Tarzan (1999) Review:

The concept of Tarzan has been one of those interesting cases where a story returns every so often for a retelling. This story despite not being the biggest franchise in history still racks up close to one hundred film entries dating all the way back to 1918 and most recently from 2017. However, the best or most widely remembered adaptation of the novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs goes to Disney at the end of the 20^th century. There's just something about how the film was marketed and produced that really struck something memorable about it with audiences. And again, when it comes to adaptations, there’s only so many ways one can tell a story over and over again without becoming overdone or repetitive, so there was much to consider how to make this particular piece standout from the rest.

The story is about two different families that merge, where a colony of gorillas led by Kerchak (Lance Henriksen) and Kala (Glenn Close) lose their newborn to the big cat Sabor. Meanwhile a stranded human baby is recovered by Kala later on and named Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn). Growing up isn’t easy for Tarzan as he isn’t like any of the other gorillas despite him behaving and carrying himself as one. That is until he crosses paths with explorers Jane (Minnie Driver) and her father Professor Porter (Nigel Hawthorne), headed by Clayton (Brian Blessed). This only intrigues Tarzan more but also splits him between who he really is vs where he belongs. The screenplay was penned by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White all who worked on Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).

The directors to this feature were Chris Buck and Kevin Lima who were fairly new at the time in these roles. Lima had his first work in A Goofy Movie (1995). Later on these two would helm other projects like Enchanted (2007) and Frozen (2013). What makes this story so entertaining to watch are a number of factors. For one, the voice acting is top notch from all thespians. Audiences will be immediately drawn into Kala and Kerchak’s dilemma of adopting Tarzan. Both Close and Henriksen really bring on the emotion to their situation. Henriksen has a fantastic gruff voice for Kerchak while close is tender enough for Kala. Henriksen is known for many live-action roles but this proves he’s great as a voice actor too. Close has worked many times with Disney before, so this would be very familiar for her.

Tony Goldwyn who got his debut in Friday the 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) also proves he can do voice acting even though this seems to be his only credit for that sort of role. Sharing that chemistry is Minnie Driver as Jane. Driver brings the right amount of class and comedy to the role and makes her quite likeable when she’s on screen with Tarzan. Brian Blessed as Clayton clearly displays the kind of character he will be from the start but either way, it’s how Blessed speaks that makes it fun to watch. There’s also voice roles from Wayne Knight as Tantor the elephant and Rosie O’Donnell as Terk both of which who add supporting comedy. The story itself about belonging and being open to sharing one’s being with others not like the themselves is important too.

There really isn’t much that’s wrong with the story other than minor nonsensical points that no regular audience member would think about. Like, Tantor leaving his family behind or how Tarzan knows how to speak ape and English. The visuals are beautiful to look at though. The animation is a mix between 2D and blended computer generated backgrounds that make Tarzan’s world feel much more immersive than other Disney films. Finally, the music is most likely the strongest point here. Composing the musical score was Mark Mancina who composed a fair amount of instrumental music and has recurring themes as well. But what drives it home are the songs written by Phil Collins. Songs like “Two Worlds” or “You’ll Be in My Heart” can be real tear jerkers. It’s a great blend of songs and score that doesn’t sound dated even today.

Other than super tiny details that wouldn’t mean anything to an average viewer, this film is very entertaining thanks to its film cast, captivating animation, strong story and emotional music. 

Points Earned --> 8:10

Dragon Ball: Path to Power (1996) Review:

Once Akira Toriyama’s Dragonball Z franchise came to an end, so did the usual features that came out regularly as well. Starting in 1986, the two shows were a long running staple in Japanese culture by that point and quite popular to boot. However, seeing that it ended around the ten year anniversary mark in 1996, it seemed appropriate that maybe one more feature should get made. The difference here is, unlike the other features before it which many have gone back and forth about how they fit into the shows continuity, this feature would actually harken back to the days of the original Dragonball features. To honor that decades long run, this feature decides to completely start from the beginning. That means literally starting from scratch. And this completely makes sense. 

Since it is a feature film and not a TV episode, the plot is condensed. The orphan Goku (Stephanie Nadolny) is discovered by Bulma (Tiffany Vollmer) where he comes to understand the power behind the ever so sought Dragonballs. There they set off to find the others while coming across other well known characters like Yamcha (Chris Sabat), Oolong (Bradford Jackson), Master Roshi and Android #8 (Mike McFarland) to end up colliding with the infamous Red Ribbon Army who are also looking to collect all seven Dragonballs. Serving as a retelling, the plot points or highlights cover various parts of the show from season one to season five. The screenplay was written this time by Aya Matsui who had worked on episodes of Dragonball Z. Directing this feature goes to Shigeyasu Yamauchi who had also directed the last few Dragonball Z films.

For story reasons, the screenplay serves its purpose by evenly covering and omitting sections of the episodes but not keeping things familiar. There are certain things maybe that didn’t need to be included like maybe having Oolong involved or maybe including Krillin but these are very minor issues. It’s obvious this presentation is mainly to give its audience nostalgia and not go through every single little thing that happened for all those seasons.  There are sometimes where things feel a little rushed in terms of pacing but again this is what happens when a story that’s many seasons long is condensed into an hour long feature. This was the same for all the original Dragonball feature films. That doesn’t take away the quality of the overall product though.

The voice acting as usual is spot on here. Featuring all the original US dub voices that made the anime a classic in the states, there’s no one who sounds out of place here. Nadolny returns as kid Goku and performs with zero flaws. The same goes for Tiffany Volmer as Bulma, Mike McFarland for Master Roshi and Chris Sabat for Yamcha. There’s also voice appearances from Sonny Strait, Chris Rager and Kyle Hebert. Even Brice Armstrong as the original narrator to the show returns. The action is also very entertaining as well, and perhaps more than the previous Dragonball Z films. Mainly because it goes back to the concept of adventure and martial arts. Not so much who has the higher power level and transforms. Watching Goku use his power pole or Nimbus cloud is more fun than Super Saiyans always being used. 

Visually, cinematography is credited here for Masaru Sakanishi who also did the same for
Dragonball Z: Lord Slug (1991), but again, for what? To what purpose does cinematography serve for a 2D cell animated movie if there’s no dimension or layering to it? Other than that though the animation looks great and as a pseudo reboot it makes sense to change the color palette like having Bulma’s hair or Goku’s gear being a different color. Lastly, the musical score was surprisingly composed by Akihito Tokunaga. The surprise is not so much that Shunsuke Kikuchi wasn’t used here to compose but not using Nathan Johnson or any other outdated way of adding music to the film. At least here, Tokunaga’s score sounds very close in style to Kikuchi’s and it is a welcome sound.

Cinematography and very tiny details are what people might notice about this feature. Other than that, this is the best Dragonball film out of the four. Voice acting, animation and even the musical score is fun.

Points Earned --> 6:10