Monday, June 18, 2007

Mythic African White Ape Found In 1999...


Walt Disney Pictures 37th animated feature was released on this day in 1999. The Mouse's retelling of Edgar Rice Burrough's story of a white man raised in Africa by apes does well at the box office, but doesn't equal the earlier "Second Golden Age" films.

I've always enjoyed Disney's interpretation of Tarzan, but felt like it was incomplete. There was something missing from it's story and the film's ending felt rushed. Buy hey, that's me... it's actually one of my best friends favorite Disney films. So to each his own... lets celebrate Disney's Tarzan on its 8th aniversary.

7 comments:

Jared said...

I always felt that both Tarzan and Hercules were overlooked. Tarzan was beautifully done and Hercules was full of amazing songs and great humor. I would agree that Tarzan is missing a little something.

Unknown said...

Tarzan was all about adoption, blended familes and being a parent.

Beautiful story, wonderful animation and great songs (I usually don't care for Phil Collins).

But again--a male character was the main character of the movie. Seems to be a trend (Treasure Island, Hercules, Tarzan, etc).

Anonymous said...

Hello? Aladdin?

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed it. But it seemed like they ended it in a hurry. Just like Honor said.

Plus something that bothered me, but I never could put my feelings on it till I had a conversation with Floyd Norman about it. He pinned it.

Where are all the Africans in this? I mean, it's Tarzan and a bunch of animals. There are a lot of Europeans, but do you think we might see some Africans in Africa? I remember the Filmation Tarzan did but the Disney film stayed clear of it. I don't know if they were trying to be P.C. or what, but I keep thinking something was weird and then Floyd pointed it out.

V.M.L. said...

I wouldn't say this movie is overlooked. If it was, there wouldn't be a stage musical, sequels, or scenes shown in commercials.

Anyway, the movie is decent. Not the best movie of the Disney Renaissance, but one of the last hand-drawn animated features of that time and the last one that was a blockbuster.

Anonymous said...

I loved Stich, but it seems more like a Warner type of film than a Disney one. I know that's the last good film they made. Hopefully, in the future hand drawn animation will become the norm at WDAS. I don't mind a CG film every now and then, but I'd prefer Pixar handle the great CG films and Disney to handle the great hand drawn ones.

Unknown said...

Uh...yeah...Aladdin...

But it had really phenomenal songs by Mencken and featured a much more cohesive cast than Tarzan et al.

I still love Tarzan. But Aladdin really had a troupe of main characters (Genie, Jasmine, Jafar, Iago...)