Tarzan and Jane on DVD

By Jim Bray

Disney's Tarzan was a masterpiece. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to see it, since I was a fan of the old Tarzan movies, books, and TV series, and figured Disney would water it down to mindless pap.

But they didn't! As with The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and a couple of other fairly recent examples, Disney has done itself proud. Tarzan was a marvelous example of state-of-the-art animation, a wonderful story, and was accompanied by a perfect selection of Phil Collins songs.

And now we have the made for video sequel. Tarzan was a tough act to follow, and this low budget version shows that.

Tarzan and Jane's first wedding anniversary is getting close, and Jane is trying to find a good gift to give him. This quest for the perfect present leads to three flashbacks from the Disney animated TV series that show us why various ideas wouldn't be appropriate.

We get to see when Jane's old British school chums came to rescue her from the bush and whisk her back to civilization, only to find that civilization is inside the person. Then Terk and Tantor help Jane remember when diamond miners double crossed her man, and Jane's old neighbor Robert flies in to recover a music box he gave her.

Tarzan, of course, is planning something himself.

If it weren't for the flashbacks, this 70 minute movie would be short, indeed, though to be fair if you haven't seen the series the flashbacks don't seem as much padding as they undoubtedly are.

And it isn't as if they make the movie bad - and kids will undoubtedly be highly entertained.

But what rubs me the wrong way is seeing the animation quality drop from feature to TV (even though today's TV animation is better than in the old "Flintstones" days of extremely limited animation) in what seems an obvious cash in. And parents will undoubtedly buy millions of these discs to babysit their kids so they don't have to be bothered with the tiresome business of actually raising them.

Okay, so maybe I'm a tad cynical to be reviewing Tarzan and Jane. But I'd recommend that parents go for the most quality possible, and get the original Disney Tarzan movie. It's marvelous!

The voices are performed by different actors this time around, too. Tony Goldwyn and Minnie Driver have been replaced by Michael T. Weiss and Olivia D'Abo, who are okay. And we get Mandy Moore and Phil Collins providing vocals for two new songs.

So while Tarzan and Jane isn't nearly up to the quality - in any manner - of Disney's Tarzan, kids probably won't care.

And that's a shame.

The DVD presentation is very good, though. The picture is anamorphic widescreen (16x9 TV compatible), and that's a good beginning.Three cheers for Disney for adopting widescreen for those whose home theaters are state of the art.

The picture quality is very good, as is the audio (Dolby Digital 5.1). There are also a few kid-oriented extras that'll help parents keep the little ankle biters occupied while they're out empowering themselves.

Tarzan and Jane, from Buena Vista Home Video
70 min. anamorphic

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