Tarzan

What’s the Story?

TARZAN begins with two sets of mothers and fathers care for their babies. One set is human, shipwrecked, and making a new home for themselves in a tree. The other parents are gorillas, raising their baby in the gorilla community. When the human baby's parents and the baby gorilla are killed by a tiger, the gorilla mother, Kala (voiced by Glenn Close), adopts the human baby and raises him as her own. Her mate Kerchak, the leader of the gorillas, agrees reluctantly, but insists that the boy is an outsider, who can never be one of them. The boy, called Tarzan by Kala, is hurt by Kerchak's snub, and tries desperately to fit in. He hurtles through trees at lightning speed and even walks on his knuckles. He's comfortable in his world until more humans come ashore, bringing with them curiosities good and bad. While Jane (Minnie Driver) makes the human world tempting, the hunters and their cruelty draw him back to the jungle. Which life will he choose?

Is It Any Good?

Disney's animated epic owes as much to The Lion King and the tale of the ugly duckling as it does to the Johnny Weissmuller live-action series or the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.

The storytelling is solid and the characters are memorable, especially Rosie O'Donnell as Tarzan's trouble-loving gorilla friend and Nigel Hawthorne as the bumbling professor. Kids will immediately be drawn in to this version because of its pace and action. Tarzan whips through trees and slides down their trunks like Tony Hawk (indeed the animators watched videos of skaters as inspiration). The music is catchy, too. Phil Collins won an Oscar for the tearjerker "You'll Be in My Heart."