Friday, July 1, 2016

Legend of Tarzan


I've been waiting for this movie ever since I saw the trailer several months ago. But not waiting too excitedly. That was because to date there have not been any really good Tarzan movies (okay, there was one which I will mention further down).

The most well known were the Johnny Weissmuller films. The main objection I have to any of these is that they portray Tarzan as a simpleton. In the novels he is a well educated English Lord who speaks multiple languages. The only thing I remember his character ever saying when he was in Tarzan-mode was the word "Ungawa". It was what he said to all the animals and the natives regardless of the situation.

The more recent films - Tarzan, the Ape Man and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan - were both awful movies when compared to the source material.

So, I was a little concerned about how this new movie would portray the Lord of the Jungle.

It was better than expected.

The first thing to know is that this is not an origin movie. This film takes the already established character of Tarzan and gives us a new adventure. However, they did manage to give you enough of his growing up with the Great Apes in the form of flashbacks.

And, if you're wondering, yes there is a version of the famous Tarzan yell; a much better version.

This is a movie I will be purchasing when the disc is released. I'm just hoping it does a decent business at the box office. I wouldn't mind seeing more like this one.

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