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Tarzan - Collector's Edition

Tarzan - Collector's Edition

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny!
Review: This is a great movie, including the characters Tony Goldwyn, and Minnie Driver. I even liked the scene where the monkeys were playing music out of supplies. But next time you should rate it PG for Action Sequences and Brief Rude Humor.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny!
Review: This is a great movie, including the characters Tony Goldwyn, and Minnie Driver, but next time you should rate it PG for Action Sequences and Brief Rude Humor.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dude Of The Jungle
Review: Disney's Tarzan is the coolest Tarzan ever. Where can you find a Tarzan with a deep voice, long braided hair, athletic, powerful jaw, natural imitator, with Phil Collin's soundtrack and the best of all - the greatest tree surfer ever?

The Plot(5 stars). I'm glad how this Edgar Rice Burrough's eternal adaptation was well presented. Disney's version about a wild man discovered in the midst of a remote jungle, raised and brought up by an ape was truly enjoyable. The story was executed with a heart, with some funny and playful moments for the kids (and grown ups too), not to mention how artistically this was visualized for our eyes to fathom.

Likable moments of the film were "The Sabor(leopard) - Tarzan Fight" - great angle and timing and the "The Jane-Baby Monkey Chase" - very hilarious.

This is a story about family, acceptance, leadership, betrayal, friendship and love.

The Players (5 stars). What a great voice cast. Each gave justice to their parts. Tony Goldwyn of "Ghost" as Tarzan is mysterious - like his deep voice. Minnie Driver as Jane is entertaining - like her giggle. Glenn Close as Tarzan's mother Kala is comforting. Lance Henriksen as Tarzan's father Kerchak is authoritative. Brian Blessed as Clayton is mildly sarcastic. And of course Rosie O' Donnell as Trek is a natural attention grabber.

The Production (5 stars). The water is a crystal. The sky is blue and clear. The jungle is green and luscious. Wow, what can I say? The background is realistically visualized, characters are well-animated and the soundtrack/music is fresh - loved it. Don't mind what other people say, the soundtrack is 4 ½ stars beating the film (4 stars) alone, with 195 reviewers (as of this time). So I don't mind giving Phil Collins some credits.

Tarzan is a wonderful entertainment for all ages. Enjoy!

Plot (5 stars x 40%) = 2.0
Players (5 stars x 20%) = 1.0
Production (5 stars x 40%) = 2.0
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Total is 5.0 or 5 stars - perfect; a must-buy.

*For the animation, I gave big emphasize on the production/visualization rather than the actors/voice.
**Check the criteria on how I decide to select stars for movies at my profile. I hope my review helps you a lot. Thanks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie!!
Review: This is the one of the best movies I have seen in years! I personally love animated films but here lately regardless of what you pick out, regular movie or animated, they all [stink]!! Its like no one has imagination anymore. well anyways, the movie starts with tarzan's parents escaping from their burning ship & end up in Africa. At the same time it shows the ape family. (Without giving any details as dont want to ruin the excitement) tarzan ends up with the ape family & grows up. He has 2 main best friends: ape named terk & elephent named tantor. while trying to get acceptance from his ape dad kercheck the humans (mr porter,jane,& clayton) show up. after learning more about the human world, everything comes to a head. tarzan disobeys kercheck & brings the humans to his ape family. he soon relizes how bad humans can be. at the end, clayton is cageing all of tarzan's ape family & plans to take them to England to sale, of course then Tarzan & his friends must save the day! I will not say how he does it, you must watch it for that but what I can say is: This movie is definity a keeper! Just to let you know there are a couple parts when animals & people end up dead but disney does a great job of letting you know exactly what happened but doesnt get graffic & discusting so even small kids can watch this. SO ENJOY!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: That magical Disney touch
Review: Tarzan, Disney's 1999 entry, showed Disney at the top of its game, and in many ways that was why I disliked the film for nearly three years. After watching it a second time recently, I realized that I was being overly critical, and found that now I actually really enjoyed the movie, and am very eager to add this DVD to my collection.

Why did I initially hate Tarzan? The closest comparison I can make is to the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me." By that film, the producers knew what worked and what didn't, and the film was basically a recycling of the best stuff that came before it. Tarzan is in many ways the same, as it borrows heavily from the top-grossing Disney cartoons of the 90's. We have the title card flashed twice, once at the beginning and once at the very end (Lion King). We get an animal stampede (Lion King). There is the authority figure whom our hero has to win over (Mulan), and a montage showing him gradually overcoming his disadvantages (Mulan). Two cultures meet (Pocahontas), and some of the new arrivals have mercenary motivations (Pocahontas). These antagonists trick our hero into betraying his friends (Hunchback), and at the end their leader dies by falling to his death (the list is endless). I've never seen any other Tarzan movie, but on my first viewing I got the feeling that, like Hercules, Disney simply threw stuff together without paying heed to the real story.

However, like The Spy Who Loved Me, none of that matters. If Tarzan had been produced by Warner Bros. or anyone else, it would have been condemmed for all its cliches, recycled material, and plot devices. However, this is Disney, and Disney has a way of sugarcoating its offerings so that even though you know you've seen this before somewhere, you don't really care. All the borrowed material, even the cliches, feel slick and polished, and some work better in Tarzan. Tarzan and Jane are loveable characters with great voice work, and their inital meeting has more meaning than the one between John Smith and Pocahontas.

It also helps that this is, hands down, the best animation I have ever seen. Everything feels three dimensional, especially the tree-surfing scenes. The backgrounds are simply mind-boggling, and the characters all move fluidly and subtlely. It has to be seen to be believed.

Tarzan is a fun movie, and this 2-disc edition is worth the money if you can find it. Yes, I still think the movie is blatently recycling, and Disney must have thought so too, because its latest offerings have all been extremely offbeat (Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis, Lilo and Stich). But really, I don't care anymore! Disney magic rocks, and your kids will be watching this one for a long time to come.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great movie
Review: I loved the animation, the musical score and mostly Tarzan. Tarzan can tree surf and almost fly through the air. This is what Burroughs imagined when he wrote Tarzan, but this could never be accomplished in real life. In the animated world, Tarzan almost flies.

I loved his strained relationship with his ape-father Kurchak. The scene where Tarzan hands the dead leopard to Kurchak and 2 stare into each others' eyes is almost mesmerizing. Unfortunately we never get to see if Kurchak would've accepted him because that's when the humans enter the scene.

I also loved the scene where Tarzan and Jane were sitting in the tree and Tarzan touched his hand to hers. For the first time he saw that there were others like him. This led to a lot of confusion for Tarzan.

He wanted to protect his ape family, but at the same time, wanted Jane to stay in Africa. This leads him to endanger his ape family.

The DVD is THX certified and the picture and sound definetely live up to it. It uses Dolby Digital 5.0 (minus the LFE, but if you have a subwoofer you'll get plenty of bass). The picture is done in deep canvas animation and looks as close to 3D as a non computer animation can.

The only thing I hate about the DVD is you have to fast forward thru ads to get even get to the menu.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Disney's TARZAN
Review: Let me start by saying anyone who would've seen this movie already has by the time I write this review. Anyway, here it comes. I actually avoided this movie for two years because I'd had a few negative notions about it: 1....it's a musical Tarzan so it's dumb, 2.....it's probably too PC as I saw no knife on this Tarzan's hip, 3....I assumed it was mostly for women and young children. I WAS WRONG! THIS Tarzan representation is as rip snortin great as the best live actor Tarzans. He DOES have a major fight sequence with an animal. This jungle is presented as the most awsome jungle I'd ever seen, magnificent and spectacular! NO natives but the movie hardly suffers for it. Enough action to satisfy any adventure fan. Any of the few songs are mostly as background so this is NOT a musical in the classic sense. After Weissmuller, Scott, Henry and other screen Tarzans are forgotten ( assuming that is'nt already the case), THIS Tarzan and his movie will live on as a truelly great film, deserving to be called a MASTERPIECE. DON'T consider it the Disney kids TV series version ever! I hav'nt seen a lot of those but they're likely mediocre by comparison. Anyone who likes Tarzan in any form must see this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Swinging Strong on DVD
Review: I must say, this DVD is quite impressive. It's almost inspirational. The concept art, story telling all the interviews were phenominal.

The features on Phil Collins and his work is amazing. This one is worth the price.

Kids will enjoy the movie, the adults who like the technical of film making will love the extra features. They go on forever!

Very impressive Disney!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disneyfication of Tarzan
Review: Disney gives _Tarzan_ the usual treatment. The result is for fans of the Disney formula only.

Though touted as a faithful adaption of Burrough's novel this film bears little resemblence to that book. (Though it is perhaps slightly closer to the source material than the similarly touted _Greystoke_).

Instead, Disney places the familiar character through the typical Disney paces: teaching lessons of tolerence and envornmentalism that sophisticated 9 year olds will find trite.

The generic formula films that Disney produces work best when the music, comedy, and animation offer something for adults as well as children. In this case Disney is 1 out of 3. The animation is specacular. But the humor is generally weak--there are a few genuine laughs, most curtesy of Rosie O'Donnell as Tarzan's childhood ape friend--and the music by ex-Genesis lead singer/drummer Phil Collins is sleep inducingly dull.

Still, kids seemed to like it so as a children's movie score this one as a success. But it's only recommended for adults who liked _Pocahontas_, _Mulan_, or _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_. If you were hoping for another _Little Mermaid_ or _Beauty and the Beasts_ or even _Aladin_, skip this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Witness the Disneyfication of a Legend
Review: I doubt this retelling of the Tarzan tale will cut much ice with devotees of Edgar Rice Burrough's original creation. I could be wrong, since I have never read the book, but I get the feeling that all the cutesy animals and their adorable antics might just annoy the purists. On its own terms, however, this is a joy. It is slick, action-packed, funny and touching. As one would expect from a Disneyfication, it is frequently sentimental, but never nauseating, its saccharine moments managing to retain a semblance of believability.

There is not much in the way of a plot, but this is no great shame. The narrative is held together by the tried and trusted themes of the antitheses of civilization/innocence, man/nature, movingly weaved into an exhilarating adventure/romance that represents Disney at its best. The landscapes are stunning, and the animation whirls around the jungle scenery at a breathtaking pace. Particularly outstanding are some of the chase sequences.

Other delights include a relatively low-key (for Disney) score by Phil Collins, and a great cast including Brian Blessed (deep-voiced Englishman, doing a dastardly turn as the villain of the piece), Nigel Hawthorne, Minnie Driver (quite sexy for a cartoon character) and Rosie O'Donnell.


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