Heartwarming / Tarzan

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

A sweet Meet Cute despite the rocky start.

• During the beginning montage of "Son of Man", Tarzan is struggling to climb a tree and almost falls but Terk manages to grab him and pull him up showing she's a true friend. (it's even more heartwarming when she smiles at him showing she's there for him no matter what)
  • During the same montage, there's a clip of Tarzan tying some branches together to create a little roof so Kala won't get rained on while she's sleeping. It's a sweet moment showing how much Tarzan loves his mother. And this isn't a random moment, this is the turning point in the song, when he goes from struggling to succeeding, and the first thing he succeeds at is using his skill to help someone else. It drives home immediately that he has become strong, he has become wise, but above all he is kind.
  • Speaking of the song, among the many accomplishments Tarzan is shown using Tantor's trunk and breath to cause a number of butterflies to take off in flight, just to provide a nice view for the rest of the tribe.
• After Kala takes Tarzan to the remains of his parents' tree house, he exits wearing his father's clothes intending to leave the jungle to be with Jane, but before he leaves, he embraces her one last time and tells her, "No matter where I go, you will always be my mother."
  • "And you will always be in my heart."
• Any scene between Kala and Tarzan. Gorilla mom is best mom.
  • One example is this scene before the "Son of Man" montage where Kala reassures Tarzan that he is not that different from the other gorillas after Kerchak has hurt Tarzan's feelings about him fitting in.
    Kala: Close your eyes. Now forget what you see. What do you feel?
    (She puts Tarzan hand to his chest, where he feels his heart)
    Tarzan: My heart.
    Kala: Come here.
    (He comes over and Kala places his head on her chest where her heart is)
    Tarzan: Your heart.
    Kala: See? We're exactly the same. (sighs) Kerchak just can't see that.
    Tarzan: (now feeling determined) I'll make him see it! I'll be the best ape ever!
    Kala: (chuckling before she tickles Tarzan) Oh, I bet you will.
• "You came back?" "I came home."
  • Kerchak's last words. Two of them in particular: "My son."
• After Kala finds baby!Tarzan and brings him back to the group. When they go to their tree to sleep, Kala and then Phil Collins sing "You'll Be in My Heart". The scene is calming with deep blues and animal children nestling up to their mothers. It's too sweet to describe.
• It's hidden within an awesome moment, but when Tarzan truly does his signature yell for the first time, virtually all his fellow gorillas hoot and yell in response. Before as a child, he would yell in a similar manner but badly, likely coming off as annoying to everyone but his closest friends. Now they see him as one of their own, holding the dead Sabor above his head and celebrating his victory with a triumphant yell, and they match it with gusto.
• A small one, but once Tarzan is noticed to be missing, what do the gorillas do? Form a search party and look for him. Either Kerchak developed enough respect to tell the gorillas to look for Tarzan or some were brave enough to disobey him, but it proves that Tarzan did have some love within the group.
• Jane's relationship with her father is incredibly sweet and heartfelt. Despite being a woman used to the pampered London lifestyle and totally out of her element in the jungle, she still willingly accompanies him on his expedition to Africa and is genuinely excited and thrilled whenever he comes across each scientific discovery.
• When Jane meets Kala for the first time she says that she's beautiful. Tarzan responds "She's... my mother." Jane is astounded and gently accepts it.
• When Tarzan is boarding the boat to go to England with Jane and her group, she excitedly tells him about all of the fantastic things he'll see — that famous scientists and writers and royalty will be dying to meet him. All Tarzan wants to know is if he and Jane can stay together for it all. Aw!
  • It manages to be funny too, because Jane is completely discombobulated by his simple sincerity. Can't even find her way to the ladder.
• Jane deciding to stay with Tarzan in the jungle rather than go back to England. Her father deciding to stay as well is just icing.
  Jane: Oo-oo-e-ah-oo.
  [cheers from Tantor and the rest of the gorillas]
• After how initially frightened she was of Jane, it was very cute to see Kala taking her by the hand and welcoming her with a smile. Doubly so because it was Jane who first noticed Kala hadn't been freed from her cage and took out the captors who were trying to get her on the boat.
• At the beginning when Tarzan's father is struggling with the beam and his wife goes in to help him carry it. The looks of sheer determination on their faces is inspiring.
  • Tarzan's parents in general. During the burning-sinking ship sequence they are totally focused on saving their child — they don't have time to panic. The only survivors of a shipwreck, deserted on an island with no escape, a newborn in tow, it's amazing they lasted as long and as well as they did and that's mainly because of their dedication and teamwork. Despite everything, they did their best to live in the jungle and create a (sadly short-lived) home from them and their baby.
• The moment when Tarzan finally finds another (Jane) whose hand matches his.
• This conversation between Jane and her father.
  Archimedes: Jane, dear, I can't help feeling that you should stay.
  Jane: [tearful] Daddy, please don't. We've been through all of this, I couldn't possibly st-. I-I belong in England, with you, with people!
  [Jane's glove is blown away towards Tarzan and he picks it up]
  Archimedes: But you love him.
  • The most heartwarming of all is when Jane turns back to look at her father and he smiles, encouraging her to do what she wants to do: "Go on."
  • This is immediately followed by Jane jumping from the boat and rushing back to shore, where she proceeds to throw herself into Tarzan's arms and kiss him. When she backs away, slightly embarrassed by her display of affection, Tarzan cups her face in his hands and pulls her in to kiss her again. It's a beautiful moment that caps off the movie perfectly.
  • To cap off the scene, Archimedes himself decides to stay in Africa. You can say that he wanted to stay so that he could continue studying the wildlife, but in the end you know that he wanted to stay with his daughter and the man she loves, who he himself has come to see as a son.
• Tarzan showing Jane how to swing a vine. When Jane first jumps, we see her hugging tightly to the vine in terror but then she opens her eyes and immediately starts enjoying it. The look of happiness on her face can't be described.
  • And as Tarzan swings with Jane, their vines end up getting wound together — the way he looks at her must be seen to be believed. And Jane grinning and looking away bashfully is adorable. If you look closely at her at this point, you can see that she's blushing.
  • And before that, she's trying to sketch a lovebird but it flies off before she can finish. So Tarzan takes her up into the tree top where there are hundreds of the birds.
  • "Can you feel the things I feel, right now, with you?"
• Both funny and heartwarming, but the baboons chasing Jane earlier return during the final battle to save her from Clayton's men. The baby baboon is wearing her boot as a hat and kisses her on the cheek when he sees her again.
  • The fact that the baboon clan waits until the baby orders them to charge before attacking; they realise that Jane is, despite looking different, one of the jungle folk and no one fucks with the jungle folk.
• Seeing Kerchak, huge and imposing as he ordinarily is, playing with his and Kala's baby at the very beginning of the movie is pretty cute.
• The look Kerchak gives Tarzan after he defeats Sabor. He almost looks proud of him.
  • Not to mention that, when Sabor was chasing after Tarzan, Kerchak angrily grabs the leopard and throws her away. It shows that Kerchak is probably more protective of Tarzan than he would care to admit, and deep down he does care for Tarzan.
• Any time Terk shows that she really does care about her cousin. For example: when she and Tantor were rescuing everyone on the boat, she hugs Tarzan and sobs "I thought I'd never see you again!"
  • She's a gibbering wreck when she thinks she's accidentally got him killed trying to get an elephant hair. Even before that, while her friends are goading Tarzan on, she's calling for him to come back, clearly not wanting him to get hurt.
• Listen to the reprise of "You'll Be In My Heart" from the stage musical. You WILL cry in joy.
• The song "Who Better than Me" from the musical. It's basically Terk (who is male in the musical, and older) taking a mentorship role for Tarzan and the two becoming friends. The reprise is about Tarzan convincing Terk to help him out and, like in the movie, it took his eyes to do it. Shows that, no matter what the adaption, these two will be friends.
• There's a marvelous quality to the tone of Tarzan's voice when he introduces Kala to the explorers. He says proudly, "She's my mother": it's the way he says it that leaves Jane and her dad — and the audience — touched.
• After being freed by Tarzan, Kerchak smiles at him. He then sees that one of Clayton's minions is about to attack him and pushes him out of the way before knocking the grunt out, then they cooperate in saving some imprisoned gorillas.
  • And no longer than a minute later, right after Tarzan frees Kala alongside Jane, Clayton shoots him, grazing his arm and injuring him, Kerchak, of all people, realizes that and charges forward to defend him, only to get shot by Clayton and get mortally injured. This and the trope above were the moments where he gained the most respect for Tarzan. Also, when he dies, he regrets how he treated him, names him the new leader of the troop, and accepts him as his son at last.
• When Clayton attempts to cut himself free of the vines entangling him, Tarzan seems to notice a set coiling around his neck and urges him not to. It doesn’t work, but it truly shows how good-hearted Tarzan is.