Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)

People are voting emotionally.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Well, there've been worse versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs classic hero but Tarzan and the Lost City is certainly far from the best, whether you think that's Johnny Weissmuller or Ron Ely. This is a thoroughly wholesome and family-friendly version of the Lord of the Jungle, except for a disintegration at the end, and there's a decent amount of mostly G-rated action. There frankly haven't been a lot of great live-action versions of Tarzan since the TV show of the late 1960s, so this isn't a bad choice if you're looking to introduce your kids to the Ape Man and his lady love. Even if your children love it though, this is one of those movies they'll look back on as adults and say "Boy, that really wasn't that good, was it?"Picking things up after the character's origins, Tarzan (Casper Van Dien) has been restored to his hereditary roots in the landed gentry of England and is about to marry Jane (Jane March) when a magical vision summons him back to Africa. A ruthless explorer, or at least as ruthless as you get in something suitable for the littlest viewers, is rampaging through the jungle in search of the lost city of Opar. Ravens (Steve Waddington) and his abnormally large band of mercenaries are plundering villages and poaching animals to make enough money for their expedition. Tarzan starts mucking up their plans and Jane quickly arrives to join him. But he also has to try and protect a friendly tribe led by a mysterious shaman (Winston Ntshona) and a headstrong warrior (Rapulana Seiphemo) from being mowed down by Ravens' 20th century firepower. They all wind up in Opar, which turns out to be a giant pyramid instead of a city, some magic stuff happens and everybody gets what they deserve in the end.A Tarzan movie or TV show pretty much begins and ends with the quality of your Tarzan. On that score, I'm really not sure how to judge Casper Van Dien. That's mostly because his Tarzan spends most of this film running around Central Africa is what appears to be a fat guy's dress shirt and a pair of Capri pants. By the time Van Dien loincloths up, the story is essentially over except for a very, very extended chase scene. He has a noble countenance, is surely buff enough and seems comfortable with the more outlandish aspects of the character. But Van Dien is also a little young for Tarzan in this context and doesn't quite have the physical stature the role requires. A short Tarzan is a bit like a fat Sherlock Holmes. It just doesn't feel right. Van Dien is also trying to pull off an English accent here and it's one of those accents that is so bad, you wonder why they even bothered. I guess I'd call this a competent and relatively appealing Tarzan but not an exceptional one. Even if this is the first rendition of the Ape Man you encounter, you'll probably wind up preferring one of the others.The star of the cast is probably Steve Waddington. He plays the bad guy as someone whose motives aren't necessarily evil but who is totally indifferent to the damage he does to the world and others in the pursuit of his goals. Jane March is a very English-looking beauty and plays her part with all the resolve and composure a proper gentlewoman of the early 1900s would possess. Rapulana Seiphemo as the intractable tribal warrior and Ian Roberts as a riverboat captain and friend of Tarzan also manage to inject a little flavor into their small roles.The plot of this thing is okay and stuff mostly makes sense, except for the whole thing about why Ravens and his men getting to Opar would be such a bad thing. There's a line that references the discovery of the lost city bringing more rapacious whites to the Dark Continent to ravage its countryside, but when we get to Opar there's nothing there to justify that. And considering how much magic is used to zap the bad guys away at the end, it's also not clear why Tarzan and company ever needed to get involved.As an inoffensive adventure tale for the whole family, Tarzan and the Lost City mostly works. However, that's the only level it succeeds on and with a Lord of the Jungle who's only average, I'd hate for this to be the only exposure someone has to Tarzan and his world. Given the paucity of great or even good live-action Tarzans in the last 40 years, this isn't terrible. It does really make me wish that late 60s TV series was out on DVD.

Casper Van Dien, the hot young actor who starred in Paul Verhoeven's hit, "Starship Troopers," is Tarzan, who, on the eve of the wedding to his beautiful fiancée, Jane (Jane March), is confronted by a vision of the destruction of his childhood home. Torn between staying in England with Jane and returning at once to Africa, Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, returns to his adopted home, where he squares off against European soldiers of fortune, led by the Oxford-educated Nigel Ravens (Steven Waddington), bent on discovering and looting the legendary and mythic city of Opar.When Jane decides to follow her fiancé Tarzan (Casper Van Dien) into dangerous territory, not only Tarzan must protect the city of Opar but must protect Jane also, while trying to stop Nigel Ravens and his men.

Jeez, this is a hard bunch to satisfy. As my screen name indicates I am a stone cold Edgar Rice Burroughs freak and, for ERB fans, Tarzan flicks are less to be enjoyed than to be endured. Our suffering has been great and it has been long. When you have paid hard wampum to sit through "At The Earth's Core"....when you have an actual opinion as to whether Buster Crabbe was a better actor than Johnny Weissmuller....when you can explain the difference between Nyoka, Sheena and Rulah....then you can tell us what a lousy Tarzan movie this is.For those Happy Few who fit the description above, you are going to like this film just fine and, in fact, you have probably already seen it. It's not the real McCoy, but you've doubtless given up on that by now.

Okay, I'll admit to being an old fart who grew up with Tarzan as a grunting Johnny Weisemuller. But I also read all the books some 40 years ago and should have a fair grasp of the character.It started okay, with Tarzan being called back to Africa and doing a few cool things to harass the bad guys. Then the downhill slide began and ended in a bottomless pit. Let's see... Tarzan was needed because a medicine man who can turn himself into a swarm of bees and create warriors out of thin air needed help. Uh, ever consider stinging the bad guys to death? It was nice to hear the old yell again, but not worth sitting through this.Has anyone mentioned that the gorilla costumes were on a par with the one the Three Stooges used?