Tarzan premiered in 1999 and is considered the last film of the 10 movie Disney Renaissance. Before watching this movie for this year-long project, I had only seen the film once. And that was 15 years ago at a Drive-In in New Hampshire. (The other film we saw that night was Inspector Gadget.) This summer I did, however, see a wonderful community production of the musical Tarzan which is based on the movie, so watching this movie again was not as "new" as the 15 year lapse between viewings would appear to make it.
Tarzan tells the story of a boy who is raised by gorillas in the African jungle after he and his parents are shipwrecked and he is left an orphan. Tarzan never truly feels like he fits in with his new family, but he works hard to be the best gorilla he can be. A new world is opened to him, however, with the arrival of the Porters and Clayton (their guide). Jane Porter and her father are in Africa to observe and catalog the diverse flora and fauna (Nope. Not that Flora and Fauna.) with the real hopes of observing gorillas in their native habitat. Clayton (one of the film's villains) is actually there to capture the gorillas so he can take them back to England and sell them. Tarzan meets/rescues Jane and suddenly he doesn't feel so different anymore...
There are three main things that stood out to me in this film: Jane Porter, the violence, and the music.
Jane Porter rocks. I enjoyed her character so much! She is a proper young lady from England but embraces the jungle "culture" so to speak and is willing to let her hair down. She also always has something to say. (I may be able to relate to that a bit...) And she is kind and curious and willing to laugh. And she handles strange jungle situations remarkably well. Jane is definitely me favorite character from this film.
I'm not sure why, but the violence in this movie really stood out to me. I was hyper aware of the presence of guns. Then there is the real life jungle violence of macho gorillas and sly cheetahs. The first scenes involving the cheetah scared me significantly when I saw the movie at the drive-in 15 years ago, and to be quite honest, I covered my eyes for parts of them this time around. (I DO NOT do suspense well. At all.) This film certainly does not shy away from violence - whether of nature or man.
Surprisingly, (Ok. Really not surprising at all.) my favorite part of this film is the MUSIC! Phil Collins composed and performed the majority of songs in the film, and they are wonderful! I tend to prefer the music of films when it is sung by the actual characters on film, but Phil Collins' soundtrack for this film was so good I didn't even mind that the characters weren't singing themselves. I really enjoy the ENTIRE soundtrack of Tarzan, but I guess if I had to pick my favorite tracks I would go with "Two Worlds" and "You'll Be In My Heart."
Tarzan has many elements of a great Disney film including gorgeous animation. It may not be one of my all time favorites, but it's still quite good and a very enjoyable film to watch.
With that, I'll leave you with Jane Porter's depiction of her first interaction with our hero:
"I was saved! I was saved by a flying wild man in a loincloth."
Yep. That pretty much sums things up.
Coming Up Next Week: Fantasia 2000
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