Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A little dusty but the Disney magic is still there, 7 Jun 2007
I wasn't sure whether I'd like "Tarzan" when I bought it. Having fallen out of the habit of watching the latest Disney films throughout my teenage years, I've recently been trying to catch up, and while I've been fortunate enough to see both "Mulan" and "The Emperor's New Groove" recently, I'm aware that some of Disney's other animated features from the last ten years have a reputation for being far inferior to these. Thankfully, "Tarzan", in spite of one imagining that its protagonist has not quite yet hit puberty given his obvious lack of facial and body hair, is not included in this number.
As far as the story goes, it is somewhat more sophisticated than the usual Disney fare. The story is fast-moving and never loses momentum; the hour and a half simply flew by for me. Honest in ways that Disney's earlier "Pocahontas" never quite managed to be, the conflict Tarzan faces in choosing between his adoptive family and a biological human family is entirely compelling. While the main story is the romance between Tarzan and Jane (voiced superbly by Minnie Driver), "Tarzan" successfully weaves other stories alongside it, which neither overwhelm the main one nor feel unnecessary. The villain is quite unmemorable, especially when considered alongside the other great Disney character villains of the '90s, such as Gaston and Scar, but it's not really about a fight against him: most of the struggles the characters face are internal. I was honestly on tenterhooks towards the end, and the moment when Tarzan races through the jungle, tearing off his human clothes so that all he is left wearing is his loincloth, is wonderful as both a plot point and on a deeper, more symbolic level. The famous "Tarzan cry" does not disappoint either, and Disney, wisely, limits its use to only a few (wonderfully animated) moments throughout the film.
The relationships between the characters are easily the best part of "Tarzan". Tarzan and Jane's is convincing, and unlike some other animated films, it is very easy to root for them as a couple. The other, non-romantic, relationships are also well-done, particularly Tarzan and his mother, and Tarzan and his best friend Terk. My favourite relationship, however, is that of Jane and her father. Together they are frothy, light-hearted and affectionate. Take their first scene together, when they come across gorilla-nests: "Daddy, look! Over there, and there!" "I see them!" "Just as you predicted - family groups!" "Oh Jane, I love you!" They then hug, and it is all quite silly but ever so amusing and British.
Visually, it's a very mixed-bag. The depiction of the jungle scenery is beautiful and the artists have clearly done their homework. Tarzan's surroundings are generally limited to three or four basic landscapes for most of the film, which allows the viewer to see the jungle through his eyes, as a familiar, home-like environment rather than a confusing wilderness. The few times that Tarzan is seen outside these places, it is at moments when he is in dire straits. However, the difference between the landscapes and the artwork for the animals and the humans is startling. The animals tend to look fairly realistic - with the exception of the elephants, although they seem to hearken back to the design of the elephants in Disney's "Jungle Book". Unfortunately the only humans to be similarly aesthetically-pleasing are Jane and Clayton, the villain: Tarzan's face often looks quite goofy - a brave (if somewhat hilariously misguided) choice to make in depicting the "King of the Apes". And the less said about the poor-quality drawings of Jane's father, the better. Nevertheless, in spite of their appearances, the humans are all animated well - particularly Tarzan himself. I felt that I could have watched him bounding and swinging his way through the jungle for hours, so impressive were the effects.
My one real complaint? The music. Oh, the music. Oh, Phil Collins. I'm no fan, I'm afraid, and his warblings throughout the film greatly detracted from my overall enjoyment. How I longed for a piece of classical music - or, at the very least, something more traditionally Disney - at the more dramatic moments. Listening to him singing during the otherwise-perfect scenes between Tarzan and his adoptive mother was almost painful. Disney is so, so capable of producing emotive parent-child scenes where music plays a huge role - see, for example, "Dumbo" or "The Lion King" - that it breaks my heart that this one came so close to similar success, only to be thwarted by Phil "Groovy Kind Of Love" Collins.
I apologise: Phil Collins clearly brings out the very worst in me.
The extras are extremely impressive in their range, and certainly well worth the price of the DVD. While the games are somewhat repetitive, they are entertaining enough for younger children. More interesting to the adult viewer are the enlightening audio commentaries and plethora of featurettes, all of which merit watching or listening to (although given the sheer number, I wouldn't recommend this as a task to be performed in one sitting!). Also of interest are the deleted scenes - I found the deleted opening extremely chilling, and I half-wish it could have made it into the final feature.
All in all, while it's not quite up to the classic Disney standards - Phil Collins, j'accuse! - it is extremely entertaining and certainly stands as one of the better Disney films of the last ten years. I found myself in tears within the first ten minutes, proving that Disney still has the ability to make the old magic work. Genuinely engaging for both adults and children, I have no qualms about giving this four stars, and I really hope that everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
*** ITS OKAY ***, 22 Mar 2007
I bought this for my daughter who is 5 and we had several attempts at viewing this before finally seeing the end of the movie. That's not because it is bad. I mean its hard to find really obvious flaws in it but the truth is it just lacks originality and flair. Its just typical formulaic Disney without the spark of inspiration or originality that characterises their great movies. The animation is good, the voice characterisation is good and I can even overlook the Phil Collins soundtrack but the truth is that this just didnt grip me or my little girl and so my advice would be to pass on this one unless you already own all the other Disney movies.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joy in the Jungle, 5 May 2006
The school that I work at has been preparing a Disney concert, so those of us that were directly involved in putting it on agreed to watch as many Disney films with music as we could. For a 'Jungle' section everybody suggested 'The Jungle Book' and 'The Lion King'. I've never liked 'The Lion King' much : I hate lions and so didn't care what happened to the characters, and the music is, to my ears, average.
I decided to try 'Tarzan'. I watched it last night, and it gave me enormous pleasure. I was so thrilled watching it! The animation is superb, with great depth to the picture. The smiles and gurgles of baby Tarzan made me ridiculously happy ; the boy Tarzan was great fun to watch ; and the adult Tarzan, though hard-featured, is very well drawn. It is fun watching Tarzan and his animal friends growing up as the tale progresses. The human element (absent in 'The Lion King') drew me right into the story and made me care what happened both to the humans and to the gorilla family that adopted Tarzan. As always with Disney, the heroes have American accents and the villains R.P. English accents, which really annoys me. (How can Tarzan pick up an American accent when his tutors have English accents?!)
The music is by Phil Collins, and if you like Phil Collins, you will love the songs. He's a drummer, and you can hear it ; it's so appropriate for a jungle theme. What is brilliant is that the music supports the drama : it's not filler material ; and there's not too much of it. Phil's voice soars, making it very thrilling indeed.
The extras are many and of varying levels of interest, some aimed at children, others aimed at adults who are interested in animation and film-making.
If you haven't seen Disney's 'Tarzan', do yourself a favour and see it soon. It will lift your heart!
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