“The Legend of Tarzan” is a very entertaining film featuring battles between gorillas and Tarzan, between tribesman and soldiers, and between Tarzan and the soldiers. Alexander Skarsgård makes a very fit (as in buff) and serious-minded Tarzan. He has to deal with a lot of grim situations, including the kidnapping of his beloved Jane, played by the beautiful Margot Robbie. The main villain, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), is promised three Opar diamonds if he is able to bring Tarzan to the chief of an African tribe. He wants to present the diamonds to King Leopold the Second, King of the Belgians, to help fund his depleted government. This act will put Rom in good standing with the king. The chief’s son had killed the female gorilla that raised Tarzan and had become a substitute mother to him when his real mother, Alice, died. Tarzan had, in return, killed the chief’s son, so the chief wants him very badly. He is thirsty for revenge. Rom is the kind of man who will do anything to get what he wants. Waltz portrays a menacing, slow-boiling enemy in his characterization of Rom.

The film features the back-story of Tarzan’s origins and a lot of beautiful scenery. It has a lot of action, too, with Tarzan swinging on the vines of the jungle, running, and fighting a big gorilla that used to be his friend but became upset when Tarzan left for a while to go to civilization and become educated. He claimed his right as heir to his father, Lord Greystoke. In Africa, Tarzan was believed, at first, to be an evil spirit or “ghost in the trees,” but he now is accepted as a legend — Tarzan of the Apes. In fact, the gorillas come to help him when there is an urgent need.

Tarzan goes to Africa to settle things regarding his people, and Jane insists on going with him, which leads to her being kidnapped and Tarzan’s pursuit of the villains to reclaim her. Regrettably, strong language and violence prevent us from awarding the movie our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal.