The last Hurrah of Disney Renaissance...

Rating: 7/10 (24 December 2017)

1999 was a cinematic year marked by the seal of originality and self-questioning that fitted the upcoming New Millennium timing, it is also the year where animated movies like "Toy Story 2" and the "South Park" movie came out and they were so in-line within the modern mood of their era, that they might overshadow "Tarzan" despite not being as visually breathtaking.
Indeed, for all its spectacular jungle canvas and spellbinding animation (the animators really outdid themselves), not to mention its heartfelt story not devoid of a few existential undertones, "Tarzan" might be too 'classic' for its own good. The film is often noticed for being the last of the Disney Renaissance era, and it is true that if we forget the sorry streak of straight to video sequels of the early 2000's, Disney had definitely surrendered to the CGI wave after that. But "Tarzan" was made a bit too late, when the pulse of animation was beating in 3D and when the torch of traditional animation had already passed to Hayao Miyazaki. "Chihiro's Travel" is light years ahead of "Tarzan".
I liked Tarzan a lot despite my criticism, I loved the relationship he had with his environment and the character of Kala, his adoptive mother voiced by Glenn Close, who is certainly one of the most memorable mother figures of Disney canons. There must be something about Close's voice as she was also remarkable as Homer Simpson's mother. The character of Jane is also a nice twist on the usual love interest figure and Minnie Driver delivers a fine performance as a girl always in good mood, curious about everything and whose awkwardness with Tarzan is both touching and funny.
I loved the lighthearted tone of the encounter between Tarzan and Jane, the way they both try to communicate (we get it that the English spoken with animals is just the usual artistic license and that it's meant to be a series of articulate grunts and adequate body language) and how a well-meaning Tarzan tries to fit between the two worlds. Voiced by Tony Goldwyn, Tarzan is certainly deeper than most Disney protagonists, torn between the love and friendship of some and the defiance of other, most notably, Kala's mate, voice by Lance Henrikssen, who refuses to recognize him as a son.
We do root for Tarzan, he's certainly an engaging hero but just when ou try to except something really worthy of this character, the film just never feels like delivering something reasonably new and fresh, if we except the splendid special effects, but from the trailer, viewers already knew about the surfing across the trees sequences, perhaps one of Disney's greatest moments. The problem is that the relationships, as original as they are, fail to blow the mind of an audience who's seen "The Jungle Book", "Beauty and the Beast" or even "Pocahontas".
The blame might also be on the weakness of the main villain (Brian Blessed) and the too distractingly old and goofy father (Nigel Hawthorne), I couldn't believe he would be Jane's father but Disney has a tendency to make little goofy midgets fathering beautiful and tall women, at least Tarzan looked like his real parents. Both the bad guy and the professor were rather dependable and maybe the story could have worked better without them, but I guess the purpose of the film was to culminate with a men vs. animal confrontation with Tarzan as the common denominator, but they could have found a more original climactic action sequence.
The songs are touching and poignant like Phil Collins' songs but in a year where the "South Park" movie provided at least three Oscar-worthy songs, I won't forgive the Academy for having taken the easy choice. So I won't develop that chapter and will conclude by saying that "Tarzan" is certainly the last hurrah of Disney Renaissance and a great animated film in the sense that the animation is great and the story engaging but not to the point you'd want to watch it a second time.
I'm a father and since today is Christmas, I just remembered I often bought Disney DVDs to my daughter and "Tarzan" is one of the rarest ones, there must be a reason, don't you think?