Disney misses the point - but delivers on everything but the story.

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 1999)

Normally, I don't go see animated films in the theater, because of the whiny-kid problem. But Tarzan looked like it had such fun animation that I wanted to go see it. But let's not worry too much about why I went to see it, let's instead worry about what it was like.
I'll start with the good points: First, the animation was fantastic. Not a single moment in the movie fails to live up to the high standards the preview leads you to expect. I would say the animation was not quite up to the level of The Lion King - mostly because the jungle canopy world of Tarzan is inherently confusing, so evoking it well gives a sense of magic, but not of realism. 9.5 / 10.
Music? Well, the songs were good and I like Phil Collins, so that was a plus. They didn't fit as well into the movie, though. I wouldn't classify Tarzan as a musical the same way I would classify most of the recent Disney movies as musicals, because the fact of the matter is, all the songs are background music to certain action sequences. The characters, for the most part, don't sing. Also there was less music than the other movies, or at least it seemed that way... Let me put it this way: this was nowhere near The Little Mermaid in musical quality - the songs seemed to be a gesture rather than central to the movie. 7/10.
Humor. Truth be told, Disney Animated movies haven't been comedies for a long time. But there are enough funny sight gags and such to keep the tone of the movie light even at serious moments. Kind of what you would expect. 8/10.
Lastly, we come to the plot. The plot is actually important in this kind of movie - the Lion King wouldn't have worked at all without its plot. However, Tarzan falls significantly short of the excellent mark we have come to expect from Disney. The story is pretty simple to start - A mother and father with their baby get shipwrecked, and live in a home on the shore. Unfortunately, the parents are killed. At the same time, a gorilla loses her baby to a leopard. The gorilla finds the baby human, and takes him back to the family to raise him. The boy, of course, is Tarzan. As he grows up, he has problems fitting in - the other youngsters don't accept him, and neither does the head of the family, Kerchak. Eventually, he learns that he's human, when he meets Jane and her father and their guide, Clayton. Then, he struggles to decide whether he belongs with his family or with the humans that are clearly more like him.
Up until this point, the story is nothing short of charming. Then, Disney adds a gratuitous bad-guy (Clayton, of course, and anyone will see it coming) which completely ruins everything. Tarzan rushes headlong into the fight which proves what? He's brave? He cares about his family? We knew that already. There was a point in the movie, right before the bad-guy part of the plot comes in, where I was actually interested. After that, I just wasn't interested anymore. Plot: 4 / 10.
Oh yeah, one note I wanted to add - this movie should have been rated PG. Three scenes of note (that justify this comment) - at least twice in the movie, we see blood, once, we see the moment of death, not directly but directly enough that I would consider it violence. Also, Tarzan touches Jane's breasts at one point - in an innocent way, but still.
Of course, this is Disney and They Wouldn't Dare Give It A PG Rating.
Overall - I enjoyed the movie, but because the thing they did with the plot was so annoying, I'm not going to be seeing it again. I'd give it a 7/10. Disappointing for Disney, but still a good movie.