Disney's Tarzan (1999)

**Tarzan** is a 1999 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 18, 1999. The 37th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it is based on the story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and is the only major motion picture version of the story Tarzan property to be animated.

## Tarzan

It was the last bona fide hit before the Disney slump of the early 2000s grossing $171,091,819 domestically and $448,191,819 worldwide, outgrossing its predecessors Hercules (1997) and Mulan (1998). At the time of its release, its production budget of $130 million made it the most expensive animated film ever made, until topped by Disney's own $140 million Treasure Planet in 2002. It was also the first Disney animated feature to open at #1 since Pocahontas. This was the last major box office success of the Disney Renaissance.

## Plot

In the 19th century, an English couple and their infant son escape a burning ship, ending up on land near uncharted rainforests off the coast of Africa. The couple craft themselves a treehouse from their ship's wreckage, but are subsequently killed by Sabor, a rogue leopardess. Kala, a female gorilla who recently lost her own child to Sabor, hears the cries of the orphaned human infant and finds him in the ruined treehouse. Though she is attacked by Sabor, Kala and the baby manage to escape. Kala takes the baby back to the gorilla troop to raise as her own, an act of which her mate, Kerchak, does not approve. Kala raises the human child, naming him Tarzan. Though he befriends other gorillas in the troop and other animals, including the young female gorilla Terk and the paranoid male elephant Tantor, Tarzan finds himself unable to keep up with them, so he takes great efforts to improve himself. As a young man, Tarzan is able to kill Sabor with his crude spear and protect the troop, gaining Kerchak's reluctant respect.

The gorilla troop's peaceful life is interrupted by the arrival of a team of human explorers from England, consisting of Professor Porter, his daughter Jane, and their hunter-guide Clayton. Jane is accidentally separated from the group and chased by a pack of baboons. Tarzan saves her from the baboons. He recognizes that she is the same as he is: a human. Jane leads Tarzan back to the explorers' camp, where both Porter and Clayton take great interest in him — the former in terms of scientific progress while the latter hoping to have Tarzan lead him to the gorillas so that he can capture them and return with them to England. Despite Kerchak's warnings to be wary of the humans, Tarzan continues to return to the camp and be taught by Porter, Clayton, and Jane to speak English and learn of the human world, and he and Jane begin to fall in love. However, they are having a hard time convincing Tarzan to lead him to the gorillas, due to Tarzan's fear for their safety from the threat of Kerchak.

When the explorers' boat returns to retrieve them, Clayton makes Tarzan believe that Jane will stay with him forever if he reveals the gorillas. Tarzan agrees and leads the party to the nesting grounds, while Terk and Tantor lure Kerchak away to avoid having him attack the humans. Porter and Jane are excited to mingle with the gorillas, but Kerchak returns and threatens to kill them. Tarzan is forced to hold Kerchak at bay while the humans escape, and then leaves the troop himself, now alienated by his actions. Kala takes Tarzan to the treehouse she found him in, and shows him his true past, tells him that she wants him to be happy whatever he decided. When Tarzan returns to the ship with Jane and Porter, they are ambushed by Clayton and his band of stowaway pirates and locked in the brig. Tarzan manages to escape with the help of his friends, and he races back to the gorilla home. Clayton fatally shoots Kerchak and then engages Tarzan in a fierce battle across the vine-covered trees. Although Tarzan spares his life, Clayton is finally killed when he falls with a vine around his neck, hanging him. Kerchak, in his dying breath, finally accepts Tarzan as his own and names him as leader of the gorilla pack. The rest of the gorillas are freed after scaring away the rest of Clayton's men.

The next day, as Porter and Jane prepare to leave on the ship, Tarzan reveals that he now plans to stay with the gorilla troop. As the ship leaves shore, Porter encourages his daughter to stay with the man she loves, and Jane jumps overboard to return to shore; Porter shortly follows her. The Porters reunite with Tarzan and his family and embark on their new life together.

## Cast

* Tony Goldwyn - Tarzan
* Minnie Driver - Jane
* Glenn Close - Kala
* Lance Henriksen - Kerchek
* Brian Blessed - Clayton
* Nigel Hawthorne - Professor Porter
* Rosie O'Donnell - Terk
* Wayne Knight - Tantor
* Alex D. Linz - Young Tarzan

### Additional Voices

* Beth Anderson - Female Ape
* Jack Angel - Monkey, Sylvester
* Joseph Ashton - Ape Boy
* Bob Bergen - Baby Tarzan, Snipes
* Billy Warren Bodine - Baby Ape
* Hilary Brooks - Female Gorilla
* Rodger Bumpass - Elephant #2, David
* Lily Collins - Female Ape
* Kat Cressida - Kala (grunting)
* Jim Cummings - Tantor (voice match), Dennis
* Aria Curzon - Little Ape
* Jennifer Darling - Female Ape
* Taylor Dempsey - Young Tantor
* Debi Derryberry - Various Monkeys
* Patti Deutsch - Tantor’s Mother
* Paul Eiding - Larry
* Blake Ewing - Little Ape
* Francesca Falcone - Female Ape
* Scott Gershin - Animal sound effects
* Sam Gifaldi - Male Gorilla
* Jackie Gonneau - Female Ape
* Micah Hauptman - Male Ape
* Jennifer L. Hughes - Female Ape
* Sherry Lynn - Female Ape
* Susan Stevens Logan - Chrous
* Melissa Mackay - Chrous
* Danny Mann - Baby Babboon
* Jason Marsden - Mungo
* Mickie McGowan - Terk’s Mother
* Phil Proctor - English Captain, Elephant #1, Max
* Scott Record - Tarzan (yells)
* Ian Redford - Cornelius
* Jessica Rotter - Female Ape
* Chris Sanders - Baby Babboon
* Stephanie Sawyer - Little Ape
* Laurie Schillinger - Female Gorilla
* Brianne Siddall - Young Tarzan (nosies)
* Frank Simms - Kevin
* Shane Sweet - Little Ape
* Tiffany Takara - Various Female Apes, Chorus
* Dominic Thiroux - Chorus
* Jamie Torcellini - Various Chorus
* Eric Von Detten - Flynt
* Joe Whyte - Hamilton
* Danielle Wiener - Little Ape

See also: Tarzan & Jane, Tarzan II.