The Emperor's New Groove (2000) - David Spade and John Goodman, How Can You Go Wrong?

The Emperor's New Groove: David Spade and John Goodman Overcome a Weak Script

Walt Disney Feature Animation was working on several different projects at once - "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," "Dinosaur," "Tarzan," the never-ending "Fantasia 2000," and some others, all in vastly different stages of development - but one project in particular seemed like a sure thing, the one that turned into "The Emperor's New Groove" (2000), directed by Mark Dindal from a script by David Reynolds. At that time, in 1998, the project had the tentative title "Kingdom of the Sun," with a convoluted plot about witches stealing the sun because it bothered them and other twists. The project was being guided by Roger Allers, who had helped direct "The Lion King," contributed to many of the Disney Renaissance and previous successes, and who was well-respected by all. Allers, though, got in over his head and let the project fall behind, a major no-no when Disney had major licensing deals in place for its scheduled mid-2000 release. Allers laudably was trying to craft something original and epic, but Disney movies at that time were being cranked out like an assembly line, and there wasn't time to both refine a brand new story and assemble it into a finished product - subjects of animated Disney movies around that time were the aforesaid "Tarazan," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "Hercules," all of which had established characters and storylines. Dindal was brought in to add some jokes, Allers left because they wouldn't allow him six additional months to do the job right (which ultimately happened anyway, but Hollywood isn't high school, you don't always get extensions), and the project got a new name, script, composer (John Debney), characters and animation. Basically, the entire "The Emperor's New Groove" project came to a dead halt and then veered off in a completely new direction just two years before it was released - an amazingly abrupt and quick turn-around for an animated Disney movie.

"This will be my fine new vacation villa! Oh, and you have to move."

Even after Allers left, though, the focus for "The Emperor's New Groove" remained muddled. While the title was a take-off on Hans Christian Anderson's classic short story "The Emperor's New Clothes," at no time did the production have much of anything to do with that story beyond the Emperor being vain and blinded to reality. Instead, the script originally veered off toward Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" (Allers had directed a short of that story years before), with an Incan Emperor switching places with a peasant on a whim. That idea didn't work either for studio executives - "The Prince and the Pauper" has been done to death in live-action productions - so when Dindal came in, script changes were pounded out until the story resembled neither "The Emperor's New Clothes" nor "The Prince and the Pauper" but something entirely new. What resulted is better than might have been expected under the circumstances, but "The Emperor's New Groove" has no clear focus or satisfactory resolution and wound up being the first Disney movie aside from special project "Fantasia 2000" to lose money - a lot of money - in many years.

Kuzco is an arrogant young scamp

Kuzco (David Spade) is the arrogant teenage Emperor of the Incas. He is completely full of himself and decides to build an enormous villa, Kuzcotopia, on a nearby hill. Kuzco calls in the local village leader who lives there, portly Pacha (John Goodman), to tell him he has to leave. Pacha protests, but Kuzco is adamant. Meanwhile, Kuzco wilfully terminates his advisor, Yzma (Eartha Kitt), for meddling in his affairs and usurping his role as Emperor in Kuzco's absence. Yzma decides to stage a coup and has her muscle-bound assistant, Kronk (Patrick Warburton), poison Kuzco. The poison, however, just turns Kuzco into a llama. Making the best of a bad situation, Yzma orders Kronk to take Kuzco the llama out into the countryside to a waterfall and kill him there, so Kronk puts Kuzco in a sack and heads out.

David Spade is a hoot as Kuzco the llama

Kronk, though, feels bad about the entire situation and gets careless, allowing Kuzco to escape to Pacha's village. There, not knowing the circumstances, Kuzco mistakenly accuses Pacha of being the one who poisoned him to avoid having to move. Pacha is put out by this and tells Kuzco the llama that he will help him, but only if Kuzco agrees to build his villa somewhere else. Kuzco, still arrogant, refuses and leaves, determined to return to the palace one way or another and re-assert his authority. On the way, Kuzco is attacked by jaguars, but Pacha turns up to save him. Kuzco then insincerely agrees to Pacha's terms so that Pacha will help him return to the palace.

Kuzco the llama having a bad night

Kronk returns to the palace and tells Yzma, who has taken over because everybody thinks Kuzco dead, what happened. They set out to find Kuzco and finish the job. The pair wind up at the same roadside diner as Kuzco and Pacha. Pacha tries to warn Kuzco about Yzma, whom he has overheard discussing her plans, but Kuzco doesn't believe him. Pacha, annoyed, leaves, but Kuzco finds out the truth. After a lonely night alone, Kuzco finds Pacha again, and they head back to the palace, Yzma and Kronk still in pursuit.

Patrick Warburton plays Kronk as an overgrown kid

Kuzco heads to Yzma's "secret" laboratory looking for an antidote and finds some. Yzma, meanwhile, alienates Kronk by insulting him, then finds Kuzco and Pacha and calls the palace guard on them. Kuzco instinctively grabs some of the potion and the two men flee. Unfortunately, Kuzco has no idea how much of the potion to take, so his efforts to reverse the spell only change him into other animals, and then back into a llama. Yzma catches them, but accidentally steps on some of the antidote, changing herself into a kitten (Eartha Kitt was "Catwoman" in the "Batman" tv series). Kuzco manages to regain his human form, and the appearance of Kronk prevents Yzma from drinking some of the antidote herself. Kuzco then has to decide what to do about his villa, and Kronk takes control of kitten Yzma.

If it's a Disney movie set in South America, there has to be a rickety bridge 

"The Emperor's New Groove" is an amusing madcap animated comedy despite its flaws. Kuzco may be spoiled and rotten, but he has flair and style which makes him entertaining. Anybody familiar with David Spade knows his sarcastic style of comedy, and he delivers in "The Emperor's New Groove." John Goodman's Pacha becomes Kuzco's buddy, forming a team with the llama-Emperor that teaches both of the men some lessons about relying on someone else. His sense of humility rubs off on Kuzco, providing the dynamic that gives the film its bite. Kuzco is a changed man after his adventure, and in a good way, thanks to Pacha.

Pacha hauling Kuzco the llama

Eartha Kitt's Yzma is a weak Disney villain, though she has an amazingly perfect villainous voice. She is not so much evil as she is eccentric and weird, but her intelligence shines through. She has big plans but lacks the attention to detail and follow-through to make them happen. Her carelessness extends to her laboratory, where she apparently doesn't really understand her own concoctions and is more of a dabbler than an evil genius. As someone who over-thinks her schemes, she is amusing but ultimately ineffective, making her not much of a threat to overcome and a weak link in "The Emperor's New Groove." Villains who just don't finish the job are among the most frustrating in Disney movies, and that sums up Yzma.

Wendie Malick plays Pacha's pregnant wife

Eartha Kitt's character, though, is not the main problem of "The Emperor's New Groove." There simply isn't much story. The basic plot is that Kuzco is transformed, escapes to the countryside, returns and rights the wrongs committed against him. Everything else is merely the usual Disney movie bits that always appear, but that here take over the entire film. For example: much time is taken up by Kuzco and Pacha crossing a gorge covered by a rickety bridge, which is such a stereotype of South America that the idea of including such a hoary old worn cliché is funny in and of itself for all the wrong reasons ("Oh, look out, here comes the inevitable rickety bridge scene!). With a bit more complication, "The Emperor's New Groove" could have turned into an interesting story that draws the viewer in, which undoubtedly was Allers' idea all along. As it stands, the plot could have been told in an hour-long television episode without too much trouble - and, what do you know, Disney, always working hard to change lemons into lemonade, did just that, spinning "The Emperor's New Groove" off into an animated series, "The Emperor's New School."

Yzma is up to no good

Whose fault was this fiasco? Well, that's a great question that has no answer. Sting was hired to do the music for Allers' concept, then fired when Allers left (though some of his compositions did find their way into the film, one performed for some reason by Tom Jones). Sting had his wife, Trudi, film a documentary about the production, "Sweat Box," that has been kept tightly under wraps until recently. Anyone truly interested in how Disney movies are put together might want to watch that and draw their own conclusions. One way of looking at it is that both the creative types and management were wrong, the former for not buckling down and realizing that animation is a business with deadlines that are important and must be respected, the latter for not accomodating a little more creativity and the time it takes to do that along with the necessary marketing deals. When everybody digs in their heels, everybody loses.

Kronk in the inevitable "angel/devil on my shoulder" routine

As with every Disney movie, "The Emperor's New Groove" has its diehard fans, and they take great comfort in the spin-off television series and the sequel to "The Emperor's New Groove" called "Kronk's New Groove." Those two later productions, though, are much better thought out than "The Emperor's New Groove" and have their own unique styles. In "Kronk's New Groove," for example, Kronk breaks the fourth wall and makes sarcastic asides to the audience and becomes much wackier, such as dressing in womens' clothes and the like. That sort of tone works better on television, while "The Emperor's New Groove" retains some elements of seriousness. Allers originally planned out a serious epic, not a comedy, while Dindal came in and was all about the comedy aspect. Unfortunately, Dindal's comedy sense is more of an adult nature, which is the current style, so many of the jokes will fly right over kids' heads. The styles clash, and that problem is resolved in the free-wheeling style of the later versions, but it hurts "The Emperor's New Groove."

Patrick Warburton is the best thing about "The Emperor's New Groove"

All in all, "The Emperor's New Groove" has a saving grace despite the lack of focus and the quickie plot: the characters are very appealing. Kuzco and Pacha form a dynamite buddy combination thanks to the superb vocal skills and style of Spade and Goodman. Kronk also is very funny (Patrick Warburton knows how to play fuzzy-headed characters to perfection and provides welcome comic relief), and Yzma may not be much of a threat, but she is an inventive and clever villain in her own way with a perpetual scowl. There are lots of great lines in "The Emperor's New Groove" that may not look particularly sharp on paper, but are delivered well and funny in context. What there is of the story really is innovative and fresh - you don't see a lot of Disney projects about the Incan Empire. There also are echoes of events of the Roman Empire in "The Emperor's New Groove," as Roman Emperor Nero supposedly burned down half of Rome to build himself a giant villa on a hill. So, there are lots of neat historical references in the script for us nerds to appreciate.

The theme of working together and getting along is hammered home

"The Emperor's New Groove" is certainly worth watching, especially if you enjoy David Spade and John Goodman. Don't expect much of a story, enjoy the laughs and the comic complications of Spade being turned into a llama, and you will have a good time.

Below is the trailer for "The Emperor's New Groove."




2013

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Dinosaur (2000) - Dinosaurs Here, There and Everywhere

Dinosaur: Nice CGI Visuals in this Disney Movie

Kids love dinosaurs. There is no question of that, there never has been a shadow of a doubt about that, and they always will love dinosaurs. There is something about the huge, fierce creatures that excites the imagination of a child like nothing else. In animated series, you can always tell when they are running out of ideas when they turn to the classic standby, dinosaurs. With the Disney Renaissance behind it, Walt Disney Feature Animation was grasping for ideas, so where did it turn? To dinosaurs. Specifically, "Dinosaur" (2000), directed by Ralph Zondag and Eric Leighton and produced by Pam Marsden. With backgrounds found in remote Venezuela, the Disney movie animation team completed the film using cutting-edge computer animation. By blending real backgrounds with the artificial dinosaur characters, the animation team was able to create a "photo-realistic" look that enhances the viewer's immersion in an alien world. Disney spent a ton of money on the computer animation for a fairly pedestrian story on the assumption that the graphics alone would ignite the public interest.

Aladar

A Carnotaurus attacks an Iguanodon nest, forcing the mother to flee. One of the eggs survives intact, and it is taken by a Rinchenia who drops it in a river. A Pteranodon grabs it and takes it to an island populated by lemurs. The egg hatches, and the lemurs name the baby dinosaur Aladar and raise him. Years later, the island is hit by a meteor shower that destroys the island, and Aladar and his lemur mother Plio, grandfather Yar, best friend Zini and his sister Suri must swim to the mainland to survive.

Friendly lemurs

With the island gone, the group has to learn to survive in a hostile world. They are attacked by a pack of Velociraptor but escape, and later run into a multi-species herd of dinosaurs, which they join. The pack's leader is Iguanodon Kron, and his minion is Bruton. Kron and Bruton are taking the pack to the fabled "Nesting Grounds," a place of peace and serenity untouched by the meteors. Also in the pack are Baylene the Brachiosaurus, Eema the Styracosaurus, and Eema's pet Url, an Ankylosaurus, with whom Aladar and his group become friends. Aladar puts the moves on Kron's sister Neera, but she rejects him.

The meteor shower

With the group established, they head on toward the Nesting Grounds. The Velociraptor pack continues to track them for a while, but depart when two Carnotaurs also begin following Aladar's group. Needing water and reaching a lake that has dried up, Aladar and and Baylene dig up some water for the group. This impresses Neera, who falls in love with Aladar. Bruton, who went looking for water earlier, returns injured by the Carnotaurs. Kron immediately takes the majority of the herd away to escape the Carnotaurs, leaving Aladar, the lemurs, Baylene and Eema, and the injured Bruton behind.

Many dinosaurs

The group takes shelter in a cave, and Bruton warms to the others. The Carnotaurs attack, and Bruton holds them off while the others flee deep into the caves, losing his life in the process. The group reaches a dead end in the cave, but everybody jumps in to help break through the wall. Beyond the blockage is the Nesting Grounds they were seeking all along. Aladar goes through and finds the herd led by Kron, who has ordered the group to climb some rocks. Aladar sees that this is highly dangerous, so he advises against it. Kron, his authority challenged, fights Aladar for supremacy and defeats him. He is only stopped from killing Aladar by Neera. Neera and Aladar then take over the lead of the herd, but a Carnotaur that escaped from Bruton earlier attacks and the group has to stand its ground to fight it off. The Carnotaur sees Kron climbing the rocks by himself and attacks, fatally wounding him, but Aladar manages to push the Carnotaur over a cliff. Aladar and Neera then lead the herd on to the Nesting Grounds.

Crossing a river

There are no major stars in the "Dinosaur" voice cast, but everybody does a competent job. D. B. Sweeney is Aladar, while Ossie Davis plays the elderly Yar and Alfre Woodard is Plio. Julianna Margulies is Neera, Aladar's girlfriend, while Max Casella has the "wisecracking friend" role of Zini. Hayden Panettiere plays Suri, while Samuel E. Wright is Kron and Peter Siragusa is Bruton. Joan Plowright as Baylene and Della Reese as Eema round out the leads.

Aladar

"Dinosaur" adopts the same formula as "Tarzan" had the previously year: low-profile voice actors, a rote story, and absolutely stunning animation. In terms of audience response, that tactic worked better for "Tarzan" than for "Dinosaur." The problem was that, in order to make the plot understandable, the producers felt it necessary to make the dinosaurs talk. With all of the effort put into making the dinosaurs look as realistic as possible - and they look very realistic - the illusion is completely destroyed the moment that they open their mouths and started cracking jokes.

The Dinosaur pack

Disney seemed aware of the contrast and tried to hide it by keeping the opening sequence with as little speech as possible, and the trailer has very little as well. The opening sequence makes up most of the trailer. This made people think that a very realistic tale awaited them, when the rest of the Disney movie with talking dinosaurs undermined that idea. The voices of the dinosaurs did not match their majestic profiles, so that was another contrast that the production had to overcome with its audience. The dinosaurs also wind up walking through a barren wasteland because of the meteor devastation, which is a far cry from the lush vegetation seen in the opening. The plot itself is very simple and straightforward, enough to keep many children satisfied but a trial for many adults to endure.

I don't know if I would stay around if I were a lemur

All these faults aside, a greater threat emerged that kept "Dinosaur" from becoming a bigger hit: competition. Pixar and DreamWorks were both releasing hit films, and Don Bluth had done the dinosaur idea very capably with "The Land Before Time" (and there are many, many similarities between that film and "Dinosaur"). Even Disney itself had, in "Fantasia," crafted impressive animated dinosaurs, while "Jurassic Park" had mined the dinosaur idea to death, with its sequels continuing to come out ("Jurassic Park IV" is due out in 2014). The bottom line for this Disney movie was that simply throwing out a dinosaur film, however well-crafted the dinosaur animation, was not enough to win an audience in 2000: there had to be a complete Disney movie with sympathetic characters and an intriguing plot, not just great computer animation.

It's a dusty road

Whatever was required to turn a profit, "Dinosaur" had it. "Dinosaur" made a tidy sum of money for Disney. It grossed $137 million in the States and $349 million worldwide, over 2.5 times the estimated $127.5 million it cost to make. Thus, just like "Tarzan," "Dinosaur" also wound up making money despite its high production costs. The film since has been released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Aladar has a strange head

There are many good things to note about "Dinosaur." The score by James Newton Howard, while it did not produce any hits, was well-suited to the material. The animation team tried to be as accurate as possible in depicting the dinosaurs, but virtually every dinosaur film takes liberties with the historical record, and "Dinosaur" is no exception (for example, lemurs and dinosaurs did not exist at the same time). Dialogue was added at Michael Eisner's insistence in order to make "Dinosaur" more popular, and the strategy worked.

Love is what makes the world go 'round

The basic reason for "Dinosaur"'s attraction is that the themes of cooperation and compassion run through the story. Aladar does not try to insist on his own way, like Kron, and compassion turns out to be an advantage throughout "Dinosaur," not a disadvantage. Building alliance by being a "nice guy" works better for Aladar than being an authoritative loner does for Kron. Aladar owes his life to the compassion showed towards him by the lemurs, and he repays that to others, benefiting everyone, which is a positive message.

Nice view of different kinds of dinosaurs

If you are looking for a completely realistic dinosaur Disney movie, you won't find it in "Dinosaur," nor will you find a plot that will keep you riveted. The dinosaur group walks, talks, walks some more, talks some more, has a fight or two, and that's about it. Nothing too grand. However, "Dinosaur" is an entertaining Disney movie if you are not too demanding, one that entertains while showing a little of what life might have been like 100 million years ago. "Dinosaur" got Disney movies off to a good start in the 2000s, and "Dinosaur" remains a stirring Disney movie with awesome visuals that anyone can enjoy if they give it a chance.

Below is the trailer for "Dinosaur":



2013

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Tarzan (1999) - Disney Movie that Caps the Renaissance

"Tarzan": A Traditional Disney Movie Take on the Classsic Tale

The Disney Renaissance that had begun with "The Little Mermaid" had produced a number of huge hits and enabled Walt Disney Feature Animation to keep pace with Pixar, DreamWorks, Amblin' and the other stiff competition in the increasingly crowded animated feature field. "Tarzan" (1999), directed by Chris Buck and Kevin Lima, was the final triumph of the Renaissance, earning $448 million to turn a tidy profit despite "Tarzan"'s record $130 million budget. If one looked closely enough, though, the signs of trouble were brewing. Instead of tackling classical fairy tales and original interpretations of more recent novels, Disney movies were sliding into a pit of unoriginality. After the criticism it had taken from various pressure groups for "Pocahontas" (though not necessarily as a result), Disney plotted out its next three movies as straightforward adaptations of safe material that had been done to death in other venues: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Hercules" and now "Tarzan." Gone were the days when Disney story people could leisurely pick out appropriate novels and turn them into a "The Fox and the Hound" or a "Lady and the Tramp," stories that had not been done before. The pressure of cranking out a major new animated Disney movie every year was straining the entire Disney team, and what resulted was this string of technically superb but creatively banal features. The momentum of the Disney Renaissance retained just enough momentum to enable "Tarzan" to do well, but the failure of these films to advance the art of storytelling (there certainly were many technical advances) caused later audiences to look at the coming crop of similar films such as "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" with just a tad more skepticism.

Kala with her substitute baby

A 19th century English couple is stranded in the African jungle after fleeing their burning ship. They build a treehouse to care for their infant son, but are killed by villainous leopard Sabor. A female gorilla whose own son recently died, Kala, hears the infant's cries and takes him away before Sabor can kill him, too. Kala brings him home and raises him despite the disapproval of her mate, Kerchak. Kala names him Tarzan.

Tarzan grows into a fine young man

Tarzan is not as physically gifted as the other animals, so he has to continually work on becoming stronger and more adept with the tools at his disposal. He tracks Sabor down and kills her (or him - it really isn't clear) with a spear, protecting the other animals and causing Kerchak to like him. A small party of explorers from England arrives, and Jane, the daughter of Professor Porter, gets chased by a pack of baboons. Tarzan saves her, and in gratitude, Jane brings him back to meet her father and their guide, Clayton. Tarzan learns from Porter and the others to speak English and basic facts about the world, and he and Jane fall in love. Tarzan, however, refuses to lead them to his gorilla family because he is worried that Kerchak will hurt them.

Jane and the Professor

The time comes for the explorers to leave, and Clayton is desperate to capture the gorillas and put them on display in England, so he convinces Tarzan that Jane will stay with him if Tarzan just shows him where the gorillas live. Tarzan falls for it and takes them there, but Kerchak tries to attack the Clayton and the others. Tarzan intervenes so the people can escape, and then Kala takes him to the old treehouse and shows him his past. She convinces Tarzan to leave with Jane and the Professor, but when he goes back to the English, Clayton leads a troop of pirates to capture them and locks them up in the ship. Tarzan frees himself and goes to get Kerchak, who returns with Tarzan to take care of Clayton. The guide, though, shoots Kerchak and chases Tarzan into the jungle. They have an epic fight among the vines of the towering trees, and when it is over, the dying Kerchak names Tarzan leader of his gorilla family. Jane must then decide if she wishes to return to England with her father or stay in Africa with the man she loves.

Jane doesn't seem to realize she's in a dangerous jungle

For a Disney movie at the peak of the Disney Renaissance, the voice cast of "Tarzan" is fairly low-key. While "Aladdin" had begun a very successful trend of hiring a high-profile Hollywood star to voice a key supporting player (Robin Williams as the Genie), a tactic most recently employed in "Hercules" with James Woods voicing Hades, "Tarzan" did not have anybody like that in the voice cast. Tony Goldwyn (younger brother of Paramount Studios President John Goldwyn) was cast as Tarzan in an odd move, but since Tarzan doesn't really say much anyway, the choice works just fine. The key role in Disney movies, of course, is the villain, and the part of Clayton went to Brian Blessed because of Blessed's deep voice and ability to do the Tarzan yell for Goldwyn. Minnie Driver, at that time a rising young actress because of hits including "Good Will Hunting," voices Jane with a lot of ad libs, and Glenn Close is appropriately maternal as Kala. Lance Henriksen as Kerchak and Nigel Hawthorne as Professor Porter round out the leads, with Rosie O'Donnell cast in the usual animated Disney movie comic-relief role as Terk, a wisecracking (what else) friend of Tarzan. While several of these actors might be considered "A List," at least at the time, there is nobody who really takes over and dominates the film like a Robin Williams or a James Woods, and that is what a routine adaptation of a hackneyed story really needs to light it on fire. The studio apparently thought that the famous title alone would be enough to sell this movie, about which they were absolutely correct, but then one wonders where the huge budget went.

Jane is a bit of a looker, eh?

The answer apparently was the film's real draw, its cutting edge animation. There are sweeping 3D backgrounds which were created using a new painting and rendering technique know as Deep Canvas, a true breakthrough in the animation field which led to an Academy "Achievement" award. The software was used in subsequent films, but the rest of the industry was hot on Disney's heels and technical breakthroughs were coming fast and furious with the development of more powerful computers and advanced software.

Mimicking the guy with the gun is usually a bad idea, but Jane likes it

Make no mistake, "Tarzan" is a high-quality production that tells the Tarzan story about as faithfully as it could be told. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best song, "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins. Collins supplied a number of other quality songs such as "Son of Man" and "Two Worlds," singing most of them himself, giving "Tarzan" a distinct, unified sound. Giving the film a contemporary pop feel was a nice break from the sometimes depressing classical sounds of films like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," though fans of Alan Menken might disagree. Collins' songs help pull the story forward rather than halt it in its tracks with show-stoppers, which nicely complements the fluid story and animation. The pop sound of Collins' songs, though, do jar a bit with the conventional background music by Mark Mancina. Several of the Collins songs sound very reminiscent of his '80s hits.

Tarzan on the lookout

If there is a fault to "Tarzan," it is that it is a little too smooth and polished. The entire backstory is compressed into a brilliant ten minutes at the start, just like in "The Lion King," and you have the standard musical interludes which were a hallmark of Disney movies in the 1990s and became increasingly rare in the 2000s. There is the inevitable comic sidekick (Jason Alexander did that to perfection in "Hunchback of Notre Dame), and that is about it for the comedy, another stylistic flourish of the Disney Renaissance. Later films would increase the comedy, probably to compete with the likes of competing franchises like DreamWorks' mega-successful "Shrek" series, but here it is restrained (though Rosie O'Donnell is usually not called that). There also are quiet, emotional moments, not something you find much of in later films. Disney movies moved away from this very successful formula after this, and no doubt did that for a very good reason. How you feel about "Tarzan" likely will depend on whether you prefer the Disney movie classics like "Beauty and the Beast," which have a Broadway air to them, or the more recent series such as the "Ice Age" line of films, which are fast-paced, jokey, full of comic characters invariably doing funny things, full of sly topical references, and with serious reflection present but confined to small, discrete plot points. "Tarzan" definitely falls in the former camp.

Reading is fundamental

"Tarzan" was released to home video in 2000, both in a single DVD version and a two-disc Collector's Edition," with another single-disc version released in 2005. There were two direct to video sequels, "Tarzan & Jane" (2002) and prequel "Tarzan II" (2005). There is a Blu-ray edition that came out in Europe in 2012, but it may be difficult to find.

Yes, our boy does swing on those vines

Everybody knows the basic story of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. This Disney movie "Tarzan" is the only animated version, and it is extremely well done, true to the story, and is much loved. If you want to spend some quality time in the jungle with someone familiar and fun, pop "Tarzan" in the player and enjoy.

Below is the original trailer for "Tarzan."

2013

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Hercules (1997) - Disney Movie About this Really Strong Guy....

Disney Movies Jump the Rails in "Hercules"

Walt Disney Feature Animation had decided in the late 1980s, at the dawn of the Disney Renaissance, to release at least one animated Disney movie per year. Since quality animated Disney movies take, on average, about five years to put together, that required a bunch of different work groups all working simultaneously on different - but equally important - projects. "Hercules" (1997) was being put together by one of the studio's top directing duos, Ron Clements and John Musker. Their previous three films, "The Great Mouse Detective," "The Little Mermaid," and "Aladdin," were phenomenally successful Disney movies. So, omens were good for a sure-fire project about the one Greek God that everyone knows - or, were they?

Hercules, Pegasus, Phil

Zeus and his wife Hera, rulers of all the gods on Mount Olympus, celebrate their defeat of the Titans by having a son they name Hercules. Zeus' brother Hades is not happy for Zeus because Hades intends to overthrow his brother Zeus and rule in his place. Hades consults the Fates and learns that a rare planetary alignment is coming that will enable him to achieve his goal. The only problem, the Fates tell Hades, is that Hercules might interfere and screw everything up. Hades decides not to take any chances and sends his assassins Pain and Panic to take care of the little guy. They kidnap Hercules and turn him into a mortal, but forget to remove his god-like strength before Hercules is found by farmers Amphitryon and Alcmene.

Zeus, Hera, little Hercules

Hercules grows up strong, but nobody likes him because he is different and he wants to know why. His parents don't have any answers except a necklace Hercules was wearing when they found him, so he decides to see if the temple of Zeus has any answers. Indeed it does, for when Hercules enters, the giant statue of Zeus tells him that he can regain his status as a god by doing good deeds and becoming a hero. Zeus guides him with Pegasus to Philoctetes ("Phil"), a satyr who is known for developing heroes.

Hi, there!

Phil wants nothing to do with Hercules at first, having tired of the "hero-training" business, but Hercules convinces him to give it one more go. After extensive training, Pegasus takes them to Thebes, and Hercules saves Megara ("Meg") from the centaur Nessus. Meg, though, turns out to be a follower of Hades. In Thebes, Meg finds Hercules again and tasks him with saving two "boys" trapped in a hole. The two in fact are Pain and Panic, and they summon the Hydra to do battle with Hercules. After much fighting, Hercules defeats the Hydra, but Zeus tells Hercules that he has more to do before he can earn his god status back. Hades bargains with Hercules to give up his superhuman strength for 24 hours in exchange for Hades leaving Meg alone, and Hercules agrees, only to be stunned when Meg reveals her identity as Hades' minion.

Well, you see, I'm not really a god, not yet at least....

Hades uses the 24 hours to unleash the Titans, who climb Mount Olympus and imprison the gods. He also sends a Cyclops to Thebes to take care of Hercules. Meg, who has developed feelings for Hercules, is crushed by a falling pillar while trying to save Hercules, which gives him back his strength. After defeating the Cyclops, Hercules flies up to Mount Olympus on Pegasus and frees the other gods, throwing the Titans into space. Returning to Thebes, Hercules finds that Meg has died and her soul has become Hades'. Hercules invades the Underworld realm of Hades and bargains his own life for that of Meg. This self-sacrifice on Hercules' part restores his status as a god and makes Hercules immortal. Rescuing Meg, Hercules punches Hades into the River Styx. Zeus and Hera then invite Hercules to come and live with them, and Hercules must choose whether he wants to live with the gods on Mount Olympus, or on earth with Meg.

DVD's often have the best artwork

"Hercules" veers very close to being a parody of the Greek myths. Innocent, naive-sounding Tate Donovan voices him as a classic rube who only wants to find himself. The rest of the cast largely plays it for laughs, as Danny DeVito hams it up as Phil, and James Woods plays Hades as a fast-talking con man. Susan Egan as Meg also goes for the laughs, and comedians Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer serve up Pain and Panic as humorous henchmen. Wayne Knight from "Seinfeld" has a small role as Demetrius, and a serious opening narration by Charlton Heston sets everything up to be quickly undercut by the hammy supporting players.

I love rescuing damsels from the Underworld

Despite all the comedians, though, perhaps the funniest thing about the film isn't anything in it, but rather what happened when Disney released this film. Disney had the sheer effrontery to ask the Greek government if they could premiere the film at one of Greece's most sacred spots, the Pnyx Hill where Athenian democracy took root. The Greeks took one look at the film and turned them down flat, claiming that it was just "another case of foreigners distorting our history and culture just to suit their commercial interests." That had to be one of the sharpest and most cutting rebukes the mouse company has received in its nearly a century of operation. Ouch!

Hades thinking hard

Disney, though, couldn't alter the film to suit the Greeks, as they had an entire marketing campaign already in progress, including books, toys, and even a parade down Times Square. Not only that, there was a hit television series called "Hercules: The New Adventures" on the air, and Disney set up a "Disney on Ice" spectacle even before the film hit theaters. A licensed video game, "Hercules Action Game," also was ready to go. It was all such a sure thing, with so many good omens, that much of the promotional activity and merchandising was put in place before anyone had even seen the film. When "Hercules" was released in the summer of 1997, it didn't flop spectacularly, but it didn't do very well, either. "Hercules" underperformed at the box office, taking in less than $100 million domestically, even less than the previous year's underwhelming "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and much, much less than that film worldwide.

Kind of a good resemblance

So what happened? Why did such a sure thing as "Hercules" have such problems? The animation is good, and some of the songs are quite memorable. "Go the Distance" by Alan Menken and David Zippel was nominated for an Academy Award, and "Hercules" received several nominations from other awards shows. Woods is smooth as silk as Hades, and there are more pure comedians in the cast than in your average sitcom. Disney blamed "the competition," but it was more than that.

Panic and Pain are good for comic relief

The answer is, Disney got a little too full of itself. While Hercules may seem so accepted as a textbook Greek myth that he seems ripe for parody and comic interpretations, not everybody sees it that way, and certainly not the Greeks. To them, he is a real entity who deserves to be treated with respect, especially by non-Greeks. Making fun of Hercules, many of them no doubt feel, is akin to making fun of them. And nobody really likes a foreign company making fun of them as it also tries to make a buck off them.

Phil is also very funny

"Hercules" was a serious miscalculation. If they had stuck with the tone set by Charlton Heston's opening narration and done a straight-forward explanation of Hercules and his deeds, people might have respected the film as a serious work and paid it respect. Playing Hercules as an uncool hick who is duped by everyone around him, regardless of the outcome, was the absolute worst tack to take. The fault, interestingly arose not from any purposeful intent, but because the film's producers had no clear plan in mind for the film. James Woods came in for a reading and played the character of Hades as a joke rather than as the ponderous, serious heavy in the script, and the producers meekly decided to go with that. Then, they let him create his own dialogue, which comes out ultra-smooth and not the least bit respectful of the material.

Titans on the loose!

It was a complete fiasco, and nobody ever really owned up to it. "Hercules" still did moderately good business based on the existing momentum of the Disney Renaissance, but the wheels were starting to come off of that revival because Disney, quite simply was over-stretched. A little more thought and oversight might have led somebody to step in and tell the directors that Hercules might seem ridiculous to them, but he sure doesn't to a lot of people around the world - people who buy movie tickets. With all those projects underway at once, and their best team on the job, who was going to minutely examine every decision made on such a sure thing as "Hercules"? Nobody, apparently. To show how far off track "Hercules" got, at one point they were considering Gregory Peck for the role of Zeus. The thought of him voicing a character in a film of juvenile nonsense is, well, unthinkable. And yet that's what "Hercules" became.

Look! I have my own action figure!

"Hercules" by no means is all bad. It is a fast-paced romp which takes gleeful fun in mocking everything in its path. If you are looking for a jokey take on the Greek legends, "Hercules" is a good place to start. James Woods is funny, and so are some of the supporting characters. Saying that he is as good as Robin Williams in "Aladdin" is a stretch, though, and that is the type of performance it would have taken to pull this off. Disney has pretty much buried "Hercules" in the vault, with the last DVD release coming in 2000 and none currently scheduled. Pick "Hercules" up for a few quick laughs, but it really doesn't add much to what you can see about Hercules elsewhere.

Below is the trailer.


2013

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