Tarzan

Every gesture, every move that she makes
Makes me feel like never before
Why do I have this growing need to be beside her?...

Ooo, these emotions I never knew
Of some other world far beyond this place
Beyond the trees, above the clouds
I see before me a new horizon

I wanna know, can you show me
I wanna know about these strangers like me
Tell me more, please show me
Something’s familiar about these strangers like me

Come with me now to see my world
Where there’s beauty beyond your dreams
Can you feel the things I feel
Right now, with you
Take my hand
There’s a world I need to know...

Strangers Like Me
Collins

When Tarzan is an infant, he and his parents escape from their burning ship, washing up onto the shores of the African jungle. The family bands together to create a home, but when the leopard Sabor kills the child's parents, Tarzan is left alone. His unattended cry catches the attention of Kala, a gorilla who recently lost her baby, also to the ravages of the notorious leopard, and she saves the human child from a similar fate. The leader of the group, Kerchak, insists that the baby is not one of them, and can't be raised as an ape, but Kala is persistent. Kerchak agrees that the boy can stay, but it doesn't replace the baby they lost. Kala develops a bond with Tarzan as strong as the bond between any of the other apes and their children, and Tarzan grows up as one of the bunch. He realizes he's different, but with the encouragement of Kala, and the moral support of his friends Terk the fun-loving ape and Tantor the neurotic elephant, Tarzan grows confident and resourceful, taking care of and protecting himself, his friends, and his family, and finally defeating once and for all the vicious Sabor. When humans, creatures Tarzan has never seen that strangely resemble himself, appear in the jungle, Tarzan is immediately drawn to them, particularly the female... Kerchack forbids anyone to go near them, but Tarzan says that Kerchak is threatened by anyone different from them. Tarzan goes expressly against Kerchak's wishes, determined to get close to the other humans. After he saves Jane from a grisly fate involving baboons and her sketchbook, he finds for the first time someone who's truly like him, and feels like the things he's been missing in his life are starting to be filled. He realizes that he is different from his family, and begins to understand that there are others who are like him. He is introduced to Jane, her father and their jungle guide, Clayton. The visitors, on expedition to find and study gorillas, ask Tarzan to take them to where the gorillas rest, but Tarzan insists that he cannot betray his family. He voraciously learns everything the humans can teach him, and is amazed at the new feelings he is developing for Jane. When he arrives at Jane's camp to see that they are being forced onto the ship back to England, he asks Jane to stay, but she explains that she had hoped he would return with them to civilization. Clayton, for reasons of his own, manipulates Tarzan into showing them where the gorillas are, explaining that Jane will surely stay if she sees gorillas. Tarzan leads them to the gorillas, but has to fight off a furious Kerchak while they escape. Kala, feeling guilty for having kept the secret, shows Tarzan where his parents had lived before they died, and explains that he once belonged to the world where Jane and her companions come from. Tarzan decides to return to England with Jane, but their voyage goes sour when Clayton's true motives are revealed and he hijacks the ship, planning to return to the jungle and capture the gorillas to sell for cash in Europe. Tarzan, furious at Clayton's betrayal, leads a revolt against Clayton and his thugs, with Jane and Porter helping in the fight, until Clayton is at last defeated by that which he claimed to be master of, himself and the very jungle itself. Tarzan realizes that his place is in the jungle with his family, and can't return to England with Jane. She is torn until, at her father's urging, she realizes that she loves Tarzan and can't leave him. She and Porter both jump ship and stay with Tarzan and his friends.

Tarzan is voiced to perfection by Tony Goldwyn, while young Tarzan is voiced by Alex D. Linz.

Tarzan appears in the film of his name, and its direct-to-video spinoffs, Tarzan and Jane and Tarzan II, as well as the series, The Legend of Tarzan.

This is easily one of my top three Disney films. Just about everything in this movie just works. The characters are wonderful, the animation is as good as Disney's has ever been (especially Glen Keane's Tarzan... WOW!), Jane and Tarzan's personalities complement each other perfectly, and the music is used well, if unconventionally (going for a different feel, having Phil Collins's music play while the action is going on, rather than having the characters actually sing for the most part). This was the first of the recent group of Disney films to stray a little from the formula of the fairy-tale-musical type, and the story and themes are a little more mature, but that just adds to the beauty of this film. Filled with lush environments and believable ambience, you really feel like you're surfing along the trees and swinging through the vines with Tarzan. Tarzan as a character is a quintessential hero--slightly flawed, but definitely strong. He makes mistakes, but he's man enough to face up to them and do what needs to be done to atone for them. The relationship between him and Jane are classical in a film sense, and it's refreshing to see how it develops from one of innocent curiosity into its natural state of blossoming romance. It's just an all-around excellent film, on almost every level.

---

Pictures of Tarzan

A couple drawings I've done of Tarzan and Jane

Quotes from the King of the Apes

Young Tarzan: I'll be the best ape ever!

Tarzan: No matter where I go, you will always be my mother.
Kala: And you will always be in my heart.

Kerchak: You came back.
Tarzan: I came home.

Kala: Close your eyes. Now forget what you see. (puts Tarzan's hand to his chest) What do you feel?
Young Tarzan: My heart.
Kala: (puts Tarzan's head by her chest) Come here.
Young Tarzan: Your heart.
Kala: See? We're exactly the same.

(Tarzan sneaks up behind Kala to try and scare her)
Kala: Don't even think about it.
Tarzan: How'd you know it was me?
Kala: I'm your mother. I know everything. Now, where have you been?
Tarzan: I thought you knew everything.

Terk: Can you believe that guy? Drops us like a newborn giraffe - kerplop! - then waltzes in and expects us to...
Tarzan: Terk, I'm asking you as a friend.
(Looks at Terk with big, soulful eyes)
Terk: Oh, with the face and the eyes... All right! All right! But you'd better not make me do anything stupid.
(Cut to Terk in Jane's dress)
Terk: I'm going to kill him!

Tarzan: Tarzan. Tar-zan.
Jane Porter: Tarzan. Oh, I see!
Tarzan: Oh, I see!
Tarzan: (points at himself) Tarzan. (points at Jane) Oh, I see.
Jane Porter: No, no, no. No. (clears throat, points at herself) I'm Jane.
Tarzan: No, no, no. No. (clears throat, points at himself) I'm Jane.
Jane Porter: No, no. (points at herself) Jane. (points at Tarzan) Tarzan. (points at herself) Jane.
Tarzan: (taking Jane's chin in his hand) Jane.
Jane Porter: Exactly.

(Tarzan takes Clayton's gun and aims it at him)
Clayton: Go ahead. (chuckles) Be a man.
(a shot is heard, but not from the gun; it's Tarzan mimicking a gunshot)
Tarzan: Not a man like you!

Vote for Tarzan as your favorite hero here!

Jane's Animated Heroines page