The Magical World Of Disney #345: Top 100 Disney Movies, Part 15

72. Tarzan (1999)

Tarzan is a 1999 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 37th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it is based on the story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and is the first animated major motion picture version of the Tarzan story. Directed by Chris Buck and Kevin Lima with a screenplay by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, and Noni White, Tarzan features the voices of Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, and Rosie O’Donnell with Brian Blessed, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, and Nigel Hawthorne.

Pre-production of Tarzan began in 1995 with Kevin Lima selected as director, being later joined by animator Chris Buck the same year. Following a first draft by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White, and Dave Reynolds were brought in to re-construct the third act and add additional humor to the screenplay. English musician Phil Collins was recruited to compose and record songs which were integrated with a score by Mark Mancina. Meanwhile, the production team embarked on a research trip to Uganda and Kenya to study the gorillas. Animation for the film was done in California, Orlando, Florida, and Paris with Deep Canvas, the pioneering computer animation software system, predominantly used to create three-dimensional backgrounds.

Tarzan was released to a positive reaction from critics who praised the film’s animation and music. Against a production budget of $130 million (then the most expensive animated film ever made until Disney’s Treasure Planet (2002) which cost $140 million), the film grossed $448.2 million worldwide becoming the fifth-highest film release in 1999, second-highest animation release of 1999 behind Toy Story 2 (1999), and the first Disney animated feature to open at first place at the North American box office since Pocahontas (1995). The film has led to many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation, a television series The Legend of Tarzan, and two direct-to-video follow-ups—the sequel Tarzan & Jane (2002) and the midquel Tarzan II: The Legend Begins (2005).

The movie is about the life of Tarzan. Tarzan was a small orphan who was raised by an ape named Kala since he was a child. He believed that this was his family, but on an expedition Jane Porter is rescued by Tarzan. He then finds out that he’s human. Now Tarzan must make the decision as to which family he should belong to.

I’m gonna be honest, I never saw Tarzan until literally just this week, of all the Disney animated movies that I’ve watched, this is the one that took me the longest time to watch. Mostly because when it first came out, I was never really that invested in the concept, I was 10 at the time and I looked at Tarzan as like “meh, not for me.” As time went on and everybody kept praising it over the years, I’ve been trying to find a way to watch the movie so I finally did and I gotta say, this exceeded a lot of my expectations that I could’ve ever thought of.

For one thing, the animation is pitch perfect, the most amazing aspect of this movie is the way they blended 2D and 3D animation to create the swinging scenes, they are absolutely phenomenal and ahead of their time. Why can’t we have more 2D animated films like this?

The voice acting is really good, you have Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan, Minnie Driver as Jane, Glenn Close & Lance Henriksen as Tarzan’s ape parents, Nigel Hawthorne as Jane’s father, Rosie O’Donnell as Turk, Wayne Knight as Tantor, this is a really strong, really solid cast involved.

The story is your typical origin story but it’s a story that just thrives on being animated and once again, it’s a well written story.

The music in this is nicely done, Mark Mancina does the music this time around, best known for not only arranging the songs in The Lion King but he also did the music for Speed, Bad Boys, Con Air, Twister, Mancina delivers a really powerful score here.

Of course, you can’t talk about this movie without bringing up the soundtrack by Phil Collins and really, this is one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard, so many classic songs on this soundtrack.

It’s the one time Phil Collins could get away with this as when he did it the second time on a Disney animated movie, it didn’t go so well…and we’ll get to that when we get there.

The biggest flaw of the movie is the villain, Clayton, voiced by Brian Blessed, and the biggest problem with his character is that he’s basically here to be the stock Disney villain who is only the villain because he is greedy and he wants money. He’s basically Gaston from Beauty & The Beast if you took out the comedy value to him.

It took me 16 years to finally see Tarzan and I can honestly say that it was definitely worth the wait, the last great animated movie that most people associated with the Disney renaissance of the 90s with amazing animation, great voice acting, a solid story, and amazing music, Tarzan is the definitive modern day adaptation of one of the most legendary action heroes in literature history.

71. Popeye (1980)

Yes, this is one of those examples where I’m gonna cheat as this is technically a Paramount production….BUT it was co-produced by Disney so, screw it, I’m throwing it in the mix.

Popeye is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Robert Altman and produced by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions. It is based on E. C. Segar’s Popeye comics character. The script was written by Jules Feiffer, and stars Robin Williams as Popeye the Sailor Man and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl. Its story follows Popeye’s adventures as he arrives in the town of Sweethaven.

The film premiered on December 6, 1980 in Los Angeles, California and opened in the rest of the United States the following week. It grossed $6.3 million in its opening weekend, and $49.8 million worldwide, against a budget of $20 million. It received negative reviews from critics when it was first released, but has received improved reviews over time.

Definitely an adaptation that was well ahead of its’ time, Robin Williams is just pitch perfect casting as Popeye, the whole movie looks visually impressive and the film just delivers on the fun factor all around, it is literally a live-action version of the classic cartoon mixed in with some fun musical numbers. Pacing is a bit of an issue at times and some moments drag a bit but the overall enjoyment and experience is never tarnished in the end.

Bottom line, Popeye is a good fun time all around, a great gem of a film.

#100 & #99

#98 & #97

#96 & #95

#94 & #93

#92 & #91

#90 & #89

#88 & #87

#86 & #85

#84 & #83

#82 & #81

#80 & #79

#78 & #77

#76 & #75

#74 & #73

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