The Legend of Tarzan product reviews

I was actually expecting this to be just another version of the well known story Tarzan, the child who was adopted by Gorillas and falls in love with Jane. Instead my husband and I were completely surprised by a new advanced story. Some years have passed since Tarzan left the loin cloth and has instead adopted his birth right of becoming John Clayton the Third, Lord Greystroke. The story has a great twist as he is invited back to the jungle under false pretenses and faces death threats and the introduction of kidnapping and slavery to the Congo natives.

The story advances at a steady pace and with the aid of flash backs you are shown the younger years and the introduction of Jane into his life. From the opening scene you are aware that this is a completely new Tarzan as he is in a suit and the loin cloth is quickly forgotten - instead you watch Tarzan slowly take off his new facade and undress as the movie progresses until he is just in to faded ripped pants with mud smeared all over them. It is really well done as you watch the transition from a proper English man back to his animal routes.

A big part of the movie is the amazing landscape and the animals. Watching the animals behave in their natural environment while not being influenced by a man was great. Just seeing a herd of Elephants making their way thru the jungle and stop for a quick pat or watching a group of Ostrich's run in a pack and the male telling them to watch out was incredible to witness. But I still can't get past the opportunity to watch how Gorillas actually act within their own hierarchy and the behaviour between them especially when Tarzan has a show down with his brother. Another highlight was watching Tarzan running thru the forest or swinging on a vine to land on a train it was all fantastically done.

Although, the images of Elephant tusks being loaded as freight broke my heart as did the scenes of the natives being taken and sold into the slavery market when just moments before you saw them enjoying life with their tribes. It was nice that they brought actual facts into the movie so it made it seem completely legit and you felt so much hate and contempt to the white man. Part of the special effects on the DVD is 'Stop Ivory' and I am thankful they did not show any really bad scenes in that but it still makes you want to stand up and take a stand.

As much as I enjoyed the movie I was a little disappointed that visually it was not as vibrant as I was hoping for and found some of the imagery was rather dull. The use of CGI and Green Screen was obvious and there were some scenes that were not as sharp as I would of expected. But the action was top notch especially when the animals were running wild towards the township.

Casting can not be faulted and Alexander was a great choice. I even found Samuel L Jackson was well casted, even if at times, I did want a snake to jump up and eat him. His character, so my husband informed me is actually based on a real person so again it was great bringing the realism into it. Christopher Waltz is fantastic as the bad dude he just has so much charisma and plays them so well. He had a end game and does not care who he has to hurt in order to get there but I am so happy for the ending he received could not of planned it better.

Both my husband and I really enjoyed the movie and as we were not expecting much from it, it was refreshing to find us completely under the spell, I think the credits begun to role before I blinked as I was completely transfixed. Well worth watching.