Based on the story 'Tarzan of the Apes' by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Starring: Christopher Lambert, Andie MacDowell, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, James Fox, Cheryl Campbell, Ian Charleson, Nigel Davenport, Nicholas Farrell, Paul Geoffrey, Richard Griffiths

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ - good

"Half of me is the Earl of Greystoke... the other half is WILD!" - John Clayton

Why watch this? This gritty Tarzan origin story is fairly true to the Burroughs novel.

Plot Summary: This epic tells the story of John Clayton, the heir to a Scottish Earldom, who is shipwrecked in Africa as a baby and raised by apes. Years later, a Belgian explorer discovers and teaches the now-grown John about his human heritage and persuades him to return to his ancestral home in Scotland. However, John finds himself struggling to adapt to the constraints and artificialities of Victorian society and longs for the freedom of the jungle.

Dad's Preview: After years of Tarzan films, we were finally given this gem. For the most part, it stays true to the original Edgar Rice Burroughs classic story. The cast is first rate, and the early part of the film is excellent, as it focuses on the orphaned son of John Clayton, the 6th Earl of Greystoke, who is raised by a female ape, Kala, deep in the African jungle. As the boy grows, he must fight to fit in, using his intelligence to survive attacks by stronger adult apes. The film slows down considerably when the ape man is discovered and taken back to his grandfather's estate in Scotland. The movie then picks up pace and delivers an ending that does not disappoint. The story's depiction of this unique man's life, filled with loss and upheaval, tells us a lot about what it means to be a human, and that many men, who call themselves civilized, are the most savage of all.

Hugh Hudson, Stanley Canter; Warner Bros.