Tarzan, 1999. Voices by Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Rosie O'Donnell, Lance Henricksen, Brian Blessed, Wayne Knight.

Once upon a time, the strength of Disney's movies were their music. Nowadays, I just cringe at it. This new animated version of Tarzan is no different. Oh, sure, there is a merciful lack of "divas," and the movie itself is not structured as a musical, per se, but the Phil Collins songs that underly the movie are a distraction and do not fit the mood the movie is trying to attain at all. Also, Rosie O'Donnell is officially the single most annoying personality in Hollywood. The studio is also experimenting with a new computer animation technology called "Deep Canvas" which animates three dimensional landscapes, but the use to which this technology is put seems more a dry run for a new rollercoaster coming soon to Disney theme park near you. Tarzan "surfs" on trees, fer chrissake....All of which is unfortunate, because Tarzan is Disney's best animated feature in a good while. I don't know if it is possible to bring anything new to Tarzan--over the course of fifty-odd movies, the character has been pretty much stripmined--but darned if if the folks at Disney don't give it a try. There must be some serious issues between the production staff at Disney and their fathers, because Tarzan is yet another attempt to reconcile the need for the misfit central character to be accepted by his or her father. Hercules, Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame are all about this conflict. Tarzan extends it. This is, of course, not what the book is about, but it works okay, I guess. I would much prefer it if the movie had indulged in more Burroughsian touches like the battle between Tarzan and Sabor the Leopard rather than awkward byplay between Tarzan and his cute animal sidekicks. The film lacks a good villain, too. The backgrounds and the animation ARE nice, and it is a kick to see the heroine of the movie double as comedy relief. The voices (Rosie O'Donnell aside) are uniformly excellent. But in the end, Tarzan is never the towering figure one expects. Not bad, but like most of the recent animated movies from Disney, a missed opportunity.