The baby is, well, babyish, not a hint of Baby Herman precociousness about him the gorilla is a wild animal, an instinctive creature, not idealized in any way. When the human baby, left an orphan in a leopard attack that killed his parents, is discovered by Kala (voiced by Glenn Close, from In and Out), a bereaved gorilla who recently lost her own infant to the same leopard, he reaches out to her joyfully. (He’s so sensual, in fact, that I can now identify with Dana Carvey’s Garth, of Wayne’s World fame, who “feels kinda funny” when he watches Bugs Bunny in a dress: Hey, it is actually possible to be turned on by a cartoon.) Ironically, what makes him seem so much more than a cartoon, so authentically human is an animalism that no flesh-and-blood actor could have portrayed. Tarzan has a much more realistic sensuality to him than any other male Disney character - probably any other human Disney character, period. While as a whole Tarzan doesn’t quite reach the pinnacle of Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, in one aspect it surpasses both: with the character of Tarzan himself. The sequence is gorgeous in its ferociousness, and after it, my friend leaned to me and whispered, “I just got that Disney rush.” What he meant was that same feeling that The Lion King‘s “Circle of Life” opener or the “Be Our Guest” scene in Beauty and the Beast aroused: a delicious prickling on the back of the neck and tears of sheer joy at knowing that you’re witnessing something truly transcendent, that this is a little piece of perfection on the screen. The film opens dramatically, with a wooden sailing ship burning and sinking in rough seas, stranding a Victorian couple and their infant son on a remote island. Disney’s newest showpiece, Tarzan, has now proven that animation can be more true than live action. A lost child left to fend for himself is rescued by gorillas and raised as one of their own: Inspired concept that allows for exploration of what it means to be human? Or incredibly silly idea that deserves about as much respect as any given episode of Jerry Springer? Actually, it’s both.Ī painting can often be more “true” than a photograph.
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