The Legend of Tarzan

I recently read (or re-read) about twenty of the original Tarzan books. I always wondered why we never saw a Tarzan movie that portrayed the character as he was written in the books.

In the books, the adult Tarzan was very well educated and spoke several languages, but in the movies he hardly knew any English and rarely spoke in complete sentences. In The Legend of Tarzan, Alexander Skarsgård plays the character much like I imagined him when I read the books. Tarzan's command of language is competent, and his interaction with other people is never awkward or stilted as it had been in earlier movies.

Some changes from the books that The Legend of Tarzan makes is the way Tarzan communicates with animals. Instead of using words (as in the books), Tarzan can read an elephant's eyes, and he calls crocodiles by mimicking a mating call. Another change is the removal of many of the more racist elements the books had in the depiction of African tribesmen, and they are not missed at all. One other element missing from the books is the science fiction or supernatural slant that several of the stories had. The Tarzan stories that had those elements were never my favorite ones anyway, so I don't mind that they are absent from this movie.

One aspect of Jane's character that was often ignored in the earlier Tarzan movies, is that Jane lived in the USA before she married Tarzan. Earlier movie Janes were often given a British accent and occasionally had a pampered upbringing. It was refreshing to see Margot Robbie's take on the character. This Jane is American, and is feistier than we usually see her.

Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson looked like they had a lot of fun in their roles. I enjoyed watching them, but it sort of seemed like they were there as "stunt" casting - nice but unnecessary. They were each good, but every time they appeared on the screen, I never really saw the characters they were playing, I saw the actors.

Overall, I liked the movie. At times it was a little more "epic" than it needed to be, but I guess that just added to the fun. Of all the film versions of Tarzan I have seen, this one is my favorite. I think anyone who enjoyed the books would most likely agree that this is the closest to the book character of Tarzan that we have ever seen.

This film tells the story of an English aristocratic son who is raised by animals in the forests of Congo. He grows up and goes back to England, only to go back to Africa to help the people who are getting enslaved by the Belgian king.

"The Legend of Tarzan" is so much better than the trailer. It has very little scenes of Tarzan growing up in the wild, and concentrates on his civilised adult life. He maintains a deep connection with the nature and the animals, which is a beautiful message that can be translated to everyone being friendlier to the environment. The story is engaging and at the end beautifully poignant. The two leads Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie are both very visually pleasing, which adds to the charm of the film. I enjoyed it.

I am really surprised at the mediocre reviews so far of this film. Honestly when I first heard about the film I had little interest in seeing it, but the trailer was better than I expected, and when has Christoph Waltz been anything short of terrific in every role he has played, but particularly when he is a bad guy. (Come to think of it has he ever been a good guy?) The whole cast is solid, and I really liked the historical setting concerning the Belgian King Leopold and his exploitation of the Congo.

I found all the animals and the CGI to be surprisingly cheesy. Undoubtedly the weakest link in the film, but that factor did not subtract much from a constantly entertaining and solid story. Besides the cheesy CGI the rest of the film looked terrific. I would recommend to see it on the big screen. It will probably lose a lot on smaller screens. Good summer popcorn film.

Was not expecting it to be so good.

I did go into it thinking I did not want to see a movie about a white dude becoming King of an African Jungle, and I think the filmmakers themselves tried to be favorable of that opinion.

If you have any familiarity with Tarzan, especially movies that came before, this film acts as a continuation of that. It tells the origin of Tarzan, a boy lost in the jungle and raised by apes to become a ghost like figure, but this film more focus on the life after Tarzan left the jungle and joined civilization were his legend became the stories that Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote about.

Samuel L Jackson plays a doctor who needs Tarzan's help when Tarzan gets an invitation to come back to the Congo, the doctor needs to come with him to find out if slavery is being practice there, but it turns out the invitation was a trap laid out by the the villain, Rom, played by the brilliant Christoph Waltz in his element, to deliver Tarzan to an old enemy, also played brilliantly Djimon Hounsou.

Jackson's role in this keeps it from being some white dude who saves Africa from other white dudes. This is one of his better supporting roles as he was funny and dramatic when needed. The chemistry between Jackson and Alexander Skarsgård works like a charm.

I love Djimon Hounson character as an African Chief seeking vengeance with Tarzan's death. It was very Black Panther like (or more like Black Cheetah, as the costume design shows).

I like Margot Robbie as Jane as well. At first it seem they tried too hard to to make Jane not just the chick Tarzan saved, but as the movie went on and her character developed , she went on a small adventure herself that was as exciting as Tarzan.

It's an action packed adventure through the Congo. The visual effects worked to make the terrain beautiful and dangerous and epic.

It's also fun an exciting, it will have you laughing throughout all the action.

It still floors me how fantastic this thing turned out. Worth seeing

Many people today can argue, that Tarzan is somewhat a forgotten character and property. I believe, that kids today, are not all that familiar with the character Tarzan. So it was a matter of time, that one day we would get a reboot. That kids would get schooled on Tarzan, keep it fresh for the people. I believe that this movie does a good job of keeping the character, & the legend of Tarzan fresh.

In this tale of Tarzan, we don't get the wild man version at first. We get an older, more civilized, easy going man. Who has left his old lifestyle behind him. But things don't stay this way forever. Tarzan is trying to keep his cool, but Leon Rom played by Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) has to go around, and mess with Tarzan's homeland. By stealing diamonds, and killing people. At first, Tarzan doesn't seem interested in helping. However, a former civil war fighter, Samuel L. Jackson (According to Ted in Ted 2. If you've seen any movie ever he's the black guy) is basically saying "You have to save them...Motherfu#ker!"

From the trailers, and T.V. spots, I was expecting the tone of Tarzan to be very dark and gritty. But, it's not that dark. In my opinion this movie has two very different tones. We have some dark and dangerous visuals of the jungle, and Samuel L. Jackson brings the comedy to this movie. Samuel L. Jackson was awesome as always. He really did a fantastic job at delivering the comedy. I literally laughed like the joker when he said "You want me to lick his nuts too?" (referring to the Gorillas nuts) This was okay at times, but it sort of felt like two different people directing at times.

This film has some very snazzy visuals, and beautiful cinematography of the jungle. I'm not sure if they traveled to Africa to film. Nonetheless, if the didn't it is because they really didn't need to go. Everything looked very real, and it really is gorgeous scenery throughout the film.

Also, the wardrobe was fantastic. Whoever did, the wardrobe, and makeup design should get some serious praise. Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, Furious 7) looked like a badass, along with his tribe. Even Marvels Black Panther, would look at them like damn, you guys bad.

Surprisingly, my only real complaints about the film are the performances by Christoph Waltz, and Jane, played by Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Suicide Squad). I believe that Margot Robbie delivered a good performance. However, the way the character was written, could have been more interesting. She could have been more of a bad-ass chick, like we all know she can be, and not be underused. Christoph Waltz as well, could have been written just a little bit better. In my opinion, he will go down in history as an actor famous playing villainous roles. However, this role, came off to me as a little cartoonish.

So these are my final Bitchin' Buddha thoughts on the Legend of Tarzan. Superhero movies are very popular at the moment, and this movie does a good job at making Tarzan feel like a superhero. It keeps the character fresh, and interesting. Tarzan is fun for the moment, but sadly I don't think i will remember it a couple of months from now. I would love to see it again, on T.V. or streaming. That doesn't mean it is a bad film; it's just not a perfect film. It has it's moments, and I love the films message. On how know matter what you do, your past is a part of you. At the end of the day it was fun, and as Phil Collins once sang, "You'll be in my heart". I believe The Legend of Tarzan earns a...

7/10.

This review is brought to you by Boogie Buddha, and remember, don't just get down, but get Boogie. Thank you for reading/viewing, and I hope you all have an amazing day as always. :)