The Disney Renaissance came to a close in 1999 with the release of Tarzan. This film featured innovative animations, a compelling story, and a boppin' soundtrack by Phil Collins. As much as we love Tarzan for what it is, however, we still have a few questions. We're here to explore these now.
Before we look back at all the little plot holes and issues with the animated classic, we're acknowledging that yes, we're going to be super picky. Tarzan is fiction, and the creators could do whatever they wanted with it. However, looking closer at the film's unexplainable elements is far more fun, right?
With that said, it's time to jump back a couple of decades and go deep into the jungle. Here are ten things about Tarzan that don't make sense.
Tarzan’s Family Builds An Elaborate Treehouse
It’s insane that Tarzan’s parents managed to build such a nice place to live in such a short amount of time.When the parents’ boat goes up in flames, Tarzan is already alive. They escape to the African coast where they begin to put together not only a nice home but also bridges they can access it with.
Even if Tarzan’s father was a skilled woodworker or architect, it took him and his wife barely any time to put the treehouse together. Once the parents are killed and Kala discovers baby Tarzan, it looks as if he hasn’t aged a day since he arrived and construction began.
Tarzan’s Family Gets Supplies
Speaking of the parents' treehouse-building skills, the movie never explains how Tarzan’s parents acquired the necessary supplies to put together their new home.
When we see them get into the escape boat on the side of their large ship, it doesn’t appear that they bring much with them. However, we later see that they have the necessary tools to build a treehouse. Inside their new home, we also see hinges on doors, clocks, picture frames, drawers, a chest, blankets, and other items they definitely shouldn’t have been able to bring with them or make.
The Depth Of The Water Changes
When Tarzan is still a kid, Terk challenges him to retrieve an elephant hair. Though she’s hoping he finds this task to be too dangerous and goes home, he sets out to prove himself by jumping into the body of water the elephants socialize in.
While Tarzan can swim deep into the river, shots of the elephants reveal that the water collects around their feet. They all stand around nonchalantly. However, after Tarzan grabs a hair from one of the elephants' tails, a shot underwater shows that the elephant are wading in deep water. The depth of the river changes throughout the scene.
Adult Tarzan Doesn’t Have A Beard
Ever since Tarzan premiered in the late ‘90s, viewers have been wondering why he seems to be hairless. His father had a nice thick mustache, so why does Tarzan, who grows up in the jungle without modern conveniences, not have a beard?
In the original Tarzan adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, it is explained that Tarzan uses a knife to shave his face. This doesn’t, however, explain why he is otherwise hairless. It also is peculiar that Tarzan chose to shave in the Disney version of the story, considering that he hadn’t seen pictures of other men before.
No One Gets Injured
There’s a lot of fighting in Tarzan. Sabor chases after Kala when she recuses baby Tarzan, Tarzan later fights Sabor himself, and eventually, Clayton and his men attack the gorillas. However, whenever a character received a visible injury, it quickly disappeared.
Kala receives two claw marks on her right cheek after fighting Sabor. Later, Tarzan gets a few scratches of his own from the leopard. While we see these injuries at first, they seem to magically heal within a couple of shots. While this could be attributed to Disney’s policy against showing violence, the continuity errors produced as a result of it is noticeable.
Tarzan Can Slide Across Trees
Tarzan seems to have some crazy rope-swinging and tree-sliding skills. This is most notable in the scene where the ape-man rescues Jane from the baboons. He takes her on a wild escape, running across branches and sliding down moss-covered trunks.
As cool as this scene look, it doesn't make much sense. For one thing, Tarzan’s expert ability to navigate the jungle so quickly while carrying another person is shocking. Additionally, he’s not wearing shoes. Just imagine how many splinters he must have on his feet.
Tarzan Learns Too Quickly
While the film never explicitly states how long Jane, her father, and Clayton are staying in Africa, Tarzan still seems to learn a lot in the little time they are there.
When he first meets Jane, he is able to say his name and her name despite having never spoken like a human; He only ever made ape sounds. Sure, Tarzan's etiquette is a little rusty. Nevertheless, many of his basic people skills develop in barely any time.
Why Did Tarzan Never Find The Treehouse?
Tarzan had grown up his whole life in the jungle and frequently explored it with his friends. So how, in that time, did he never come across the treehouse his parents built?
Kala reveals the location to him right before he gets on the boat to head back to England, but it's strange that he never saw the treehouse hanging out in the open.
It would have cleared up a lot of things, including the fact that he wasn't a strange-looking ape but rather an adopted human.
Why Didn’t Kerchak Move The Gorillas?
Before the English explorers leave to head back to England, Tarzan shows them what they came all that way to see: the gorillas.
While Jane is excited to meet Tarzan’s mother and little friends, the sweet moment turns dark after Kerchak arrives and realizes that Tarzan has potentially endangered the gorillas by exposing their location to the humans. So, to protect against future threats, why didn’t Kerchak move the gorillas further into the jungle?
The poachers find the gorillas easily with a little help from Clayton. Maybe it didn’t occur to Kerchak that Tarzan’s actions could have adverse consequences, but as the leader of the gorillas, he should have thought ahead.
Jane’s Dad Won’t Survive In The Jungle
At the end of the film, Jane decides to stay with Tarzan in the jungle instead of going back to England. While this is sure to be a difficult transition for her, it still might be possible. Her dad, however, probably wouldn’t make it as easily.
Toward the end of the film, we see him swinging from a vine. As an older gentleman, he shouldn’t have the arm strength to do this.
Also, if he got sick or injured, he wouldn’t be able to get the same quality of care he could receive back home in England. Staying in Africa might sound fun in theory, but practically, Archimedes Porter shouldn't have a bright future ahead.