Review of Tarzan: Collector`s Edition

Introduction

Based on the book, "Tarzan of the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this tale is Disney`s interpretation of the classic story. The story of Tarzan has been told numerous times since the book was written (about 47 classic adaptations were made!) and starred the likes of Christopher Lambert in `Greystoke`, to Johnny Weissmuller in countless Tarzan films and of course Mr Norton`s favourite, Miles O`Keefe. Don`t forget there was once an animated series, called Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle (I think) that used to be on BBC1. He used to always say "...and this is my domain...", whatever happened to that series? Anyway, sorry about the tangent... :-)

This is the story of a man raised by gorillas who matures into an `adoptive` gorilla himself living in the wild with no concept of his own true identity. He was adopted by Kala, a female gorilla who lost her own baby to tragic circumstances. When Tarzan was an infant, having lost his parents to the ravages of a wild cat, along comes Kala who still has maternal instincts. She brings the infant into her nest much to the disdain of the huge and powerful leader, Kerchak.

Tarzan matures and works hard at fitting in with his new family until outsiders arrive in the jungle who are on the lookout for gorillas. Tarzan comes across them and comes to realise that he has more in common with these people, than with his own `family`. Identity crisis sets in and he struggles to please both sides while trying to learn more about humans. Of course, one of the outsiders is Jane who he takes a fancy to and she in turn likes him. This leads to betrayal and conflict when the rest of Tarzan`s gorilla family are put in jeapardy by another of the outsider crew, Clayton, a hunter. He just wants to take them in cages, back to England and collect big money. A fight of survival then ensues with Tarzan trying to maintain loyalty to the family that raised him.

I was a big Weissmuller fan, he had Jane, and then had `Boy` too. There were loads of films and it was never a chore to watch. Well, Johnny was pretty cool to me as a pre-pubescent and impressionable boy. So how does Disney`s version stack up against what I`d been a fan of? Would I still like it as much? Could an animated tale be as interesting?

Video

The 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer is incredible. I was stunned when I first saw Tarzan in the cinema and it`s the same here at home. The quality of the digital transfer, with the fantastic colours and detail is astonishing. Once you get over this, there`s the perfect balance of well saturated colours and seamless CGI adding to a rich visual experience. Coming directly from the digital source, there are no signs of compression or other digital artefacts.

Audio

Tarzan comes with a Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtrack and I have to say that the sound throughout the film is very good. You certainly get the impression of a very wide soundstage across the front speakers with dialogue coming in clearly from centre stage. The surrounds too are used, but not overly so and provide a good level of ambience. I would have liked a bit more of this jungle atmosphere, especially in the quieter scenes and would have loved to have been immersed in this place!

The thought of Phil Collins might at first seem an odd choice to provide the main theme and some of the songs. In practise however it seems to work quite well, and coupled with an amazing orchestral score from Mark Mancina, the music side of things is typical Disney. Spot on!

Features

Disc one has nice static menus with scene selection and audio/subtitle options. In addition to English language, there`s French and Spanish audio. There`s English and Spanish subtitles too, plus an English audio description track called, `TheaterVision`.

If you listen with TheaterVision on, you`ll hear narration for the visually impaired or blind. I listened to this for a few minutes and I`m impressed. It`s nice to see extra features supported for the widest possible audience. Tony Goldyn provides narration and is also the character voice for Tarzan in the film. If you have a PC running Windows, you can run the DVD-Rom portion of the disc one which has a game demo, Trivia Game and Read Along too.

Lastly on disc one there`s the audio commentary from producer Bonnie Arnold and directors Chris Buck and Kevin Lima. As commentaries go it`s interesting.

Disc two is the supplemental disc and has quite a lot on it. Animated menus lead to History and Development, The Music of Tarzan, Story and Editorial, The Characters of Tarzan, Animation Production and Publicity. Each one of these leads to a further breakdown covering a large amount of extra information. From an early presentation reel and the African research trips to the music of the film with videos and demos to character design, abandoned sequences and trailers.

The concept art is simply fantastic! I love Disney`s conceptual artwork and pour over the Disney books in minute detail so to see this stuff for Tarzan is cool too. There`s a slew of stuff to get through here and I think it just adds more to the whole film. It`s all enjoyable stuff, if like me, you`re interested in the whole process. You`ll also see amazing camera moves with seamless CGI using a system called `Deep Canvas`. It`s a three dimensional paint process which Disney use to marry traditional animation with this new 3D solution and if you didn`t know it used a computer, you`d think it was all hand animated. It`s that effective.

Just one thing though, the lack of a `play all` option is sadly missing. Lastly but not leastly, there`s the Tarzan inlay. This features some production info as well as chapter breaks and a navigational overview of disc two.

Conclusion

It`s the opening that grabs you, the colours, the sound, the sheer `life` in the animation backed with a well defined score and songs from Phil Collins. This is Disney at its best, utilising contemporary themes with a classic story.

It looks as though Disney`s ideas on reinventing the concept of Tarzan as we know it has worked. It claims to be more faithful to Burrough`s depiction which could well be seeing that animation is really the only way to try and recreate the original story. Here we have a Tarzan who`s just as at home on all fours as he is on two legs. There are lots of small things too which just seem a natural fit for Tarzan. Did you know that Tarzan was animated in Paris, and Jane was done in L.A.? The CGI too is draw dropping! Johnny Weissmuller was never like this, and I think that to date he`s the best live action Tarzan I`ve seen.

I would have liked the story here to be stronger in one key area and that`s the relationship between Tarzan and the leader of the gorilla family, Kerchak. There`s conflict between them but for such a powerful gorilla as Kerchak is, his role seems a bit underplayed. Some more exertion of authority over the nest might have been better. This aside, the story is told well enough and remains a very enjoyable film.

Each of Disney`s animated features have a certain uniqueness which for me makes it memorable. From the opening chorus in Hans Zimmer`s beautiful scoring of The Lion King, to Robin Williams over the top and superb genie in Aladdin, to Lumiere and Cogsworth in Beauty & The Beast. Tarzan has an opening giving you an overview of what happens to Tarzan`s parents when he was a mere infant in losing his parents, and then there`s the identifying loss of Carla`s baby, all to the crooning of Phil Collins. If the vibrancy of the transfer doesn`t get you first, you might miss what`s actually going on.

The voice talent is nothing short of top notch too. As with a lot of animated films with famous voices, it`s hard to place where you`ve heard a particular actor until you see the end credits. We get Minnie Driver (Jane), Lance Henriksen (Kerchak), Tony Goldyn (Tarzan), Glen Close (Kala), Brian Blessed (Hunter Clayton), Nigel Hawthorne (Professor Archimedes) and Rosie O`Donnell (Terk) to name but seven.

Disney has had its ups and downs with feature animation and it all started to come together again with a superb run which included Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. There have been some others like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Pixar movies, but nothing as groundbreaking and wowing as the previous three mentioned here. Tarzan sees a return to form for the animation giant and all I can say is that it`s got all the common ingredients of a typical Disney blockbuster movie. It`s just dressed differently is all.

The pacing, the editing, the direction, the wonderful and seamless CGI of Tarzan all add up to an emotionally charged film, that has wide ranging appeal for kids and adults alike and is one not to be missed. This collector`s edition Disney DVD is simply a must for any animation enthusiast, or those just wanting a feel good movie with great picture and sound. Heartily recommended.