Tarzan

Tarzan is a 1999 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. The 37th animated feature film from Disney the tenth and the last released during the Disney Renaissance era, it is based on the story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, being the first animated major motion picture version of the story.

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In the early 1890s, an English couple and their infant son escape from a shipwreck, and end up near an uncharted rainforest off the Congolese coast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The couple build themselves a treehouse from the ship’s wreckage, but they are killed by a leopard named Sabor. After losing her own son to Sabor, a female gorilla named Kala hears the cries of the orphaned infant, and finds him in the treehouse. Kala encounters Sabor, and escapes with the infant in her possession. Kala takes the infant back to her troop to raise as her own, an action of which her mate, Kerchak, the leader disapproves. Kala raises the human child, naming him Tarzan.

At age five, Tarzan begins to befriend other animals, including his adoptive cousin and Kala and Kerchak’s niece Terk and a paranoid male elephant named Tantor; but he is treated differently due to his different physique, so he makes great efforts to improve himself. As a young adult, Tarzan manages to kill Sabor with a spear he crafted, gaining Kerchak’s reluctant respect.

The gorillas’ peaceful life is interrupted by the arrival of a team of English explorers, consisting of Professor Porter, his daughter Jane, and their tour guide, a hunter named Clayton. The explorers are looking to study gorillas. Jane accidentally becomes separated from the group and is chased by a mandrill troop, with Tarzan saving her. Tarzan realizes that Jane is human, just like he is. Jane leads Tarzan back to their camp, where Porter and Clayton garner interest in him. Porter views Tarzan as an opportunity for scientific advancement, while Clayton desires to persuade Tarzan to lead him to the gorillas. Despite Kerchak’s warnings to stay away from the humans, Tarzan continues to return to the camp, where Porter, Clayton, and Jane teach him how to speak English as well as what the human world is like. As time passes, Tarzan and Jane begin to fall in love. Still, Tarzan refuses to lead the explorers to the gorillas because of Kerchak.

The explorers’ ship soon returns to retrieve them. Jane asks Tarzan to return with them to England, but Tarzan asks Jane to stay with him when Jane says that it is unlikely that they will ever return. Clayton convinces Tarzan that Jane will stay with him forever if he leads them to the gorillas. Tarzan agrees and leads the trio to the nesting grounds, while Terk and Tantor lure Kerchak away to prevent him from attacking the humans. Porter and Jane are excited to mingle with the gorillas, but when Kerchak returns and sees the humans, he attacks them. Tarzan holds Kerchak at bay while the humans are able to escape. Kerchak accuses Tarzan of betraying the troop. Kala takes Tarzan to the treehouse, where she first found him, shows him his true past, and says that she wants him to feel satisfied whatever he decides. In the end, Tarzan puts on a suit that once belonged to his father, signifying his decision to go to England.

When Tarzan boards the ship with Jane and Porter the next day, they are all ambushed by Clayton and his traitorous band of stowaway thugs. Clayton hopes and plans to seize the gorillas, now that he knows where the nesting grounds are, and locks Tarzan, Jane, and Porter away to prevent them from interfering. Tarzan manages to escape with the support of Terk and Tantor and returns to the jungle to save the gorillas. Clayton mortally shoots Kerchak and battles Tarzan across the treetops. Although Tarzan spares Clayton’s life and destroys his gun, Clayton tries to kill him with his machete. Tarzan then traps Clayton with vines, but Clayton attempts to free himself and cuts all of the vines. In the process, he falls from the tree when a vine is tangled around his neck, hanging him and killing him. Kerchak, with his dying breath and final words of advice, forgives Tarzan and names him the new leader of the gorillas and finally accepts him as his foster son.

The next day, Porter and Jane prepare to leave on the ship, but Tarzan remains behind with the gorilla troop. As the ship departs, Porter encourages his daughter to stay with Tarzan, and Jane jumps overboard to meet Tarzan with Porter shortly following her. The Porters reunite with Tarzan, and embark on their new life together.