Tarzan Chronicles (Welcome Book) Hardcover – June 30, 1999

I don't know if I'll ever get over this movie - especially if I keep running across books like this one. It is nicely designed, intelligently organized, and chock-full of pre-production art, journal entries, productions stills, photographs and stories of how the film came to be. If you think the movie is incredible, wait until you learn all the behind the scenes stuff. This book chronicles that odyssey in wonderful detail.Did you know the Tarzan character was animated in Paris, while the rest of the film was being animated in Burbank, California? Supervising animator Glen Keane (arguably the top animator in the field) was living in Paris with his family when directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck approached him with the offer to supervise the animation of the adult version of Tarzan. One of his stipulations for coming on board was that he be able to stay in Paris and work with the Disney Animation Studio there. Meanwhile, back in Burbank, an entirely different team of animators was working on the rest of the film. The two studios used a computer system called "Scene Machine" to correspond with each other and coordinate characters in the same scene over the 6,000-mile distance.Keane's journal, sketches, thoughts, stories and photos offer amazing insight into his real-life adventure animating Tarzan. Here's just a taste, from one of his journal entries: "Worked on `Strangers Like Me' sequence. The process is never easy - particularly for this song - at first the route was to teach Tarzan to speak - but it has evolved into Tarzan's quest for knowledge. I went on my own quest - reading books on Einstein's Theory of Relativity - and books explaining physics and great scientific discoveries as in astronomy. I am in awe of the universe and God's perfect design clearly displayed in its breadth and beauty. Tarzan must be in awe and wonder. Joy of discovery. He must have an insatiable thirst to know. The audience should feel the same joy as Tarzan. They should enjoy watching him discover."Here's another one that sends chills down my spine: "My mind was churning on the scenes I'd been seeing with the animators this morning - and it struck me how real Tarzan is to me. He is not a drawing or even an animated character. He is a living personality with character traits, personal habits and a body language all his own. I could almost see him before me. He is real yet invisible living in my imagination, which is a very real place to inhabit." Good stuff.The book is probably one third text and two-thirds pictures. It's divided into seven sections, each named after a Phil Collins song from the movie, plus introduction and acknowledgements. Glen Keane's story is just one of many chronicled in the book. If you're a fan of the Tarzan stories, love Disney animation, or are interested in the art of animation in general, you've got to have this book.Waitsel Smith

I must admit I am a collector of animation art books and Hyperion does some of the best. This is not just a coffee table book full of vibrant pictures, though it has many centerfolds that would look wonderful hung on a wall. Reading an art book may sound a bit wierd, but this one is broken up into digestable pieces that you can casually browse through. It has the main body in chronological and character sections, personal journal out takes, captions and song lyrics, so you can choose what you want to read without loosing the impact of the book. You can't seperate the book from the film, instead the book will enhance the film goer's experience because it reveals the internal thoughts and images of what is behind the development of the picture. The forward by Phil Collins sets the humble tones for all the stereo types the film struggled to overcome. Insights from personal journals of the artists give an extra understanding into the characters, that those who have not read this wonderful book, will miss. I recomend it for those who love the art of animation and those who, like me, enjoy knowing what goes on behind the scenes.

I love this book! I do own quite a few art of disney books, and this one is awesome! I've always loved the tarzan movie, and disney in general. So I wanted to see how they created the movie. This book has a ton of character sketches, commentary from the animators, and voice actors, as well as Phil Collins (wrote the music). It explains some of the processes, and has pictures as well as sketches from when the animators went to the Jungle. So if you love Disney, and the process of their movies, are an animator, or just love art in general, then i'm sure you'll love this book as much as I do!

If you're a fan of seeing the inner workings of animated films, this book is a must-have. From Tarzan's supposed musculature from the development of Deep Canvas, this book is a comprehensive look at the creative process of "Tarzan." Complete with gorgeous fold out pages and liner notes, it's a great treat for fans of Tarzan or animation in genera.I purchased this as a present for my best friend, and he absolutely adored it. The book was in excellent condition with no real discernible wear or tear. I definitely need to get a copy for myself!

The Tarzan Chronicles is a fantastic book it contains interviews from people who worked on the film and tons of artwork this is basically Disney's Tarzan the encyclopedia

This was my first purchase from Amazon and I think it's a very good accompaniment to the movie. Alright, it still has tendencies like all the Disney Art books of reading like a big press release, which is kind of insulting to those of us who are serious animation connoisseurs. Even the 'diary extracts' of Keane, Lima and Collins seem kind of fake. Like others, I would have liked to have seen less talk about the music and more about the art. But the sheer abundance of production art and sketches are well worth getting it.

This is one of, if not THE best Disney 'art of' books I've come to own. There is a bevy of sketches to drool over (many by my hero Glen Keene, whose raw talent for animation is boundless.)They really show the exploration of the characters, and let you know about the development. The most well-written Disney Art-Of book, in my opinion.

The book is filled with concept and story development far more than an earlier smaller art of Tarzan they released. The seller was right on in their explanation if vindication and I couldn't be happier.