Action, excitement and romance in Disney's version of Tarzan

Rating: 9/10 (4 December 2019)

As this Disney classic opens a couple and their young baby are shipwrecked on the African coast. Nearby in the jungle a mother gorilla loses her baby to a leopard. Shortly afterwards she hears the human baby crying; when she gets to him it appears that his parents have been killed by the leopard. She decides to adopt him, and names him Tarzan. Against the will of Kerchak, the leader of the gorilla family, he is raised to adulthood. During this time he befriends young gorilla Terk and a baby elephant named Tantor. He grows up believing that he is a gorilla but one day gunfire is heard; he investigates and meets the first people he has seen since he was a baby; an explorer, his daughter Jane, and a hunter. After an incident with a troop of baboons he rescues Jane and is more than a little fascinated by her! Soon he will have to decide whether his future lies in the jungle with the gorillas or back with mankind. He will also have to confront the threat posed by greedy men who seek to profit by capturing his gorilla family.
This film is a lot of fun; if you want action, a sense of danger and a touch of romance then you should be most satisfied. The scenes where Tarzan and Jane are chased through the jungle are genuinely thrilling thanks to high quality, very kinetic animation that leaves the viewer feeling as though they are swinging through the jungle with our protagonists. Similarly there is a surprising level of threat for a UK-U rated film... there is a gripping opening scene where baby Tarzan is rescued from the leopard, the aforementioned baboon chase and a gripping finale. Given the rating it is all bloodless of course. The romance between Tarzan and Jane is tender and rather fun. The animation is of a high quality throughout with 2D characters fitting into a more 3D world. The voice cast which includes plenty of familiar names did a fine job bringing their characters to life. The songs, from Phil Collins are pretty good and fit in with the action rather than feeling like musical interludes between exciting scenes. Overall I'd certainly recommend this for fans of Disney or of animated family friendly action.