TARZAN (1999) Retro Movie Review (THE END OF THE RENAISSANCE)

The final film of the Disney Renaissance is here. Can it end this era on a high note? Find out in my review for "TARZAN" starring Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Alex D. Linz, Rosie O'Donnell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Hawthorne, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, Taylor Dempsey, directed by Kevin Lima, Chris Buck

Patrons
- Ken Ashe
- Elmira Bululukova
- Ryan Czerniak

#Tarzan #DisneyRenaissance #WaltDisneyAnimation

[joshmangamer]

Great review man I also enjoyed the movie myself and I do feel like it was a great send-off to the Disney Renaissance and it really end off the Renaissance on a high note and I do think Clayton is in okay villain he's not as good as some of the other Disney villains that came before him but I do feel like he was just an okay villain regardless though but I am excited to see your review for Fantasia 2000 tomorrow but still a great job on your review for Tarzan I'm on the same page view is a highly underrated gem in Disney's library so I do agree with you it is a highly overlooked Disney film.

[MattThePharaohWizard]

I don't think the animals were literally talking. Tarzan could understand them put they showed that by speaking in the movie but they weren't literally speaking.

[ryandt]

Meanwhile, back in Burbank, the animators were hard at work on their next project. They decided to take a break from international legends, and instead, their next animated Disney film would take a similar route to Hunchback, in which they would adapt a classic novel onto the screen. This time, instead of Victor Hugo, they were going to take the pages of: "Edgar Rice Borroughs", and turn them into this movie.

It was ultimately inevitable that Disney Animation would make a Tarzan movie. There had been plenty of movie adaptations of Tarzan in the past, but never an animated one. Since animation seemed like the perfect medium to adapt the story, in: "1995", Michael Eisner hired the director of A Goofy Movie: "Kevin Lima", to take on the project as his next helming job, and Lima immediately accepted it. For two months, he studied the book and what really caught his attention was the scene where Tarzan and Jane have their hands together which he felt was a symbolic moment that would play a key part in finding the heart of the story to present Tarzan's search for his own identity.

The screenplay was written by: "Tab Murphy", and in the original draft, Tarzan was actually going to leave the jungle and move to England with Jane like he did in the book. But Lima wasn't fond of that idea as it didn't go well the movie's theme of family and it doesn't give much intensity that there's much danger going on. So to fix the problem, the team created: "Clayton". Technically, there was a Clayton in the original book, but the only similarities they had were... the name. As for the original villain of the book: "Kerchack", his role got switched to emphasize that he was the responsible leader of the gorillas while refusing to accept Tarzan as his own son.

Later on, they brought in: "David Reyonds", and "Noni White", to add some humor, in order to lighten up the mood of the story.

When they were auditioning for Tarzan, Tony Goldwyn ended up winning the audition because of his ability to imitate animals. Sadly though, he wasn't able to do the signature Tarzan yell, so that was instead done by Clayton's voice actor: "Brian Blessed". Originally, Terk was going to be male, but then they switched the character over to being a tomboy after Rosie O'Donnel landed the part.

While Tarzan might've seemed like a simple character to animate as he's just a guy who acts like a gorilla, those qualities actually made him more difficult to draw. Because he's almost naked, he had to feature a real muscular anatomy to moving like a real person, and behaving like an animal. So they hired the Professor of Anatomy to give them a full understanding of how Tarzan's body works, resulting in him being the first Disney character to show working muscles.

The team also wanted to develop a special 3D background with the traditional look of the movie, but that would also allow the camera to be swinging around with Tarzan. So they developed a new software called: "Deep Canvas", which allowed the animators to create the environment in CG, which resulted in the 2D Tarzan surfing around a 3D world, while still looking like it was handmade.

At the time, Disney was on a roll with making musicals. Lima decided to not have the characters sing because it would just seem awkward if this half naked guy suddenly burst out into song in the middle of the jungle. But the movie still required to create some hit songs, and since they wanted the percussion to match with the African theming, they hired Phil Collins to work on the film's soundtrack. The songs he wrote for the movie were meant to reflect on Tarzan during their respected scenes. Since it was translated into the most languages for Disney at the time, Phil recorded the songs in 4 of those languages:

- English

- French

- Spanish

&

- Italian

When the movie came out on June, 1999, it was the first major motion picture to be produced and mastered digitally. It came out as the theatrical king of the jungle. It was a huge hit at the box office, making $448, 000, 000, and the critics admired the hard work that was put into the film, the Phil Collins songs, and the state of the art animation.

It even got a couple of awards, including a Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album, and an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Song with: "You'll Be in My Heart".

As Tarzan swung Disney into a better position for their animated films, nothing could prepare them for what was to come. A new era was beginning, meaning that the Disney Renaissance... was over.

[Father_of_Death]

My only gripe about this movie is it's surprisingly violent and full of peril for a G rating.

[joshmangamer]

You forgot to mention about the villain Clayton that was in the movie what were your thoughts on the villain Clayton.

[williamclarke]

I agree this was a solid ending to this era. Like Mulan, this was another film I saw a lot in school. The characters were fun and the comic relief didn't annoy me that much. The Phil Collins songs were great though when it came to Brother Bear....yeah we'll get to that.
Im surprised you didn't mention Clayton as hes my favorite part and had one of the more gruesome deaths in any Disney film.

[joshmangamer]

Also cannot wait for your review for Atlantis the Lost empire that one is considered the most underrated in the most underappreciative Disney animated film to come out in Disney's library.

[joshmontemayor]

This isn't the only Disney movie Phil Collins did songs for. He also did the songs for Brother Bear back in 2003. This & Brother Bear were my introduction to Phil Collins.

[cherylw]

I thought tarzan was speaking in gorilla to the gorillas and they are communicating with the elephant I guess they can understand each other but they're speaking animal languages but we(the watchers, breaking the 4th wall) are listening in English. Then Jane is speaking actual English to Tarzan so he's having a little trouble learning how to speak. My critic is that Jane is British so why does Tarzan have an American accent? Lol

[SirTyJensen]

Tarzan was good, I seen it three times. I had the PlayStation game which was good.

[walthersorsa]

One of my favorite Disney movies of all time.
Maybe because i like how different Disney movie this is compare to others.
I personnally love songs and music in Tarzan and i will defend it The day i die.
This movie also introduce me to Phil Collins and since than im became fan of his music just like how Lion King introduce me to Sir Elton John.
I felt that Doug Walker aka Nostalgia Critic went too childish on his review in my opinon, but that his opinon.
Sorry guys, but his is very hit and miss for me, but back on Tarzan.
I also love the movies themes like families are very important and there is always someone with you and this film has a lot of heart.
Very overlooked Disney movie in my opinon.
Great review Alex and take care and stay safe 👍.

[Randomshit]

South Park bigger longer and uncut came out in 1999