separated from the group and ends up being chased by baboons, but Tarzan saves her, he examines her and recognises her as a human like him, and she leads them back to her father and Clayton, who take great interest in him, both as a scientific specimen and their link to finding the gorillas, Tarzan becomes distracted as he learns to speak English and about the human world, and he and Jane are falling in love. After some time the explorers' boat has come to pick up the group, Clayton convinces Tarzan that Jane will stay with him if he leads them to the gorillas, while Terk and Tantor (Wayne Knight) distract Kerchak, Tarzan does lead the humans to the gorilla nesting grounds, Jane and Porter excitedly mingle with the animals, Kerchak however returns and threatens to kill the humans, Tarzan holds Kerchak back allowing them to get away. Tarzan humiliated by his actions runs away, Kala decides to take him to the treehouse she found him in, he discovers his true past, she tells him she wants him to be happy whatever his decision, he chooses to return with the humans to the ship, but once there he, Jane and Porter are ambushed by Clayton and the stowaway pirate crew, they plan to capture the gorillas. Terk and Tantor rescue Tarzan and the group, they race back to the gorillas' home ground, Kerchak is shot, while Tarzan and Clayton battle in the vine-covered trees, despite Tarzan trying to save him Clayton falls to his death, being hanged in the vines, and in his dying moments Kerchak finally accepts Tarzan, naming him leader of the gorillas, the rest of the gorillas are freed and the pirates are scared away. The next day Jane and Porter prepare to return to England on the ship, Tarzan decides to stay with his gorilla family and troop, however as the boat heads for the ship Porter encourages Jane to stay with the man she loves, she jumps overboard, with Porter following after, and they all embark on their new life together. The animation is as good as you would expect, there are some visually well put together action sequences, and there are some good funny and touching scenes, it does lack some flair, not all the background songs by Phil Collins are too bad, and the family will certainly have some fun, an average animated musical adventure. It won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Song for Phil Collins' "You'll Be In My Heart". Adequate, but kids will like it!