Tarzan (1999 film)

1999 animated film directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck

Tarzan is a 1999 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures about a man raised by gorillas who must decide where he really belongs when he discovers he is a human.

Directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck. Screenplay by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, and Noni White. Songs by Phil Collins. Score Produced by Mark Mancina.
Two Worlds. One Family. (taglines)

Tarzan

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  • They mean us no harm, Kerchak.
  • Why didn't you tell me there are creatures who look like me?! [Tarzan proceeds to climb a tree and think]
  • [imitating Clayton] No! No, no, no, no! [they both angrily bicker and fight over the chalk until Jane grabs it]
  • Gor-illa! [proceeds to scribble wildly on the chalkboard] Gorrrrr-illllla!
  • [spots at picture frame as a baby with his biological mother and father] Is this me. And this is my father and… and my mother.

Jane Porter

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  • Mr. Clayton, I think I'll take it from here.

Kala

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  • Can't you at least give him another chance?!
  • Kerchak, please! [to Tarzan, who escapes from her and Kerchak] Tarzan, come back here!

Terk

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  • He looks nothing like you.

William Cecil Clayton

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  • [angrily grabs chalk] No! No, no, no, no! [Tarzan grabs the chalk back]
  • [angrily shoots up in the air with his rifle] WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!
  • [his last words before he dies] Go ahead, shoot me. [chuckles] Be a man!

Kerchak

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  • Give him a chance?! Kala, look at him! He's not one of us!
  • [to Tarzan, Kala, Terk, Tantor, Mungo, Flynt, and all of the other gorillas] Everyone! We will avoid the strangers. Do not let them see you, and do not seek them out.

Tantor

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  • Oh, Terk, I've never seen him so happy.
  • If that’s Tarzan, then I’m Snoop Dogg baby.
  • Sometimes you embarrass me.

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter

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  • [excited] Oh! Oh! He's got it!
  • Oh, perhaps not...

Dialogue

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[First lines; Phil Collins music playing a song Two Worlds]
Phil Collins: [singing] Put your faith in what you most believe in / Two worlds, one family / Trust your heart / Let fate decide / To guide these lives we see...| A paradise untouched by man / Within this world blessed with love / A simple life, they live in peace...| Softly tread the sand below your feet now / Two worlds, one family / Trust your heart / Let fate decide / To guide these lives we see...| Beneath the shelter of the trees / Only love can enter here / A simple life, they live in peace...| Raise your head up / Lift high the load / Take strength from those that need you / Build high the walls / Build strong the beams / A new life is waiting / But danger's no stranger here...| No words describe a mother's tears / No words can heal a broken heart / A dream is gone, but where there's hope...| Somewhere something is calling for you / Two worlds, one family / Trust your heart / Let fate decide / To guide these lives we see. [song fades]
Young Terk: Mama, look! Look over there!
[Apes gather round Kala]
Ape Voice: Kala, she's back!
Terk's Mother: Are you all right, dear?
Kala: I'm fine. No, really, honestly. It's just that I got a little bit... sidetracked.
Young Terk: Well, isn't that, uh-- Well, so-- Well, it's just so, so-- That's freaky-lookin', okay? That's what it is.
Terk's Mother: Terkina!
Young Terk: Well, it is! I mean, what the heck is it anyway?
Kala: He's a baby.
Young Terk: Whoa! Ow! I can't--So where's his mama?
Kala: Well, I'm going to be his mother now.
Young Terk: You know he's not so bad once you get used to him. Kala's gonna be it's mother now.

[Kala shows the baby to Kerchak]
Kala: Kerchak, I saved him from Sabor.
Kerchak: [his first words] Kala, it won't replace the one we lost.
Kala: I know that. But... he needs me.
Kerchak: But, it-it-it-- Kala, look at it! It´s not our kind! [sighs] No. You have to take it back.
Kala: Take him back? But he'll die!
Kerchak: If the jungle wants him --
Kala: I want him!
Kerchak: Kala, I cannot let you put our family in danger.
Kala: Does he look dangerous to you?
[Kerchak roars; he and Kala glare at each other]
Kerchak: Hmm. Was it alone?
Kala: Yes. Sabor killed his family.
Kerchak: Are you sure?
Kala: Yes. There are no others.
Kerchak: [sighs] Then you may keep him.
Kala: Kerchak, I know he'll be a good son.
Kerchak: I said he could stay. That doesn't make him my son.
[Kerchak leaves]
Kala: We will rest here for the night.
Young Terk: So, um, whatcha gonna call it?
Kala: I'm gonna call him... Tarzan.
Young Terk: Tarzan? Okay. He's your baby.
Terk's Mother: All right, little lady, come on. It's way past your nest time.
Young Terk: Oh, Mom, five more minutes?
Terk's Mother: No.
Young Terk: Two more minutes?
Terk's Mother: No.
Young Terk: One more "minutes"?
Kala: Oh, oh, no, shh, shh, don't cry, come on, come on, I'm here. [singing] Come stop your crying, it'll be all right, come take my hand, hold it tight, I will protect you from all around you, I will be here, don't you cry.

[After Young Tarzan causes an elephant stampede]
Young Terk: [drags his body to safety] Tarzan, buddy! Buddy, come on! Tarzan, don't die on me! Don't die on me! You weren't supposed to do it!
Young Tantor: [pushes Young Terk back] Get away from there! Don't you know a piranha can strip your flesh in a second?!
Young Terk: What?! He's not a piranha! He's... [Young Tarzan starts coughing water from drowning] He's alive! He's alive! He's alive!
Young Tantor: He's alive!
Young Terk: He's ali... [drops him] You idiot! You nearly gave me a heart attack! You happy?
Young Tarzan: [reveals a stolen elephant-tail hair] Uh-huh.
Young Terk: [in delight] You... I don't believe it. You got the hair?
Young Tantor: Is that what this is all about? I got a whole tail of 'em.
[They all laugh, but Kala and Terk's mother enters and Young Tantor leaves.]
Young Terk: Oh, no.
Young Tarzan: Who's that? [with Young Terk] My mom.
Kala: Tarzan.
Young Tarzan: Hi.
Young Terk: Hi, Aunt Kala.
Kala: Oh, you scared me! What happened?
Young Tarzan: Well. I-
Young Terk: Um, it's sort of a long... It's involved. Because what happened, it was a weird...
Kerchak: [furiously enters] What happened?!
[Young Terk nervously leaves]
Young Tarzan: It was my fault, Kerchak.
Kala: Tarzan?
Young Tarzan: We were playing and... well... Mmm… I'm sorry, Kerchak.
Kerchak: You almost KILLED someone!
Young Tarzan: But it was an accident.
Kala: He's only a child.
Kerchak: That's not an excuse, Kala! You can't keep defending him!
Kala: But he'll learn!
Kerchak: He will never learn! [to Tarzan] You can't learn to be one of us!
Kala: Because you never give him a chance!
Kerchak: Give him a chance?! Kala, look at him! He will never be one of us!
Kala: Kerchak! [Tarzan runs away in shame] Tarzan!

[Tarzan gets ready to scare Kala behind her back, when...]
Kala: Don't even think about it.
Tarzan: How'd you know it was me?
Kala: I'm your mother. I know everything. Now, where have you been?
Tarzan: I thought you knew everything.
[Terk pounces on him]
Terk: Hey, Auntie K! You look remarkably groomed today!
Kala: [unimpressed] Hello, Terk.

Terk: What kind of animal are you?
Tantor: Y'know, I've been thinkin’ lately that Tarzan might be some subspecies of elephant.
Terk: What are you, crazy? An elephant?!
Tantor: Listen to me. Think about it. He enjoys a peanut, I enjoy a peanut.
Terk: He looks nothing like you!

Kerchak: Everyone! we will avoid the strangers. Do not let them see you, and do not seek them out.
Tarzan: They mean us no harm, Kerchak.
Kerchak: Tarzan, I don't know that.
Tarzan: But, I do. I've spent time with them.
Kerchak: You may be willing to risk our safety, but I'm not.
Tarzan: [angry] Why are you threatened by anyone different from you?!
Kerchak: [growls softly] Protect this family and stay away from them.
[Tarzan turns away to leave, but Kala stops him.]
Kala: Tarzan, for once, listen to Kerchak!
Tarzan: [angrily] Why didn't you tell me there were creatures that look like me?

Cecil Clayton: [clears his throat] Where are the gorillas? [Tarzan wildly plays with his mustache] GO-REE-LUHZ!
Tarzan: [imitates Clayton] GO-REE-LUHZ!
Jane Porter: Shouting won't help, Mr. Clayton. He doesn't understand English.
Cecil Clayton: Then I'll make him understand. If I can teach a parrot to sing "God save the Queen", I can certainly teach this savage a thing or two. [draws a crude gorilla on Jane's chalkboard and points to it with the chalk] Gorilla.
Tarzan: [takes the chalk and examines it] Gor-illa!

Terk: Eh? I give it a week.
Sailors: Aye, cut her loose! etc.
Professor Porter: I've waited thirty years for this, and I won't leave until I see a gorilla! Oh, it's dreadful, Tarzan? Whoa! No, no, no wait!
Cecil Clayton: You're the captain. Just tell them you had engine trouble and give us two more days.
Captain: And be late at every port from here to London?
Jane Porter: We'll have come all this way for nothing.
Captain: I'm sorry, Miss Porter, but I simply can't do it.
Cecil Clayton: This is your fault. I should've followed my instincts and set traps for the beasts.
Jane Porter: Don't you think I'm disappointed about the gorillas? You are absolutely impos...Tarzan! I was so afraid that you wouldn't come in time. The boat's arrived, the boat that's come to take us home, to England. And Daddy and I were wonder...well, I was wondering...well, we really hoped that you'll come with us, won't you?
Tarzan: Go see England today, come home tomorrow.
Jane Porter: Oh no, well, you see, it would be very difficult to come back...ever.
Tarzan: Not come back?
Jane Porter: Oh no no no, I know it sounds awful, but you belong with us, with people.
Tarzan: Jane must stay with Tarzan!
Jane Porter: Stay here? Oh no no, my laundry! No I can't stay. Look, I've got...I'm with my father and...
Tarzan: Jane, stay.
Jane Porter: But...
Tarzan: Please.
Jane Porter: But, I can't.
Cecil Clayton: Women! How typical. Thank you, Jones. Even if you hadn't grown up a savage, you'd be lost. There are no trails through a woman's heart.
Tarzan: Jane is going.
Cecil Clayton: Yes. If only she could've spent more time with the gorillas. She's so disappointed, crushed really. Sorry, old boy. Oh well, I'd best get Jane's things to the ship.
Tarzan: Clayton, if Jane sees gorillas, she stays?
Cecil Clayton: Say, that's why she came, isn't it?
Tarzan: I'll do it.
Cecil Clayton: Good man. Snipes?
Vincent Snipes: Sir?
Cecil Clayton: Get the boys together. There's going to be a change in plans.
Tarzan: Terk, all you have to do is get Kerchak out of the way.
Terk: What?!
Tantor: Well, I'd be happy to get Kerch-
Terk: [angrily grabs Tantor's trunk to shut him up] Hey! Shut your trunk, and get me outta here! [Tantor does so] Can you believe that guy? Drops us like a newborn giraffe - kerplop! - now waltzes in here and expects us to just- [Tarzan lands in front of her]
Tarzan: Terk, I'm asking you as a friend.
Terk: [angrily grimaces at Tarzan's pleading face] With the face and the eyes and the... All right! But don't make me do anything embarrassing. [cut to Terk bursting out of the bushes in Jane's dress] I'M GONNA KILL HIM!
Tantor: [with his trunk disguised as Professor Porter] Actually, I thought that dress was rather slimming on you.
Terk: Oh, really? I thought it was a little revealing...
[they both hear Kerchak's roar and run]

[after Tarzan stopped Kerchak in a headlock to protect Jane, Professor Porter and Clayton, he realizes what he had done with him]
Tarzan: Kerchak, I didn't... I'm sorry, I-
Kerchak: [sternly; almost out of breath] I asked you to protect our family. And you... betrayed us all.
[brokenhearted and scared, Tarzan runs away in shame.]

Cecil Clayton: [shoots his gun] What's going on here?!
Tarzan: [getting captured by Clayton's thugs] Clayton! Clayton! Help!
Cecil Clayton: Have we...met? [lifts Tarzan's chin up with his gun; smiles devilishly] Ah, yes. The apeman.
Tarzan: [in his fury] Clayton... You... YOU-
Cecil Clayton: [punches Tarzan in the torso] So sorry about the rude welcome, old boy, but I couldn't have you making a scene when we put your furry friends in their cages!
Tarzan: Why?
Cecil Clayton: Why? For three hundred pounds sterling a head. Actually, I have you to thank, old boy. Couldn't have done it without you. [to his henchmen] Lock him up with the others. [turns to leave]
Tarzan: [bellows] NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
[His echo is overheard by Tantor]
Tantor: That sounded like Tarzan. It sounded like... like... like he was in trouble.
Terk: [dryly] Yeah, well, why doesn't he get his new friends to help him? I don't care.
Tantor: That's IT! [grabs Terk with his trunk
Terk: GAWK!
Tantor: I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR EMOTIONAL… "CONSTIPATION!" TARZAN NEEDS US, AND WE'RE GONNA HELP HIM! YOU GOT THAT?!
Terk: Uh-huh!
Tantor: NOW, PIPE DOWN, AND HANG ON TIGHT! We've got a boat to catch. [plays a "Charge" theme with his trunk, while he and Terk are charging to Tarzan's rescue. They fall into the ocean with a splash] I've never felt so alive!
Terk: Good! 'Cause I'm gonna kill ya!
Tantor: No time for that now, missy!

[Kerchak is on the verge of death]
Tarzan: Kerchak, forgive me.
Kerchak: No. Forgive me, for not understanding... that you have always been… one of us. Our family will look to you now.
Tarzan: No. Kerchak!
Kerchak: [his last words] Take care of them... my son. Take care of them. [dies]

Taglines

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  • Two Words. One Family.

About Tarzan (1999 film)

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  • It was definitely a challenge. (For instance), Tarzan moving through the branches. I'd animated this scene and it didn't feel like Tarzan doing it. If felt like a human, like me hanging on vines and branches. So I studied the gibbon and realized they never look at the branches when the grab them. They look past. They look where they're going. And then we changed Tarzan so instead of looking at the vines and branches, he just moved right on through confidently, and it felt like Tarzan again. The instinct of an animal had to be there.
  • We didn't ever want Tarzan to feel like he was just a man. We didn't want him to stand up straight or wave good-bye. We wanted to make sure he always had that piece of gorilla in him, that he always had an animal attitude about him.

Voice Cast

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Films   Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  (1937) · Pinocchio  (1940) · Fantasia  (1940) · Dumbo  (1941) · Bambi  (1942) · Saludos Amigos  (1943) · The Three Caballeros  (1944) · Make Mine Music  (1946) · Fun and Fancy Free  (1947) · Melody Time  (1948) · The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad  (1949) · Cinderella  (1950) · Alice in Wonderland  (1951) · Peter Pan  (1953) · Lady and the Tramp  (1955) · Sleeping Beauty  (1959) · One Hundred and One Dalmatians  (1961) · The Sword in the Stone  (1963) · The Jungle Book  (1967) · The Aristocats  (1970) · Robin Hood  (1973) · The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh  (1977) · The Rescuers  (1977) · The Fox and the Hound  (1981) · The Black Cauldron  (1985) · The Great Mouse Detective  (1986) · Oliver & Company  (1988) · The Little Mermaid  (1989) · The Rescuers Down Under  (1990) · Beauty and the Beast  (1991) · Aladdin  (1992) · The Lion King  (1994) · Pocahontas  (1995) · The Hunchback of Notre Dame  (1996) · Hercules  (1997) · Mulan  (1998) · Tarzan  (1999) · Fantasia 2000  (1999) · Dinosaur  (2000) · The Emperor's New Groove  (2000) · Atlantis: The Lost Empire  (2001) · Lilo & Stitch  (2002) · Treasure Planet  (2002) · Brother Bear  (2003) · Home on the Range  (2004) · Chicken Little  (2005) · Meet the Robinsons  (2007) · Bolt  (2008) · The Princess and the Frog  (2009) · Tangled  (2010) · Winnie the Pooh  (2011) · Wreck-It Ralph  (2012) · Frozen  (2013) · Big Hero 6  (2014) · Zootopia  (2016) · Moana  (2016) · Ralph Breaks the Internet  (2018) · Frozen II  (2019) · Raya and the Last Dragon  (2021) · Encanto  (2021) · Strange World  (2022) · Wish  (2023) · Moana 2  (2024)  
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