Customer Reviews
one of the most sentimental Disney films - By: Stampy, 29 Jul 2008 
A man, who has spent his whole life being raised by gorillas, must discover who he is & where he belongs when humans visit the jungle where he lives.
In perhaps one of the most underappreciated Disney films of the 90's, viewers are given an insight into the life of a man who must question who & what he isin the face of danger & humanity. The plot is a very romantic tale about the human spirit & has a very intriguing point of view upon humans, who are againin the darkness as villainsin this Disney picture.
Tarzan embodies the good nature about the human spirit with a heroic & loyal ideology towards the lives of others, but the humans who come to investigate the gorillas such as Clayton are the epitome of evil, & through the use of good vs evil & loyalty does the plot excel as a sharp & sentimental story about finding who you truly are.
Humour is thrownin as good measure with the very enjoyable Jane, Terk & Tantor who all have their momentsin this lovable tale.
Though the humour is frequently used throughout, this is one of the most serious Disney films of recent years, & that is shown through the use of man against animal, & the inhuman nature of the humans, a very serious issue & one particular shot towards the end when the gorillas are all looking down, all sitting peacefullyin their trees, all quiet & minding their own business, shows them as they are, extremely beautiful animals who are being disturbed by a group of violent money thirsty selfish humans.
Its sad that there aren't many 2D animations being made now, as classics such as these look so brilliant & are basic, but with technology being so advanced, it is hard to see a way back into this brilliant format.
The soundtrack by Phil Collins is exceptional & one of the best ever created for a Disney picture.
Though the plot can be inconsistent & the direction not on top form, it is a sentimental & humours tale which examines the differences between animal & man.
8/10
Charming, Disney tale exploring acceptance,loyalty,love & betrayal - By: Marco Busani, 26 Dec 2007 
A well animated, fun adaptation that provides a different take on Tarzan. There are some excellent action sequences such as the fight between the Leopard Sabor & Tarzan. With the demise of the Leopard Tarzan unknowingly avenges the death of his human parents & earns the respect of his new family. Other good action sequences include the capture & the liberation of the apes.
The story is well written & the sequence where Kerchak finally repents & accepts Tarzan after being shot is particularly touching. Romance is obviously providedin the shape of Jane & she finally opts to choose Tarzan ahead of a return to England.
Terk & Tantor are Tarzan's sidekicks & they help enrich the movie by providing much of the humour, the baby baboon character is also funny as is some of the banter between Jane & her father.E.g "Shall I leave you alone with the blackboard for the moment" when Jane is drawing a diagram of Tarzan & wistfully reminiscing about his deep, meaningful eyes.
The music score is quite good but inferior to the musicin some of the other Disney movies like Pocahontas. In contrast to one of the other reviewers I enjoyed Clayton as a villain & I thought he was brilliantly voiced by Brian Blessed. The Special Edition is packed full of featurettes,images, activities & other Special Features.
A little dusty but the Disney magic is still there - By: Ms. MacNeill, 07 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, & while I've been fortunate enough to see both "Mulan" & "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 & body hair, is not includedin this number.
As far as the story goes, it is somewhat more sophisticated than the usual Disney fare. The story is fast-moving & never loses momentum; the hour & a half simply flew by for me. Honestin ways that Disney's earlier "Pocahontas" never quite managed to be, the conflict Tarzan facesin choosing between his adoptive family & a biological human family is entirely compelling. While the main story is the romance between Tarzan & 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 & 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, & 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 & on a deeper, more symbolic level. The famous "Tarzan cry" does not disappoint either, & 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 & Jane's is convincing, & 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 & his mother, & Tarzan & his best friend Terk. My favourite relationship, however, is that of Jane & her father. Together they are frothy, light-hearted & affectionate. Take their first scene together, when they come across gorilla-nests: "Daddy, look! Over there, & there!" "I see them!" "Just as you predicted - family groups!" "Oh Jane, I love you!" They then hug, & it is all quite silly but ever so amusing & British.
Visually, it's a very mixed-bag. The depiction of the jungle scenery is beautiful & 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 isin dire straits. However, the difference between the landscapes & the artwork for the animals & 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 elephantsin Disney's "Jungle Book". Unfortunately the only humans to be similarly aesthetically-pleasing are Jane & Clayton, the villain: Tarzan's face often looks quite goofy - a brave (if somewhat hilariously misguided) choice to makein 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 & 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, & 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 & 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 worstin me.
The extras are extremely impressivein their range, & 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 & 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 performedin one sitting!). Also of interest are the deleted scenes - I found the deleted opening extremely chilling, & I half-wish it could have made it into the final feature.
Allin all, while it's not quite up to the classic Disney standards - Phil Collins, j'accuse! - it is extremely entertaining & certainly stands as one of the better Disney films of the last ten years. I found myselfin tears within the first ten minutes, proving that Disney still has the ability to make the old magic work. Genuinely engaging for both adults & children, I have no qualms about giving this four stars, & I really hope that everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.
*** ITS OKAY *** - By: Mr. N. Carnegie, 22 Mar 2007 
I bought this for my daughter who is 5 & 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 flawsin it but the truth is it just lacks originality & 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 & I can even overlook the Phil Collins soundtrack but the truth is that this just didnt grip me or my little girl & so my advice would be to pass on this one unless you already own all the other Disney movies.
Joy in the Jungle - By: Volumnius, 05 May 2006 The school that I work at has been preparing a Disney concert, so those of us that were directly involvedin putting it on agreed to watch as many Disney films with music as we could. For a 'Jungle' section everybody suggested 'The Jungle Book' & 'The Lion King'. I've never liked 'The Lion King' much : I hate lions & so didn't care what happened to the characters, & the music is, to my ears, average.
I decided to try 'Tarzan'. I watched it last night, & it gave me enormous pleasure. I was so thrilled watching it! The animation is superb, with great depth to the picture. The smiles & gurgles of baby Tarzan made me ridiculously happy ; the boy Tarzan was great fun to watch ; & the adult Tarzan, though hard-featured, is very well drawn. It is fun watching Tarzan & his animal friends growing up as the tale progresses. The human element (absentin 'The Lion King') drew me right into the story & made me care what happened both to the humans & to the gorilla family that adopted Tarzan. As always with Disney, the heroes have American accents & 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, & if you like Phil Collins, you will love the songs. He's a drummer, & 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 ; & there's not too much of it. Phil's voice soars, making it very thrilling indeed.
The extras are many & of varying levels of interest, some aimed at children, others aimed at adults who are interestedin animation & film-making.
If you haven't seen Disney's 'Tarzan', do yourself a favour & see it soon. It will lift your heart!
