The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Directed by: David Yates

Written by: Adam Cozad, Craig Brewer, & Edgar Rice Burroughs (stories based on)

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, & Samuel L. Jackson







Remember Disney's Tarzan?  This is basically the sequel.  Surprisingly Warner Bros. didn't make the same mistake as they did with Pan (which I also reviewed), in which they changed the entire story to something new.

Anyway in this film, Tarzan (Skarsgård) is called upon to accept King Leopold's invitation to travel to Africa.  By doing this he would be helping England's economy greatly.  But he'd rather not go back to revisit his past.  After some convincing from George Washington Williams (Jackson), he decides to go.  Once there, Williams, Tarzan, and his wife Jane (Robbie) discover that the African people are being enslaved to create an army by Leon Rom (Waltz) for King Leopold.  In an effort to stop them, Tarzan will have to go back to his animalistic ways.

Of course that isn't the whole story, but the gist of it.

I'm pretty neutral about this film.  I didn't think it was amazing, but at the same time I didn't think it was horrible.  The story is concise and makes sense. I liked how it related to actual events, but kind of wished the animals talked too.  But that probably would have ruined it.

But being me, I like to compare the "what I consider original" (Disney) to the the remake/sequel.  The main differences are that the animals do not talk (well in English I mean), less politics, more tension between races as well as Jane and Tarzan, new villains, and more.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that this film is great for adults, but not great for kids or those that loved the Disney version and expect it to be the same.  But I could be wrong.

The CGI is amazing, especially this part at the end that contains wildebeests.  Skarsgård and Robbie have great chemistry and Waltz is the perfect bad guy as always.  Jackson seemed randomly thrown in there, but he provides the humor for most of the film.

There are several subplots that get in the way of the main objective, which can be confusing on what part we are supposed to focus on.  In other words there are two competing conflicts that intertwine.  One involving Tarzan's past and one that I talked about in the summary about enslaving Africans.

One portion of the film that annoyed me was Tarzan's real name, which is John Clayton.  Clayton?  That's the villain's name from the Disney version.  Thanks for the confusion Warner Bros.  You couldn't have picked any other name?  But then again, maybe that's how the books are.  I didn't read them, but there's a list of them here, if you would like to.

Overall, I'm going to give this film 4 popcorns.  The characters are great and the premise is good.  I liked the conflicts, even though the seemed to be competing.  CGI was good and Skarsgård is hot. ;)