7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.6 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
The adventures of an orphaned infant raised by a family of gorillas and ultimately accepted as one of their own. As Tarzan matures into a young man with all the instincts of a jungle animal and the physical prowess of an athletic superstar, his life changes forever when he finally meets other humans, with whom he feels an immediate and irresistible bond.
Starring: Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Lance Henriksen, Rosie O'DonnellFamily | 100% |
Animation | 88% |
Adventure | 59% |
Musical | 42% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
German: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Dutch: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When it comes to film (and television) adaptations of his work, Edgar Rice Burroughs has had a pretty hard time of it overall when you pause to really think about it. Even putting aside the supposedly disastrous John Carter (a misfire, to be sure, but not the out and out horror some people claimed), Burroughs’ most iconic character, Tarzan, has often received short shrift on both the large and small screens. While the popular Johnny Weissmüller series from the thirties and the forties still remains perhaps the best remembered adaptation, few would argue that the series has much to do with Burroughs’ original conception, especially as the films became more and more ludicrous as the series wore on. Even less “genuine” were the replacements for Weissmüller, actors as disparate as Lex Barker and Gordon Scott, though finally the series did seek to get at least a little closer to the Burroughs novels with two Scott vehicles, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure and Tarzan the Magnificent. Things got so bad during the sixties that one Tarzan outing actually had the jungle hero posing as a sort of international spy, albeit just slightly atavistic, a la James Bond. Ron Ely donned a loincloth for a short lived television series around this same time, episodes of which were cobbled together for the secondary market as supposed “feature” films. Not much happened in Tarzan land after that until the early eighties when both Tarzan, the Ape Man and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes opened within a few years of each other and sought to reboot the franchise for a new generation. Both films actually did okay at the box office, but neither was universally lauded by critics, with both films coming in for rather serious drubbing (not to mention dubbing in the case of Greystoke’s Andie McDowell, who had her voice replaced by Glenn Close). One final feature film called Tarzan and the Lost City appeared in the late nineties, and that’s been it in terms of live action fare, though a long gestating new version is still caught in development hell at Warner. (It should be noted that this is only a cursory list of the best known Tarzan outings through the year and is not meant to be an exhaustive inventory.) Which finally brings us to animated versions of the iconic hero. Though Disney’s Tarzan was a rather successful outing in what has been termed the “Disney Renaissance” of the eighties and nineties, and in fact is often cited as the last big hit of that renaissance, though its reputation has never quite reached the heights of some other Disney films from this same basic period, iconic entertainments like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
Tarzan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Disney received a technical achievement special Oscar for the new technology they introduced for rendering backgrounds in this film, and it was a well deserved accolade. The vaunted Disney multi-plane technique is taken to a whole new level in this film, aided by some extremely well done CGI which itself adds an air of dimensionality throughout the film. This high definition presentation often looks spectacular, with gorgeously lush hues and wonderfully dappled light effects dotting the jungle sequences. Characters are precise and distinctive looking, aided by excellent line detail. This is easily one of the most gorgeous Disney offerings of the nineties (and even beyond), one which has gone strangely underappreciated through the years, and it's a joy to see it in high definition.
Unfortunately Disney made the odd decision to release Tarzan with only Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in a variety of languages. This may be the main reason American consumers, who could otherwise enjoy this region free disc, may want to hold off until the expected Diamond Edition of the film is released stateside, a release that will almost undoubtedly feature lossless audio. It's an especial shame since the sound design of Tarzan is evocative, including excellent use of the surround channels for both Phil Collins' song score and the omnipresent sounds of the jungle. The Dolby track certainly has nothing inherently wrong in it, but a more forceful low end will certainly be evident in any lossless offering which may be forthcoming.
Has it really been fourteen years since Tarzan was released? My eldest son, who leaves next year for his college life, was a toddler when this film came out, and my wife reminded me that when we took him to see Tarzan in the theaters, he brought along his Tarzan action figure and held it up to the screen every time Tarzan appeared. The magic and connection my then young son experienced is still very much in evidence in this film, one that was widely lauded upon its release but has somehow oddly been shunted to second string status in the wake of bigger, flashier Disney successes. Looking at the film again after several years is something of a revelation. This is one of the most complex pieces of animation Disney has done, and it looks fabulous on this Blu-ray. Unfortunately the boneheaded decision to offer only lossy audio may well offset the excellence of the video. My advice is to wait until an American Diamond Edition appears, hopefully with lossless audio (and perhaps with better supplementary material).
1999
Limited Edition Artwork Sleeve
1999
Limited Edition | The Disney Collection #29
1999
1990
Diamond Edition
1967
1998
Peter Pan: Return to Neverland / Peter Pan 2
2002
Limited Edition Artwork & O-ring
2003
The Lion King 1½
2004
Special Edition
1970
2002
2006
1977
1981
1953
Diamond Edition
1994
50th Anniversary Edition
1963
1995
1996
2004
2000
1997
2003