Rating: G
Genre:
Adventure
Theatrical Release: 06/18/1999(USA),
Release Date: 10/18/2005
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD5.1/DD5.0
Run Time: 88 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children, Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Walt Disney Video
Author
Edgar Rice Burroughs once suggested that animation would be the ideal medium to bring his
Tarzan to the screen, and 81 years after the first film about the famous ape-man,
Disney brings us the first full-length animated film starring the
King of the Jungle. After a disaster at sea causes their ship to sink off the coast of Africa, a British couple finds their way to shore with their infant son in tow. However, the parents are killed by a leopard, leaving the baby to fend for himself. The child is discovered by a gorilla named
Kala (voice of
Glenn Close), mate of
Kerchak (voice of
Lance Henriksen), the leader of the tribe of apes. While
Kerchak is taken aback by the foundling and would just as soon leave him in the jungle,
Kala's maternal nature is stirred.
Kala and
Kerchak take the baby with them, naming him
Tarzan and raising him among their own. Although
Tarzan (voice of
Tony Goldwyn) grows up painfully aware that he's different from the apes, he comes to love and respect the gorillas and learns their ways, while they accept him into their tribe as he grows to adulthood. However,
Tarzan's idyllic life in the jungle is changed forever by the arrival of
Professor Porter (voice of
Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter
Jane (voice of
Minnie Driver), and their guide, a hunter named
Clayton (voice of
Brian Blessed). The Professor and
Jane have arrived in Africa to study the wildlife in its natural habitat, although
Clayton would prefer to bag as many trophies as he can. When the explorers encounter
Tarzan, they at first think they've discovered the missing link, although soon realize that he's as human as they are.
Tarzan finds himself torn between his desire to be with his own kind (and the new, unfamiliar emotions that he feels for
Jane) and his loyalties to the gorilla family that raised him -- especially since
Clayton sees the apes not as friends but as prey. Dominated by fast-paced jungle action sequences,
Tarzan also features voices by
Rosie O'Donnell and
Wayne Knight, as well as new songs by
Phil Collins.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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