The Legend of Tarzan

I already looked at Edgar Rice Borough's second most-endearing creation, so now it's time for his most-endearing creation. Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, cinema star for almost 100 years. Here he is again with The Legend of Tarzan.

Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) was the Lord of the Apes, but now he's John Clayton, Earl of Greystoke. King Leopol of Belgium invites John to check out his "colony" in the Congo. George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), sharpshooter and doctor, convinces John to say yes. Jane (Margot Robbie), Lady Greystoke, comes along too.

The King's invitation is a trap. The evil Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) wants to bring Tarzan to Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou) who wants Tarzan's head. In exchange, Rom will get all the diamonds he wants. But Rom also wants slaves, something Williams wants to thwart. Lord Greystoke himself can thwart the villains if he becomes Lord of the Jungle once again.

David Yates, of the last four Harry Potter movies and its forthcoming prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, occupies the director's chair here. There's plenty of swinging and jumping across the Jungle by the apes and Tarzan. The cinematography by Henry Braham includes some formidable shots of Rom's opening confrontation with Mbonga's tribe. The apes are pretty good CGI creatures. The climactic stampede was a cool sequence.

But standing in its way is its development. It tells Tarzan's familiar origin in flashbacks spread across its 110 minutes. The Apes aren't given much development, except for his adoptive mother Kala and brother Akut. They're just there. Chief Mbonga and his tribe could've used more scenes to develop their grudge against Tarzan. Their first scene is their meeting with Rom, the second is where Tarzan fights Mbonga and tells them Rom is bad. The film's pacing is slow and its plot is thin. And I swear I could see the seems in some green-screen shots. It was hard to stay invested in all the tree-swinging.

The Legend of Tarzan tries to update its character to the 21st century, but this results in a typical blockbuster with style over substance. Everything old is still old in this installment. But I hope Fantastic Beasts will do better; at least JK Rowling herself did its screenplay.