TARZAN

US, 1999, 90 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Lance Henrickson, Rosie O' Donnell, Wayne Knight, Brian Blessed, Nigel Hawthorne.
Directed by Chris Buck, Kevin Lima.

Tarzan was a popular Disney film of 1999. it took the basic story of Tarzan, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and featured in so many films. Tarzan was Johnny Weismuller in the 1930s and 1940s, the classic Tarzan. The stories veered from the past to the present day. With a succession of Tarzans in smaller-budget films, the breakthrough for A status was made in Hugh Hudson’s Greystoke in 1983. The film starred Christopher Lambert as Tarzan.

This animated version is in the tradition of The Jungle Book. The film creates the atmosphere of the jungle, has a lot of music and songs (“You’ll Be In My Heart” by Phil Collins being an Oscar-winner for best song). Tarzan is raised by the gorillas, lives comfortably with the animals, encounters humans, especially Jane Porter, and must decide where his future is to be.

Tony Goldwyn, better known as an actor and director (the villain in Ghost, director of The Last Kiss) is the voice of Tarzan and Minnie Driver the voice of Jane. The humans are represented by British Brian Blessed and Nigel Hawthorne. The animals are represented by the voices of Glenn Close, Lance Henrikson, Wayne Knight). Alex D. Linz (Home Alone 3) is the voice of the young Tarzan.

The film was directed by two animators, Chris Buck who went on to make The Surf’s Up and Kevin Lima who went on to make Enchanted.

1.The tradition of the Disney animation films of the 1990s? Style, content, audience impact?

2.The quality and style of the animation, Africa and the jungle, the animals, the humans? Action sequences and movement, editing? The voices and their contribution - serious and comic?

3.The musical score, the range of songs, their place in the plot, character development?

4.The Tarzan tradition and the movies? From silent days to Johnny Weismuller? To the range of Tarzan movies, serious and comic? Audiences familiar with the plot? A Tarzan for the '90s? The age of the target audience, children, adults?

5.The initial storm and its violence, the baby and the family going overboard, on land, the baby, the house, building the house? The vengeful tiger, the violence of the destruction and deaths?

6.The tiger and the confrontation with the gorillas, destroying the gorilla baby? Tarzan and his crying, the mother gorilla finding him, tending him, rescuing him from the tiger, the escape? Kerchan and his ruling of the gorillas, the grief with death of the baby, wariness about taking in Tarzan?

7.Tarzan growing up, playing as a child, the animal children? The baby gorilla, the getting of the elephant's hair? The stampede of the elephants, the baby elephants, mischief and playful?

8.Tarzan, growing up, having to prove himself? His friends, gorillas and elephants? His ability to communicate? The future of his life in the jungle?

9.The sound of the guns, seeing Jane, Porter and Clayton, the expedition, wanting to see the gorillas, nature study and preservation? The contrast with Clayton and his men, wanting to trap the animals for the zoos? Tarzan and Jane meeting? Saving Jane, the chase? His mimicking the voices - learning what humans were, learning to be human?

10.Jane as the intrepid heroine, her fuddy-duddy father? Clayton as the villain, his wheedling information out of Tarzan? Tricking and capturing him and the gorillas? The fight?

11.Tarzan and his friends, Terk, Tantor? The jokes about emotion? Tarzan and his mother, her concern? Kerchan and his wariness of the humans? His mother showing him the house, showing him the clothes, explaining that he was human, offering him the choice?

12.The betrayal by Clayton? His friends coming to the rescue? The guns, the fight with the humans? Kerchan and his death? Tarzan as the new Lord of the Apes?

13.The fight, the cages, the animals? On the boat?

14.His decision to go, with Jane? The call of the wild? His going back, Jane going with him? The exhilaration of the freedom of the jungle, flying through the air?

15.The familiar elements of the Tarzan story, the isolation in the jungle, the animals and humans working together, the comic touches, the scenes of family, loyalties? The issues of the environment and guns? A Tarzan with a message for the 1990s?