By Mark HadleyMonday 18 Jul 2016The Big PictureMoviesReading Time: 2 minutes
The Legend of Tarzan is set a number of years after Tarzan has met Jane and moved back to merry old England. Now the Lord of Greystoke, Tarzan must decide whether he will return to the jungles to help his African friends who are in danger of being enslaved by unscrupulous white traders. Will Jane accidentally get captured and a race-against-time rescue mission ensue? You bet.
RATED: The Legend of Tarzan stars Alexander Skarsgård, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Australia’s Margot Robbie, and is rated M for mature scenes and violence.
AUDIENCE: There are a few concerns – see below – but this is basically a good family film. You can expect most late primary school and early high school kids will enjoy their introduction to Tarzan.
WHAT’S GOOD: The swinging from the trees, wrestling animals and jungle dangers are as exciting as they every were. Better still, this is a good, original story that doesn’t rely too heavily on telling us the back-story everyone already knows.
WHAT’S NOT: There is a sex scene that you should be aware of, though it is incredibly chaste (thank you Hollywood!) lasting about 20 seconds, it takes place between a husband and a wife, and it results in a baby. Mature kids shouldn’t have any problem, but be cautious.
SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING: The Legend of Tarzan is chock full of environmental issues that have a bearing on the Christian faith. To begin with, Tarzan is no longer beating up the animals but is more often working out how to work with their natural predilections, which is not a bad image of God’s call for humanity to steward rather than just dominate the natural world. However Tarzan and the higher animals are presented as equals, as though human kind were just another species of mammal, and this doesn’t do justice to God’s decision to put men and women at the peak of His creation.
RELEASE DATE: July 7 2016