5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
Tarzan and Jane Porter face a mercenary army dispatched by the evil CEO of Greystoke Energies, a man who took over the company from Tarzan's parents, after they died in a plane crash.
Starring: Kellan Lutz, Spencer Locke, Jaime Ray Newman, Robert Capron, Mark DeklinAdventure | 100% |
Animation | 83% |
Action | 35% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal ape man Tarzan has been put through the adaptation mill so many times that it's almost hard to keep count, with efforts as disparate as Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes to Tarzan to numerous charming if hokey Johnny Weissmuller films, but you've still seen nothing quite like the opening fifteen minutes or so of this 2013 iteration, ever so cleverly entitled Tarzan. This particular Tarzan starts in outer space, ladies and germs, but whether or not you want to give slack jawed but somewhat admiring kudos or simply throw brickbats will probably depend on what happens next. There's something big and black hurtling toward a primeval Earth of some seventy million years ago (as is described by an initially omnipresent narration), and while it initially looks like it might be some kind of Alien-esque spaceship, it actually turns out to be "the meteor" that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Except, wait--maybe it's also an Alien-esque spaceship! The film then segues to two simultaneously unfolding stories. In this "revision", young Greystoke is--well, some sort of child. He looks to be about seven or eight based on his animated height in relationship to his parents, and yet he behaviorally seems to be closer to two. Maybe he has a growth hormone problem. JJ, as he's called, is in Africa with his parents, who are escorting a man named Porter on an expedition to find a (gasp!) mysterious meteor rumored by the ancients to have awesome powers. Intercut with this drama is the story of ape mother Kala, who of course loses her own child, albeit under totally different circumstances than usually utilized. When Greystoke and his parents stumble upon the meteor site while leaving Africa in a helicopter, Greystoke's father makes the brilliant (and quite archeologically correct, mind you) decision to break off a chunk of the mammoth rock, causing cataclysmic consequences which result in a crashed helicopter and an orphan human boy being taken care of by an ape Mama.
Tarzan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The film was released theatrically in some markets in a 3D iteration, though only a 2D Blu-ray is available domestically at this time. The 3D gimmickry is repeatedly apparent here from virtually the first moment, as the camera zooms through a field of space debris. Jungle environments are similarly rendered in discrete planes of depth, and even in the 2D environment are surprisingly complex looking. All of the action was animated with the help of motion capture, and that makes a lot of the movement here wonderfully fluid and realistic looking. The ironic thing about the actual animation, as alluded to above, is how weirdly putty like the humans look (especially in their faces), while the apes are surprisingly realistic, with great rendering of their fur. Colors are extremely vivid, and some nice attention to things like dappled sunlight offer beautiful tonal variations within the frame. While this is a progressive presentation, there are occasional very slight anomalies that look almost like combing artifacts, problems that tend to crop up in scenes where there's a lot of very fast action. You have to look sharp to catch these elements, however, and the bulk of Tarzan provides a very satisfying viewing experience, even if the film itself doesn't.
Tarzan's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix comes replete with a glut of sound effects which bounce around the surround channels with good consistency, offering nicely immersive sequences throughout the film. Jungle noises are very well handled and provide some sonic depth which matches the film's original 3D video presentation. Voices are clearly defined and well prioritized, even if the dialogue is often fairly ridiculous. The track boasts excellent fidelity and suffers from no overt issues whatsoever.
With Disney's Tarzan about to hit Blu-ray shelves, this release may strike some as a patently mendacious cash grab (especially for those parents not paying attention to the fine print on the packaging), but this Tarzan, while certainly very little like Burroughs' original formulation, at least tries something a little different. The results are highly variable, but I personally found the animation here to be rather winning, at least if one takes the humans out of the equation. The story itself is exceedingly hackneyed, and may actually remind some of another Burroughs effort which fared none too well on the big screen, John Carter. Technical merits here are quite strong for those curious to check out this decidedly odd retelling of an oft-told tale.
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