BACKGROUND
When Tarzan was released in 1999, Disney hoped it would make more of an impact than some of the previous “Disney Renaissance” movies. Hercules (1997) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) had not performed as well as expected, and did not receive the same attention or accolades as the likes of The Lion King (1994) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).
Luckily, Tarzan did perform well at the box-office and took the Disney Animation department in a new direction, with an increased use of CGI technology; a move away from the typical fairy-tale approach; and a step back from the Broadway-musical style. Despite all that, some say that Tarzan was the movie that set Disney Animation off on a new path to failure, since, by dismissing the well-used, tried and tested formula of the early “Disney Renaissance”, it meant that Disney made a series of either inadequate, underperforming movies, or disappointing, major flops after Tarzan, a trend that went on for almost a decade.
Tarzan has much more of a mixed reaction to it than I thought. I have always loved Tarzan. I think we probably watched it at the cinema when it first came out, but I do distinctly remember watching it at a “kids club” while on holiday in Cyprus around the time of its release. So, I’ve been disappointed to find that amongst the general articles detailing Tarzan’s legacy and movie history, there are also multiple essays picking holes in the plotline of Tarzan and/or discussing its “complicated history” and describing it as a “disappointment”. It’s a strange mixture of opinions. Perhaps it has something to do with the number of adaptations of the novel that exist today, or maybe people just don’t think much of the character of Tarzan and his story anymore.
PLOT
Regardless of your opinion on Tarzan, everyone knows the basic story: a man is raised by gorillas in the jungle and then meets humans for the first time. Disney’s movie starts off with an intense opening sequence of both a human family and a gorilla family. The humans have been stranded in the jungle after escaping a boat fire with their small baby. They decide to build a treehouse to survive in the jungle. This is paralleled with a gorilla family, who have a small baby too, however, soon that baby is killed by a leopard, known as Sabor, leaving the parents heartbroken. Later, the mother gorilla hears a strange crying, and follows the noise to a treehouse where she finds a baby, alone, with evidence of Sabor having attacked whoever else lived there. The mother gorilla, Kala, decides to raise the baby herself, but sees the leopard is still there, waiting for its next prey. Kala and the baby escape, leaving Sabor tangled in some ropes. Kala is allowed to keep the baby, after some discussion, but still to the reluctance of her partner, and leader of the gorilla pack, Kerchak.
Five years later, the baby, called Tarzan, has grown, however, struggles to fit in with the other gorillas, with relations between him and Kerchak still strained. Tarzan is determined to belong and after an incident of Tarzan trying to fit in starts an elephant stampede, he feels even worse about himself, until Kala tells him they aren’t so different. He is determined to be “the best ape ever” anyway. The movie jumps fifteen years where Tarzan is friends with Terk and Tantor, an elephant he met during the unfortunate stampede, and has figured out how to act within the gorilla family, though Kerchak still is not fond of him. That is, until Sabor attacks the family, and Kerchak, injured, is saved by Tarzan, who kills the leopard, thus getting at least a small bit of respect and admiration from Kerchak.
The reconciliation is cut short by the sound of a gunshot. Kerchak, concerned, tells the group to move out. Tarzan, however, follows the sound, and finds three strangers – who look just like him. Curious, he follows them, which is good, because soon, the woman, Jane, upsets an angry pack of baboons who chase her through the jungle, and Tarzan has to save her from being killed. Once the baboons have left, Tarzan stares at Jane, confused about why she looks like him, and why he can’t understand her. After a few awkward moments, Jane asks Tarzan to take her to her camp, where they find that Terk, Tantor, and some of the other gorillas have destroyed most of their belongings. This is where Jane learns that Tarzan is one of the gorillas; Tarzan leaves with them. Jane then tells her father, and Clayton, their “guide”, about her confusing ordeal.
The next day, Jane is explaining her encounter with the “ape man” further, when he appears, just when the other two think she’s gone mad! Thinking Tarzan can help them find the gorillas, they teach Tarzan English and about humankind, whilst Tarzan and Jane also start to develop feelings for each other. Tarzan refuses to take them to the gorillas, not wanting to go against Kerchak, but when he realises that Jane is leaving soon, he relents and takes them to the group, using Terk and Tantor as bait to lead Kerchak away. This goes well, for a while, until Kerchak unexpectedly returns. Tarzan holds Kerchak back so they can escape, and becomes angry at his mother for keeping his true identity from him. Kala takes Tarzan to his parents’ treehouse for the first time, telling him he can choose whether to leave with the humans, or stay with them. Tarzan decides to go to England with Jane.
However, as they are about to board the boat, Tarzan, Jane, and her father find they have been double-crossed by Clayton and his men, who imprison them and the ship’s crew, before going ashore to capture the gorillas and take them back to England to sell them. Tarzan is angry at leaving his family in danger and finds he is not being able to free everyone from the steel cage. Luckily, Tantor and Terk board the ship, sensing danger after hearing Tarzan yelling. They fight the guards with the roof of the cage breaking under Tantor’s weight. Now freed, Tarzan, Jane and her father rush to the mainland to defeat Clayton and his men, who are attacking the gorillas, with ropes, guns, and flares, before throwing them in cages. As Tarzan returns, they decide to take what they can, which includes Kala. Jane races over to free her, with Tarzan coming to her aid with a crowbar to open the cage. Now, Tarzan must fight off Clayton, who has shot Kerchak, and also him. They take the fight into the trees, where Tarzan breaks Clayton’s gun, so he can do no damage. But Clayton simply pulls out a knife and threatens Tarzan with it. In defence, Tarzan throws vines onto Clayton to stop him, but Clayton pulls and cuts at the vines, which tighten around his throat, until he freefalls down. Thanks to a well-timed lightning flash, we see a silhouette of Clayton’s lifeless body, hanging in the vines…
Kerchak lays dying, and apologies to Tarzan for not making him feel like he belonged with them, when he did all along. Kerchak makes Tarzan the new leader of the group. Despite his feelings for Jane, Tarzan now knows his duty is to stay in the jungle. Jane and Porter go to board their ship to return home. Porter encourages Jane to remain in the jungle with Tarzan, because she loves him. Jane jumps out of the boat and swims to Tarzan where she greets him with an awkward kiss. Porter also decides to jump out and stay in the jungle, telling the ship’s captain to say they never found them; people get lost in the jungle all the time! The gorillas are overenjoyed to find that Jane is staying with Tarzan, and the film ends happily with them all adjusted to their new lives.
Tarzan is based on the 1912 story Tarzan of the Apes, by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, with the story first being published as a novel in 1914. The novel actually spans dozens of sequels, but Disney’s Tarzan is based on the first one. There are differences between the novel and the movie, with some notable ones being that Kerchak kills Tarzan’s father; Tarzan finds his parents’ treehouse at a young age, so knows humans exist from that point, even teaching himself to read English; Tarzan kills Kerchak in the novel; Jane leaves the jungle to travel back to the USA, where she plans to marry Clayton, who is a Viscount, not a hunter; and Tarzan leaves the jungle to go to Europe, before following Jane to the US. In the sequel novel, Tarzan finally marries Jane, but they are not together in the first book. Some of the novel’s characters have also been excluded from the movie, such as a tribe of African settlers, and French naval officer Paul D’Arnot,. Another interesting point is that Tarzan is known to be the son of Viscount and Lady Greystoke, with his name being John Clayton II, meaning Clayton is actually his cousin, who takes control of their English estate after the family’s disappearance[1]. Although Tarzan’s lineage is not mentioned in the Disney movie, it’s interesting to think that Clayton and Tarzan are cousins and that Tarzan is actually a nobleman by birth!
CHARACTERS & CAST
We first see Tarzan in the movie as a baby, quite a curious one, as we see when he meets Kala for the first time. He isn’t scared though, and that’s something that we see throughout his life; he certainly isn’t timid and is just curious about the world around him, especially when he meets Jane and the others. As he gets older, Tarzan feels more and more like he doesn’t belong with the gorillas, despite his efforts to fit in. When he does meet the humans, it makes him even more confused about where he really belongs, and becomes torn between his duty to his family, but wanting to be around the people who look like him and can teach him about his real species. He feels angry at his mother for not telling him about his birth parents earlier, and is upset at never being fully welcomed into the family, thanks to Kerchak’s lack of approval. When Tarzan meets Jane, things start to make sense for him, and he feels like he’d be better off in England with them, even if that breaks his mother’s heart, and his. Tarzan is loyal to those he loves, and will protect them at any cost, as we see at the end of the movie, when he races in to save his gorilla family. This culminates in a touching scene between him and Kerchak where Kerchak finally sees him as his son, and Tarzan becomes the new accepted leader.
The character of Tarzan was animated primarily by Glen Keane, working with a group of thirteen other animators at Disney Animation’s Paris studio, meaning that some parts of the film were made in France, while others were created in the studio in California. He wanted to draw Tarzan as he was written, as the live-action actors who had played Tarzan had not been able to do the character justice, simply because they could not move in the way the character did. This is something that Edgar Rice Burroughs had agreed with from as early as 1936; that animation would be the best medium to bring his hero to life on screen[2]. It was important to make his movements as fluid as possible, and to experiment with how he used his environment. “Tree surfing” was very much Keane’s idea, and is frequently used in the movie. He drew inspiration from his son’s skateboarding and love of extreme sports[3]. Glen Keane believed that animating Tarzan would be simpler than designing other characters, as clothes and drapes of fabrics would not have to be thought about, however, it was actually more challenging because instead, Keane had to accurately capture human muscles, with a professor of anatomy even superimposing drawings of correct muscles over the top of the Tarzan drawings so Keane could make corrections[4].
Tarzan is voiced by Tony Goldwyn. Goldwyn has appeared on television in series such as the ABC political drama Scandal (2012-18) as President Fitzgerald Grant III, and in films like Ghost (1990), where he played Carl Bruner, Divergent (2014) and its sequel Insurgent (2015) as Andrew Prior, Tris’ father, and most recently Oppenheimer (2023) where he portrayed Gordon Gray. Disney were pleased with his strong voice and the fact that he was a good mimic, so could do the animal noises that Tarzan makes throughout the movie. There is some debate, though, around the iconic Tarzan yells. Brian Blessed has been credited with them, however, in an interview at the D23 Expo in 2019, footage was shown of Goldwyn making the iconic call, with the directors claiming Goldwyn’s one was used. I have seen both actors do it, and neither sound like the one in the movie, so who knows! Maybe it’s a combination of both?
Jane is Tarzan’s love interest in the movie. I’ve always liked Jane, because she wasn’t just pretty and sweet; she was both incredibly intelligent and very funny, something that Disney’s leading ladies didn’t used to be at this time. She’s also creative and inquisitive, which gets her into trouble around the gorillas and the baboons in the jungle. Her relationship with Tarzan is very sweet, though she doesn’t allow herself to love him initially because they come from two different worlds and she doesn’t think it will work. She even resigns herself to being separated from him for ever by going back to England, until her father persuades her otherwise. Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, to use his full name, is not a major character in the movie, however, him and Jane have a great relationship with each other, being able to tease each other, and having their studies in common. Nigel Hawthorne, the voice of Porter, as well as that of Fflewddur Fflam in The Black Cauldron (1985), brought warmth and intelligence to the character, who could’ve so easily ended up as a bumbling buffoon! Hawthorne had also starred in the British sitcoms Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister (1980-88) as Sir Humphrey Appleby, and won a BAFTA for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George III in the movie The Madness of King George (1994). Jane is inspired by conservationists Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. Jane is voiced by Minnie Driver, best known for her work on TV sitcom Speechless (2016-19), along with Good Will Hunting (1997), and The Phantom of the Opera (2004). She does a great job with the character, and even improvised the scene of Jane describing her meeting with Tarzan, resulting in one of the longest animated scenes being created, which took around seven weeks to animate[5].
For Tarzan’s gorilla “parents”, Kala and Kerchak couldn’t be more different. Kala and Tarzan’s relationship is at the heart of the film. She is loving and nurturing, teaching him that it’s what’s inside that counts, and that in actual fact humans and gorillas aren’t so different. She also learns to let go, saying that Tarzan “will always be in her heart” regardless of whether he chooses to go to England or stay with them. Decorated stage and screen actress Glenn Close, the voice of Kala, was very interested in playing a mother in a Disney animated movie. Close had worked with Disney before, from playing the role of Cruella de Vilin the live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000), a character who is the complete opposite of Kala! Kerchak on the other hand is the stepfather figure to Tarzan. He doesn’t initially want Kala to adopt Tarzan, but relents, though he makes it clear that just because he can stay, “that doesn’t make him my son”. Tarzan spends much of the first part of the movie trying to avoid Kerchak and doing anything he can to not annoy him, before trying to gain his approval. At the end, just before his death, we get to see a different side to Kerchak, where he apologies for his behaviour, and accepts that Tarzan has always been his son; he gets a chance at redemption. Kerchak is voiced by actor Lance Henriksen, who has had roles in films such as the Alien franchise, where he played Bishop, as well as doing voice work for movie, television and video games.
Then there are Terk and Tantor, Tarzan’s childhood friends. Terk is a lovable gorilla, despite her being loud, overly confident, and a bit bratty, but she is a good friend to Tarzan, and helps him out when she can. She’s also very funny and quite the show woman, so that helps the audience connect with her. Terk and Tarzan are very close and have been since they were young. Rosie O’Donnell was brought on to voice Terk, giving the character the tomboy vibe that the team wanted. O’Donnell began her career in comedy, before acting and hosting her own daytime talk show The Rosie O’Donnell show from 1996 to 2002. Tantor is a neurotic, germophobic elephant who Tarzan and Terk meet partway through the movie, when they are about six years old. Tantor likes his peace and quiet, but can’t find a lot of that around those two! He’s the one to convince Terk that Tarzan needs their help at the end, proving that, although he is scared of things, he will push through it for others. Wayne Knight is the voice of Tantor, though Woody Allen was in the initial line-up for the role before being poached by Jeffrey Katzenberg to voice the lead character in the DreamWorks film Antz (1998). In the 1990s, Knight was perhaps best known for playing Newman in Seinfeld (1992-98) and Officer Orville in 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) as well as for being in Jurassic Park (1993). He would voice the character of Al for Pixar’s Toy Story 2, released in November 1999, five months after Tarzan.
Then we come to the villains of the movie: Sabor and Clayton. It is not just coincidence that once Sabor is killed by Tarzan, we then meet Clayton as the two were both created to be parallel to each other, with the colour palettes of the characters even being similar. Sabor is just a leopard, doing what he does because of his nature; he’s a predator in the jungle, he’s supposed to hunt things. On the other hand, Clayton is a game hunter with a hidden agenda: to capture all the gorillas and sell them for a lot of money, under the guise of being Jane and Porter’s guide and protector. Clayton is suave and charming on the surface, but brutal and malicious underneath[6]. He’s a great villain, one of the better Disney ones I think, though he is not referenced so much in the Disney villain franchise, which is a shame. Clayton has one of the more horrifying deaths, as he ultimately ends up being hung by vines. It’s not something I ever noticed as a child, so it’s not like it’s traumatising, but the image of his silhouette hanging in the jungle is quite haunting and quite a push for Disney, whose villains mostly disintegrate or fall from great heights so you don’t have to see anything too grisly! Clayton is voiced by legendary English actor Brian Blessed, known for so many performances, such as Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980), Lord Locksley in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), and for originating the role of Bustopher Jones in the London cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre show Cats in 1981.
MUSIC
The songs for Tarzan were written by Phil Collins, known for both his solo career and for being the drummer, and later lead singer, in the band Genesis. Collins wrote five songs for the movie. He had been asked to wait until the team had fleshed out the story, but Collins had been so inspired from reading the novel that he ended up sending across multiple draft songs, with three ending up in the final movie. “Two Worlds” was the first song to be written by Collins, and is used for the whole opening sequence, showing the two “worlds” that Tarzan will become a part of. It is also reprised at the end of the movie, when Jane and her father become part of the two worlds as well.
Then, there is “Son of Man”, which plays during the “time jump” sequence, where Tarzan is growing up, figuring out what role he plays within the family. This is my favourite song and scene in the movie, because it’s optimistically hopeful and cheery, and full of funny sequences of Tarzan being taught by Terk how to act like a gorilla. Though a close second-favourite of mine is both the scene and song of “Strangers Like Me”, which accompanies the scenes of Jane teaching Tarzan about the human world, where the two start to fall in love. “Trashin’ the Camp” is a bit different to the other songs, as it is very percussion-centric, something that Phil Collins was well-known for. It demonstrates the sounds that the objects in the human camp make as Terk, Tantor and the gorillas break, destroy and turn over everything in the camp, with some “doo-wop” vocals from Terk. It’s another good song, and is very catchy, with a great beat. It might sound simple, but according to Collins, it was difficult to achieve. Phil Collins also recorded a version of this song with NSYNC for the Tarzan soundtrack.
Finally, “You’ll Be in My Heart” was written with his daughter in mind, to be a lullaby to her[7]. Apparently, this song was written during Christmas dinner at a neighbour’s house. At the beginning, Phil Collins was reluctant to be a part of Tarzan, as he didn’t think he could write story-telling songs to fit a typical Disney musical. Directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck flew to Switzerland to persuade him to come on to the movie as they wanted a percussive-style for the music to separate it from the other Disney “jungle” movie, The Lion King (1994). Collins said he would try. “You’ll Be in My Heart” would go on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1999, and the soundtrack would win the Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album[8] – so I think he did more than “just try”! As well as this, Phil Collins recorded many of the songs in different languages, such as French, German, Italian, and Spanish, for the releases of Tarzan in other countries. It was the first time Collins had ever done that. Collins would collaborate with Disney again for the music on Brother Bear (2003).
Mark Mancina was brought on to compose the score, having worked as an additional composer and music arranger on The Lion King soundtrack, before working on the score for the theatre adaptation. He would work with Phil Collins again for Brother Bear (2003), and for Disney again by composing the score for Moana (2016) alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda. Mancina and Collins made sure to work collaboratively together to ensure the music kept the same style throughout the movie[9].
PRODUCTION
Originally, it was thought that Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted to make Tarzan as a TV adaptation, to be made from a new Disney studio in Canada. Kevin Lima at the time was in the middle of post-production on A Goofy Movie (1995), which had been partly produced by the Disney Television Animation department. This was Lima’s directorial debut. Katzenberg approached Lima to direct this new Tarzan adaptation, however Lima was unsure about adapting Tarzan via the television animation route and did not accept. Katzenberg left Disney in 1994. From this point, Lima was approached by then-CEO Michael Eisner to adapt Tarzan as an animated feature film. Lima agreed and brought in Chris Buck to co-direct, who had just finished working on Pocahontas (1995) as supervising animator. Lima and Buck knew they would not make Tarzan in a musical style, as they felt that Tarzan singing, and swinging through vines in his loincloth would look ridiculous. I have to agree. This route forward was boosted by Bonnie Arnold coming on to the movie as producer, having just produced the Pixar smash-hit Toy Story (1995), as Pixar used their music as more of a commentary to the story and did not have their characters sing[10].
In March 1996, the production team went on a research trip to Africa for inspiration, both around animals and vegetation. They took multiple rolls of footage, making sure to notice the smallest details. They went on safari, toured reserves in Kenya, and saw mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where they observed the special family relationships that gorilla groups have, as well as appreciating the beauty of the jungle, and feeling the all-encompassing nature of it[11].
Part of what made Tarzan so brilliant to look at was the specific software that was created to design the convincing jungle landscapes. It was called Deep Canvas, a computer-based tool used to enhance the depth of the backgrounds. It also allowed for more movement and flexibility in how the camera moved around its backgrounds. For example, the use of camera motions like this is most evident in the rollercoaster-style sequences of Tarzan “tree surfing”, the baboon chase with Jane and Tarzan, as well as the vine swinging shots in the tree canopies. These sequences using Deep Canvas totalled around ten minutes of the 88-minute running time. The moving background environments were created in computer-generated shapes to give a full 3D look. Once these backgrounds were computer-animated, then the hand-drawn characters were added to them, before painting the backgrounds digitally. This whole process took hours, compared to months, to execute the correct painterly finish[12]. The Deep Canvas technology would then be used for other Disney animated films, like Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002), before winning a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2003[13].
As usual, not every scene developed for Tarzan made it to the final edit of the film. The film had an alternate opening, which would’ve involved Tarzan’s father writing at his desk in their newly built treehouse during a strong storm before being attacked by Sabor, the leopard. This opening seemed quite dark, and makes the demise of Tarzan’s parents much too obvious, rather than just alluding to it. Secondly, the “exploring the human camp” scene was extended, with Terk “volunteering” to check out the place. Terk realises none of the objects can hurt them, so they continue their search for Tarzan. This scene was edited out due to it being unnecessary to the plot. Finally, the final battle between Clayton and Tarzan was originally to have taken place on a riverboat, with lots of gunfire, explosions, and fire. This was ultimately not used as it didn’t feel like a fitting ending; Disney felt Tarzan should have his final fight in the jungle[14].
RECEPTION
Tarzan was released in June 1999, and did very well at the box office. It made $450 million worldwide against a budget of $130 million, so it was deemed a success in that way, with the visuals being a standout feature of the movie. Although, other reviews criticised the comic relief characters, and did not like Phil Collins’ music. They also found the romance between Tarzan and Jane weak, and did not understand the removal of all African characters from the movie. In regards to specific issues with characters and music, this is simply about personal preference. I personally like the music, and I think Tarzan and Jane are a great couple; I believed their romance wholeheartedly, both as a child and an adult. I also do not have a problem with the comic-relief characters. Focusing on the comments around race, this is something Disney get picked up on often. I understand that now we are looking to be more inclusive and diverse in our use of characters in the entertainment industry, and that it is important not to cut out a whole section of a source material simply because it could be difficult content to include. Disney stated the removal of the African characters from Tarzan was to ensure the film was not made “over complicated”. That is quite understandable, and as Tarzan is not particularly loyal to the source material, they did not need to include all the characters. Perhaps if Tarzan gets a live-action adaptation, some of these points can be corrected.
LEGACY
With the commercial success of Tarzan, the movie would span quite a franchise for Disney. It first got an animated television series, called The Legend of Tarzan, which directly follows the ending of the movie. This aired for two seasons between 2001 and 2003. There were also two direct-to-video films, with Tarzan & Jane (2002), which used three unaired episodes of the TV series, based one year after the original movie, with Tarzan and Jane celebrating their first wedding anniversary. Then Tarzan II (2005) was released, which takes place within the events of the original movie, set during Tarzan’s childhood. A sequel called Tarzan III was cancelled in 2006. A Broadway musical version of Tarzan was also created, opening in 2006, with international productions taking place up to 2016.
Within the Disney theme parks, there was a theatre show called Tarzan Rocks!, which ran from 1999 to 2006 in the, previously open-air, Theater in the Wild at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. I remember watching this show a few times during my visits. Instead of a retelling of the movie, it was a rock concert experience involving gymnasts, singers, dancers, aerialists, roller-blades, and an aerial ballet between Jane and Tarzan. A live-band played hit songs from the movie. It closed in 2006, in part because of the opening of the Broadway show, and because the theatre was slated for construction work to enclose it fully[15].
At Disneyland, the original Swiss Family Treehouse walkaround attraction, based on the 1960 Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson, was closed on 8th March 1999 to make way for a Tarzan-themed renovation. The attraction Tarzan’s Treehouse opened on 23rd June 1999, with ten feet being added to its height, and live-size fiberglass figures of the characters being added to the rooms, with the story being that Tarzan and Jane moved into his parents’ treehouse in the jungle. Music from the movie was edited to play repeatedly as instrumentals[16]. Sadly, Tarzan’s Treehouse was closed at Disneyland in 2020 to make way for a new treehouse called Adventureland Treehouse, based on the Swiss Family Robinson once more. I’m not really sure why they did this as the reason for refurbishing it to be themed to Tarzan was because most audiences were not familiar with the Swiss Family Robinson story.
Luckily, Tarzan’s Treehouse still exists at Hong Kong Disneyland and has been there since the park’s opening in 2005. To get there, you have to board a log raft to take you over the Rivers of America as the treehouse resides on an island in the middle of the river, which makes it a real event and not something you just pass by.
Tokyo Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris do not have any Tarzan-themed attractions, however, at Shanghai and Paris, there was a stage show based on the film. At Shanghai it was called Tarzan: Call of the Jungle. It was a huge stage production, similar in ways to Tarzan Rocks!, that opened in 2016, but closed three years later in 2019 for unknown reasons. At Disneyland Paris, their stage show was called Tarzan: The Encounter and it opened in April 2000. It ran until 2008, when it was closed, only to be revived in 2011 but closed again in 2012, for unknown reasons. These two stage shows were very similar and featured a rock soundtrack, acrobatics, and dancing.
The characters, such as Jane, Tarzan, and Terk are harder to find these days, though they are most likely to appear at Hong Kong because of its Tarzan-themed attraction and at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Park because of its theming. Most recently, Terk, Tarzan, and Jane, plus even Kala and Kerchak were spotted at the DVC Moonlight Magic event at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2023. Tarzan, Jane, and Terk were also around during Earth Week that same year. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Terk was seen by the rafts to the treehouse a few years ago, but the treehouse has only recently reopened after the pandemic so perhaps Terk and other characters might appear soon.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My overall view of Tarzan has always been that I like the movie. It is one of my favourites, for the music and the characters. Many do agree that visually Tarzan looks stunning, with the jungle landscapes looking incredibly realistic, and the actions scenes being particularly daring and intriguing, even if they did not generally like the movie. Tarzan would be one of Disney’s last “good” animated features for a while, both critically and commercially, as the new millennium would mean Disney became inconsistent with their animated movies, and ended up releasing some real flops, with Pixar and DreamWorks only increasing in popularity over this same period.
Still, Tarzan allowed Disney to do something a bit different, by moving into CGI, and stepping back from their usual formula of fairy-tale retellings with a Broadway twist. It may not be to everyone’s liking, with comparisons between the ever-popular The Lion King (1994) making Tarzan seem lesser, but it was a good chance to experiment with new technologies and to remain faithful to a character who, up until that point, had not lived up to his potential in other Hollywood adaptations.
Tarzan was a success in many more ways than it was a failure, and it gave Disney some confidence and reasoning to experiment with new ideas. It may not be as memorable or beloved as other Disney “Renaissance” films, but it still deserves to be classed as a hit.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes (1912).
[2] Credit: Disney, “From Burroughs to Disney”, from Tarzan (1999) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[3] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? Seven Swinging Facts About Disney’s Tarzan’, D23 (online), 18th June 2019.
[4] Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Tarzan (1999)’, pp. 109-111.
[5] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? Seven Swinging Facts About Disney’s Tarzan’, D23 (online), 18th June 2019.
[6] Credit: Disney, “Creating Characters”, from Tarzan (1999) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[7] Credit: Disney, “The Making of the Music”, from Tarzan (1999) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[8] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? Seven Swinging Facts About Disney’s Tarzan’, D23 (online), 18th June 2019.
[9] Credit: Disney, “The Making of the Music”, from Tarzan (1999) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[10] Credit: Josh Spiegel, ‘Disney’s ‘Tarzan’ Was A Hit – So Why Is It Remembered As A Disappointment?’, SlashFilm (online), 8th October 2019.
[11] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? Seven Swinging Facts About Disney’s Tarzan’, D23 (online), 18th June 2019.
[12] Credit: Steve Daly, ‘”Tarzan” changes the face of animation’, Entertainment Weekly (online), 9th July 1999.
[13] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? Seven Swinging Facts About Disney’s Tarzan’, D23 (online), 18th June 2019.
[14] Credit: Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Tarzan (1999) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[15] Credit: Dave Shute, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: The “Extinct” Shows of Theater in the Wild’, YourFirstVisit.Net, date unknown.
[16] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Story of Tarzan’s Treehouse’, MousePlanet (online), 18th April 2018.
The Disney Purist 