Tarzan

Theatrical Release Date: 1999 06 18 (USA)

UPC: 786936264524

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Suitable for Children]

Summary: 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, Rovi

Category: Adventure

Awards: Best Original Song – null Best Original Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Song – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: cc"Terk's Tree-Surfing Challenge" -- three all-new games
"DisneyPedia: Living in the Jungle"
Deleted scenes including alternate opening
Filmmakers' audio commentary
All-new music video featuring the wildly popular Everlife
Music videos featuring Phill Collins and *NSYNC

Tarzan

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 10/18/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Vistavision

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD5.0 Dolby Digital 5.0

Runtime: 88 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Tarzan
1. Main Title/"Two Worlds" [3:22]
2. Kala's Discovery [2:46]
3. A Narrow Escape [2:08]
4. Adopted [2:43]
5. "You'll Be in My Heart" [1:37]
6. Young Tarzan [1:41]
7. Pest Control [2:25]
8. Baby Tantor [1:15]
9. Piranha! [:57]
10. Outcast [1:40]
11. Hand to Hand [2:00]
12. "Son of Man!" [2:47]
13. Monkeying Around [:53]
14. Sabor Attacks [4:19]
15. Explores [3:08]
16. The Baby Baboon [1:01]
17. Tarzan to the Rescue [2:37]
18. Treetop Introductions [4:05]
19. "Trashin' the Camp" [4:04]
20. Jane's Rant [1:54]
21. Tarzan Confronts Kerchak [1:00]
22. Tarzan Drops In [1:40]
23. "Strangers Like Me" [3:53]
24. The Boat Arrives [2:43]
25. Distracting Kerchak [1:01]
26. Meeting Tarzan's Family [3:36]
27. Tarzan Defies Kerchak [1:53]
28. The Truth [3:50]
29. Clayton's Trap [2:05]
30. "We Got a Boat to Catch" [2:22]
31. Ambush [3:13]
32. A Fight to the Finish [1:41]
33. "My Son" [2:30]
34. Goodbyes [2:22]
35. Our Family [:55]
36. End Credits [5:56]

Derek Armstrong

In an effort to take its familiar animation style one technological step further, Disney pioneered an effect called "deep canvas" for its big-screen version of Tarzan. The enthralling effect, which tricks the eye into seeing Tarzan's high-speed travels through the jungle in three dimensions, is just one reason to watch this surprisingly affecting tale of a misfit working to reconcile his differences from both apes and humans. At heart, it's an action movie, and a pretty hip one at that -- Tarzan's motions, as he surfs along serpentine tree limbs and hurtles through the vines, are modeled on those of skateboarders. Plus it has a handful of clever set pieces in which no less than a vicious tiger, a sadistic hunter, and a herd of stampeding elephants threaten the safety of the gorillas. Many of these are funny, too -- when the elephants debate whether a prankster Tarzan swimming in their drinking hole might be a piranha, one of them points out that it couldn't be because the piranha is indigenous to South America. But in a way that only Disney can manage, these moments alternate with Tarzan's genuinely touching attempts to earn his keep, such that when he lets out his trademark blood-curdling yell after vanquishing a foe, the swell of pride is contagious. The vocal work is unspectacular, outside of Minnie Driver as a teasingly proper Jane and Wayne Knight as a neurotic elephant. The film could benefit from a slightly smaller dose of Rosie O'Donnell's wisecracking. But the most visually advanced film that Disney had produced at the time is also one of its most loveable, and even Phil Collins' dutifully inspirational score gets swept up in the general joy. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Bob Tzudiker  Screenwriter 
Bonnie Arnold  Producer 
Chris Buck  Director 
Mark Mancina  Composer (Music Score) 
Tab Murphy  Screenwriter 
David Reynolds  Screenwriter 
Noni White  Screenwriter 
Kevin Lima  Director 
Brian Blessed  Actor 
Glenn Close  Actor 
Minnie Driver  Actor 
Tony Goldwyn  Actor 
Nigel Hawthorne  Actor 
Lance Henriksen  Actor 
Wayne Knight  Actor 
Alex D. Linz  Actor 
Rosie O'Donnell  Actor 

Country: USA