''Tarzan & Jane'' is a 2002 American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

produced by

Walt Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

, Released on July 23, 2002, it is a

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

sequel to the

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

1999 animated feature ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'', and uses three then-unaired episodes of the film's corresponding television series, '' The Legend of Tarzan''. '' Tarzan II'', a followup to the original film, was released in 2005. The film is set one year after the events of the first film and Tarzan and Jane are married. With the exceptions of

Erik Von Detten Erik Thomas von Detten (born October 3, 1982) is an American singer and former actor. He is known for his roles in ''Escape to Witch Mountain'', ''Toy Story'', ''Brink!'', ''Meego'', '' The Princess Diaries'', ''Complete Savages'', and ''So Weir ...

and

Jason Marsden Jason Christopher Marsden (born January 3, 1975) is an American actor, director, producer and YouTuber, who has done numerous voice roles in animated films, as well as various television series and video games. He has been the official voice of ...

as Flynt and Mungo respectively, none of the actors from the original film reprised their roles. This film was dedicated to storyboard artist John Miller, who died before the film was released.

Plot

The film makes use of a

frame tale A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction * Framing (c ...

to present three self-contained "episodes" via flashback. Jane and

's first wedding anniversary has arrived, and Jane is trying to find a suitable present for her husband, with the help of the elephant

Tantor ''Tantor'' is a generic name for elephants in ''Mangani'', the fictional language of the great apes in the Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In Burroughs's works a number of elephants appear under the name of ''Tantor'', most notably one pa ...

and the gorilla Terk. When a party is suggested, the trio remembers the disaster that occurred when three of Jane's friends arrived to rescue her, as they mistakenly believed Jane was being held captive in the jungle. After learning the truth, they decide to stay for a visit. Jane organizes an English-style picnic for her friends, but Tarzan refuses to join them after believing Jane was embarrassed by his savage habits. The picnic is interrupted when two panthers, Nuru and Sheeta attack Jane and her friends, forcing them to flee into the deeper regions of the jungle. As Jane taught her friends a few survival techniques, they are once again ambushed by the panthers, only to be saved when Tarzan rushes in. When Jane and her friends leave the next day, they thank her for the adventure and say they hope to come back soon. Back to the present day, Jane ponders over the idea of expensive gifts, particularly jewelry, prompting Terk to remind her of the time Tarzan tried to get her a diamond. Tarzan had led two men, Johannes Niels and Merkus to a nearby volcano containing a diamond mine and in return, they would give him one of the diamonds to give to Jane, only for them to turn on him once inside, wanting to take all the diamonds for themselves. The volcano then erupted with Tarzan, Jane, and Professor Porter trapped inside, though they managed to escape before the lava flows reached them. Tarzan then rescued Johannes and Merkus, only for them to lose their diamonds in the process. They are arrested after this and taken back to England. Professor Porter then joins the conversation, suggesting to Jane that she and Tarzan should celebrate their anniversary with a dance. This causes Terk to bring up the time Jane's old friend Robert Canler visited. Things had gone well, despite Tarzan feeling jealous and mistrusting towards Canler (claiming that he is a bad man that reminds him of

Sabor The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabo ...

), until Canler had revealed he was working as a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

for the

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of the German Empire during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and had come for a code machine disguised as a

music box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'' ...

he gave to Jane for safekeeping. He then kidnapped her, but was tracked down and stopped by Tarzan assisted by

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

pilot Nigel Taylor, who had been on Canler's trail. Taylor commandeers Canler's plane and takes him back to England to stand trial. Having run out of ideas and realizing anniversaries would not fit in with Tarzan's uncivilized lifestyle, Jane returns to the treehouse in disappointment, only to cheer up after finding it decorated and everyone, including Tarzan, who is wearing his father's suit, had planned a surprise party to make her happy. Terk, Tantor, and the Professor had known about it all along and were simply distracting her while everyone else got the party set up. Tarzan gives Jane a diamond ring made from the same diamonds in the volcano. The celebrations start as everyone dances, including Tarzan and Jane as the film concludes with the couple dancing under the moonlight with

fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

all around.

Cast

Michael T. Weiss Michael Terry Weiss (born February 2, 1962) is an American actor known for his role as Jarod in the television series '' The Pretender''. Early life Michael Terry Weiss was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 2, 1962. His father was a steel i ...

as Tarzan * Olivia d'Abo as Jane Porter * April Winchell as Terk * Jim Cummings as Tantor and Merkus *

John O'Hurley John George O'Hurley Jr. (born October 9, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, singer, author, game show host and television personality. He is known for his portrayal of J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', and was the sixth host of the ...

as Johannes Niels * Jeff Bennett as Prof. Archimedes Q. Porter and Robert (Bobby) Canler *

Alexis Denisof Alexis Denisof (born February 25, 1966) is an American actor. He is primarily known for playing Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and its spin-off ''Angel''. He also had a recurring role on ''How I Met Your ...

as Nigel Taylor *

Grey DeLisle-Griffin Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...

as Greenly *

Nicollette Sheridan Nicollette Sheridan (born 21 November 1963) is an English-born American actress. She began her career as a fashion model before landing a role in the short-lived ABC primetime soap opera '' Paper Dolls'' in 1984, as well as starring in the rom ...

as Eleanor *

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The New Batman Adventure ...

as Hazel *

René Auberjonois René Murat Auberjonois (; June 1, 1940 – December 8, 2019) was an American actor and director. He was best known for portraying Odo on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He first achieved fame as a stage actor, winning the Tony A ...

as Renard Dumont * Frank Welker as Nuru and Sheeta

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, reports that 17% of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3/10. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' rated it 3/5 stars and called it "sprightly amusement for kids of all ages".

''The Legend of Tarzan''

This film is largely a flashback to three episodes of the TV series '' The Legend of Tarzan'': "Tarzan and the British Invasion", "Tarzan and the Volcanic Diamond Mine" and "Tarzan and the Flying Ace", the last three episodes of the show to be aired (but taking place much earlier in production order). An adventure game on the DVD is based on the series. It resembles a multiple-choice story, featuring many different characters from the series.

References

External links

* * *
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarzan and Jane 2002 films 2002 animated films 2002 direct-to-video films 2000s American animated films 2000s fantasy adventure films 2000s romance films American fantasy adventure films American sequel films Animated adventure films Animated films about gorillas Animated romance films Direct-to-video sequel films Tarzan (franchise) DisneyToon Studios animated films Disney direct-to-video animated films Films set in the 1900s Films set in Africa Love stories Tarzan films Disney Television Animation films 2000s children's animated films Films directed by Steve Loter 2000s English-language films