Hardly. like most legends Disney adapts to the animated art form, the story often gets boiled down to bare bones. Not to say that the current cinematic exploits of the ape man is anything to brush aside, the Tarzan toon has grossed well over $100 million and has garnished rave reviews. Author Edgar Rice Burroughs in fact was even an early advocate of his famous creation getting the Disney treatment - in a 1936 letter to his son, Burroughs suggested that the perfect way to bring Tarzan to the big screen was in a feature-length animated film. "The cartoon must be good," Burroughs wrote. "It must approximate Disney excellence. I have given it a great deal of thought, and I have come to the conclusion that a great deal of humor must be injected into it, if it is to have popular appeal." Judging from the reception of Disney's effort, one can imagine Burroughs' thumbs-up approval.
But like any great epic, there's more to the story:
Unlike the current movie, where Tarzan's parents meet their end and when they are attacked by a leopard, the "real" story depicts John Clayton (Tarzan's true,given name) loosing his mother a year after his birth, leaving a grief stricken Father and Husband to raise the infant. Not long after, Lord Greystoke himself dies at the hands of Kerchak, King of the Apes, and his troops when they raid the family's treehouse.
Later, as Tarzan has grown into manhood and becomes aware of his human heritage, the film shows his adopted ape mother, Kala, bidding Tarzan good-bye when he chooses to test life in the human world. By the book, Kala is killed by a cannibal's poison arrow, Tarzan in turn exacts swift revenge.
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