Tarzan

Directors: Chris Buck and Kevin Lima
Screenplay: Tab Murphy and Bob Tzudiker & Noni White (based on the novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Stars: Tony Goldwyn (Tarzan) Minnie Driver (Jane Porter), Brian Blessed (Clayton), Glenn Close (Kala), Nigel Hawthorne (Professor Porter), Rosie O’Donnell (Terk), Lance Henriksen (Kerchak), Wayne Knight (Tantor)
MPAA Rating: G
Year of Release: 1999
Country: U.S.
Tarzan Blu-ray
Tarzan!Consider the following passage from Edgar Rice Burroughs’s 1912 pulp classic Tarzan of the Apes:

“He could spring twenty feet across space at the dizzy heights of the forest top, and grasp with unerring precision, and without apparent jar, a limb waving wildly in the path of an approaching tornado. He could drop twenty feet at a stretch from limb to limb in rapid descent to the ground, or he could gain the utmost pinnacle of the loftiest tropical giant with the east and swiftness of a squirrel.”

Well, the fact is, no man can do that, not even the famous Johnny Weissmuller in all his Olympic glory. It is for this reason that the story of Tarzan, the young English lord raised by apes in the heart of mythical Africa, is so suited to medium of animation, and therefore surprising that Disney’s 1999 film was the first to go in that direction. At the time, more than 70 movies had been made about Tarzan over the previous 80 years, and because they had all been live action and, therefore, hindered by the physical realities of the human body, none had achieved the kind of graceful, speeding imagery Burroughs’ wonderfully adroit prose so easily conjures up in the mind.

Disney’s animated Tarzan comes close—it is a fast-paced visual marvel with heart and a bit of humor. Its beautiful hand-drawn cells coupled with new developments in computer animation created a previously unimagined three-dimensionality on-screen, bringing it as close as any moving visual medium can to evoking the mystical grandeur of Tarzan, who has rightfully taken his place as one of the most durable literary characters of the 20th century.

As with most Disney films based on well-known material, this Tarzan is liberally adapted from its source material. Once the basic set-up is in place (Tarzan’s British parents are shipwrecked on the shore of Africa where they set up house and are eventually killed, leaving the baby Tarzan to be adopted by the gorillas), Tarzan goes off in its own direction. However, because Tarzan of the Apes has been adapted into so many different media—from comic books to radio serials to the movies—and Edgar Rice Burroughs himself wrote 24 books, Tarzan is an extremely flexible character who can maintain his basic mythological qualities, even if the surrounding elements are altered or modernized.

Much of the violent imagery of the Tarzan books is minimized here, although there are several action sequences that are quite intense. The movie also dispenses with the none-too-subtle racism of the source material by simply dropping any storylines that involve Tarzan crossing paths with African natives. Unfortunately, the movie also dispenses with the idea that Tarzan is a descendent of the royal Greystoke family, and therefore a member of the English aristocracy. Perhaps this was done to democratize Tarzan, but it removes a layer of ironic meaning that gave social depth to his jungle adventures. Instead, the movie smoothly incorporates ’90s-style themes of diversity and a love of nature.

Thankfully, the Disney Formula is kept to a minimum, although it still dictates that adults be reminded from time to time that this is a kids’ movie. There are the assorted wise-cracking sidekick characters, including Rosie O’Donnell voicing Tarzan’s best ape friend, Terk, and Seinfeld’s Wayne Knight lending his vocals to a persnickety elephant named Tantor. However, unlike Mulan (1998), directors Chris Buck and Kevin Lima do not try to shoehorn ill-fitting musical numbers into material that doesn’t demand them. Pop star Phil Collins lends a number of songs to the soundtrack that have thematic relevance to the story, but they are kept in the background. Aside from an amusing scene where a bunch of gorillas turn a typewriter, a clothesline, and other assorted human oddities into on-the-spot instruments, there are no musical numbers.

The real show here are the astounding visuals, and the filmmakers used a then-new computer-aided process called Deep Canvas to bring the vibrant African jungles to life. Tarzan (voiced by Tony Goldwyn) and Jane (voiced by Minnie Driver) swing and fly through a three-dimensional animated jungle, and the camera tracks them as if they were in a physical reality. Tarzan doesn’t so much swing through the jungle as he surfs it, sliding down leafy branches, gliding from vine to vine, falling hundreds of feet before grabbing a limb and swinging himself upwards—in other words, doing exactly what Edgar Rice Burroughs always pictured him doing.

Because of this, Tarzan is a richly satisfying experience; it evokes wonder and excitement with unending gusto. The movie rarely slows down, even when the romance between Tarzan and Jane begins to blossom. The movie doesn’t get as much mileage from its villain, a vicious gorilla hunter named Clayton (Brian Blessed), as most Disney movies do, but it isn’t much of a detraction. The real wonder in this movie is watching something that had previously existed only in the imagination spring to life on-screen in a way that has never been seen before.

Tarzan Special Edition Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy HD Combo Set

Aspect Ratio1.78:1
Audio
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 surround
  • English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround
  • French Dolby Digital 5.0 surround
  • Spanish Dolby Digital 5.0 surround
  • Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.0 surround
  • SubtitlesEnglish, Spanish, French, Portuguese
    Supplements
  • Audio commentary by directors Chris Buck and Kevin Lima and producer Bonnie Arnold
  • Deleted scenes
  • “History and Development” featurette
  • “Characters of Tarzan” featurette
  • “Creating Tarzan” featurette
  • “Animating Tarzan” featurette
  • “Creating Jane And Porter” featurette
  • “Creating Kala & Kerchak” featurette
  • “Creating Terk & Tantor” featurette
  • “Creating Clayton” featurette
  • “Deep Canvas Process” featurette
  • “Deep Canvas Demonstration” featurette
  • “Production Progression Demonstration” featurette
  • “Intercontinental Filmmaking” featurette
  • “Building the Story” featurette
  • “Storyboard to Film Comparison” featurette
  • Three trailers
  • “DisneyPedia: Living in the Jungle” featurette
  • “The Making of the Music” featurette
  • “Tarzan Goes International” featurette
  • “You’ll Be in My Heart” music video
  • “Strangers Like Me” music video
  • “Strangers Like Me” live performance
  • “Trashin’ the Camp” studio session
  • Original Phil Collins song demo
  • DistributorWalt Disney Pictures Home Entertainment
    SRP$29.99
    Release DateAusgust 12, 2014

    VIDEO
    Tarzan’s debut on Blu-ray features a general strong, bright, and detailed 1080p transfer that is wonderful in terms of renewing our appreciation of the three-dimensionality of the image and the richness of the animation. Colors are bright and bold, and contrast is fantastic, which gives those dense jungle backgrounds even more sense of depth and presence. The transfer is marred to some extent by some small artifacts and blocking that will likely be noticeable only on larger screens and to discerning viewers. Strangely, although the soundtrack is given the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio treatment, it is only a 5.0-channel mix, meaning that the dedicated low frequency effects track is missing. Overall the soundtrack boasts excellent clarity and fully immersive surround effects, but there are moments—especially in the action sequences—when a booming low end would have really added to the experience.
    SUPPLEMENTS
    There are no new supplements included, but fans of the film will appreciate the inclusion of all of the supplements previously available on the out-of-print Special Edition DVD. These include an engaging and enthusiastic audio commentary by co-directors Chris Buck and Kevin Lima and producer Bonnie Arnold and three deleted sequences (including an alternate opening) that never made it past the storyboard stage. The rest of the supplements are comprised of featurettes than run generally between 3 and 8 minutes in length. Under the heading “Backstage Disney” we get an 8-minute featurette on the film’s history and development along with shorter featurettes about the design and animation the film’s main characters: Tarzan, Jane, Kala and Kerchak, Terk and Tantor, and Clayton. There is also a fascinating, but brief, featurette about the Deep Canvas process along with a demonstration and a production progression demonstration. Under “Story and Editorial” we get a featurette about the building of the story and a storyboard-to-film comparison. “Publicity” includes three theatrical trailers and the kid-centric featurette “DisneyPedia: Living in the Jungle,” while in “Music & More” we get a featurette about the making of the music, several Phil Collins music videos, and the original song demo he put together for the film’s producers.

    Copyright ©2014 James Kendrick

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    All images copyright © Walt Disney Pictures Home Entertainment

    Overall Rating: (3.5)




    James Kendrick

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