Day 37: Tarzan

Tarzan (1999) 

Starring: Tony Goldwyn, Alex D. Linz, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Lance Henrikson, Brian Blessed, Nigel Hawthorne, Rosie O'Donnell, Wayne Knight

Songs: "Two Worlds," "You'll Be In My Heart," "Son of Man," "Trashin' the Camp," "Strangers Like Me"

Tarzan is the thirty-seventh Disney animated film, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan of the Apes.  It tells the story of a man who is raised by and with apes, as if he was one of them, after his shipwrecked parents died.  Tarzan ends up getting involved with English explorer Professor Porter and falling in love with the professor's daughter Jane.

When Disney began to develop the movie, a number of the creatives were surprised that there hadn't already been an animated Tarzan movie.  Animation seemed the ideal medium for a story in which a man shared a deep connection with animals.  Production began for the film in 1995, and one thing they did as they were writing the story treatment was consult with adoptive parents to understand the emotional weight of Tarzan being adopted, not feeling like he belonged, and how a parent would handle helping their child through that sort of thing.

This is a good, fun movie.  I feel like it's not a very risky film, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I do like it, and I did as a kid as well.  

What I Liked: The interaction between Jane and her father.  Hilarious.  

What I Disliked: When I was a kid, I had this Terk straw.  A talking straw that spoke every time you took a sip of your beverage.  It said, "The fun has arrived!" Like Terk does in the movie.  That straw, which was annoying to say the least, was just the awesomest thing I owned, and it mysteriously turned up missing.  Not exactly something I disliked about this movie, but that's the memory that comes up.

Should You Watch This Movie: While I wouldn't call this movie a "must see" like most of the other Disney Renaissance films, it is totally watchable.  I'd recommend it.