''Tarzan of the Apes'' is a 1999

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 ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, ani ...

produced by Diane Eskenazi and Darcy Wright and written by Mark Young (based on the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''

Ride of the Valkyries The "Ride of the Valkyries" (german: Walkürenritt Ritt der Walküren, links=no) refers to the beginning of act 3 of '' Die Walküre'', the second of the four operas constituting Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen''. As a separate pie ...

'' was used as the score during the opening scenes of the film. It was released directly to

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

on March 9, 1999. The apes appear to be

chimpanzees The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

in this version, however they are not explicitly identified as such, unlike the unrelated 1999 Disney film in which they are

gorillas Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

Plot

John and Alice Clayton (Lord and Lady Greystoke) are marooned on the coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, where their son, John Clayton Jr., is born. The baby is orphaned when both parents die of a mysterious disease, but is adopted by Kala and Kerchak, members of the tribe of Brown Apes. The baby, christened

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 ...

("White Skin") by Kala, grows to adulthood among the apes, and eventually discovers the cabin where his parents lived. He teaches himself to read and write using the books there. He also discovers a cache of gold coins secreted beneath a loose floorboard in the cabin. Jane Porter, her father, Professor Archimedes Porter, and Esmerelda, their

cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

housekeeper, are shipwrecked at the same location, and soon Jane and Tarzan fall in love. The Porters and Esmerelda are rescued and sail to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, believing that Tarzan has been killed. Tarzan, with the help of Lieutenant Paul D'Arnot, sails to

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

, where he is reunited with Jane. Tarzan's identity as Lord Greystoke is discovered, and he and Jane are married and return to Africa.

Cast

The voice cast was uncredited in this film.

Songs

"Child of My Dreams", "Tarzan of the Apes" and "Everlasting Love".

Production notes

The film was released as part of the Sony Wonder ''Enchanted Tales'' series. The film was produced in 1997, but was only released to home video just before the debut of the

Disney 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 ...

'' production.

External links

* 1999 films 1999 animated films 1990s fantasy adventure films American fantasy adventure films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated fantasy films Animated films set in Africa Tarzan films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Animated films about apes English-language fantasy adventure films {{1990s-animation-film-stub