Is It Just Me & My Pregnancy Hormones, Or Is Tarzan The Saddest Disney Movie Ever?

The 1999 Tarzan movie really has it all: a sexy shirtless man-ape, a heartwarming story of unlikely adoption, an endearing opposites-attract love story... and it's all set to music sung and composed by Phil Collins, who absolutely did not have to go as hard as he did on that soundtrack — but we are all grateful for it.

Now that I'm rewatching Disney classics with my toddler, I absolutely had to include Tarzan in the lineup. However, my millennial nostalgia did not take into account my heightened pregnancy emotions, and I forgot about the film's many heart-wrenching moments. I had no idea how many tissues I would go through during this rewatch.

It's no secret that many Disney movies should come with a warning that says, "Caution to highly sensitive empaths: You will cry during the first 10 minutes." (I'm looking at you, opening sequence from Up.) Still, I did not realize how much Tarzan would emotionally tax me — and not just the beginning, either — now that I'm watching the film as a mother.

Perhaps you'll tell me I'm being overly sensitive due to pregnancy hormones. (OK, rude!) But hear me out when I say that Tarzan tugged at my heartstrings more than any other Disney film in my rewatch queue.

You'll Be In My Heart

Sure, that leopard, Sabor, was merely acting as a predator at the top of the food chain would act. Even so, this a**hole leopard is responsible for the deaths of not only Tarzan's beautiful mama and mutton-chopped daddy but also a poor baby gorilla.

Ah, I forgot about the baby gorilla! No one reminded me about the baby gorilla.

Now, it is a truth universally acknowledged that in movies, an animal death is far sadder than a human death. I'm sorry, I don't make the rules. I'm prone to weeping when seeing an adorable helpless animal being harmed. So, you can imagine my tears when I watched Tarzan's adoptive gorilla mother, Kala, mourn the loss of her sweet little baby gorilla.

Kala then had to battle with Sabor to save baby Tarzan, risking her life to do so. Oh, my heart! Though I know the movie won't kill off the titular character in the first few minutes, the fight that ensued was a nail-biter as Kala struggled to get herself and Tarzan out of the treehouse alive.

I held onto my daughter a bit tighter as Kala comforted a crying Tarzan and started to sing "You'll Be In My Heart." That's one of my go-to bedtime songs for my toddler, and it hits differently in the context of the movie, where this unlikely mother and son pair bond over their need for one another. The montage of Kala nuzzling and cuddling with Tarzan as if he were her own child made me cry happy tears.

Two Worlds

Though Kala welcomes him, Tarzan continually feels like an outsider among his gorilla family as he grows up. That desire to be loved and accepted is a universal feeling; it's easy to relate to Tarzan's journey because we all have experienced those awkward growing pains and complicated moments of wanting to fit in.

While playing a game with his friends, an adolescent Tarzan accidentally incites an elephant stampede. Though it's not as devastating as the stampede that causes Mufasa's death in The Lion King (my choice for Disney's second saddest film), the guilt it induces for Tarzan is palpable and more relatable to viewers (I hope) than Simba's guilt.

Although no one gets killed in the elephant stampede, Tarzan's adoptive father, Kerchak, is quick to remind Tarzan that someone could have been. Kerchak and Kala argue over Tarzan's actions in front of everyone, including Tarzan. Kala defends Tarzan by saying he's only a child and made an innocent mistake.

Kerchak then took the opportunity to remind Kala that, as a human, Tarzan could one day grow into a threat to their safety, saying, "Kala, look at him. He will never be one of us." To that, Kerchak, I urge you to look into that sweet baby boy's big blue eyes and LOVE HIM.

The divide between the animal world and the human world deepens when Tarzan's love interest, Jane, her father, and a clearly villainous bodyguard named Clayton arrive on their shores.

Strangers Like Me

A lot of sentimental moments happen with this new development in the jungle. Jane and Tarzan share sweet moments of sharing their customs and languages. Kala reveals to Tarzan the truth about his parents and their sad demise. That particular scene is just as heartbreaking as the film's intro, as Tarzan discovers he indeed comes from a different world and learns of the parents he lost.

Kala's vulnerability in this moment smacks me in the gut. By telling Tarzan this information, she risks losing him forever. Although she has raised him, she leaves the choice to him, saying, "Tarzan, I just want you to be happy, whatever you decide."

Tarzan can either go with Jane and her father or stay in the only home he's known. He could return to a world he barely knows, where he could live among people who look like him. However, doing so would mean that he would never be able to return to the family who raised him.

This either-or dilemma seems like an impossible decision to make. That decision, however, is interrupted as Clayton reveals his true purpose of coming to the jungle: to hunt and capture gorillas. (Damn, you really can't trust a Disney character with suspicious facial hair — Captain Hook, Dr. Facilier, Jafar — am I right?!)

In the heat of the battle between the poachers and the gorillas, sadly, Kerchak is killed. Not even the karmic justice of Clayton's death can provide enough catharsis during this sad scene. In his final moments, Kerchak says, "Forgive me for not understanding that you have always been one of us," and asks Tarzan to look after their family in his place.

Then comes the tear-inducing moment where Kerchak calls Tarzan "my son." (*Sobs uncontrollably.*) It's such a moving and tragic line that shows Tarzan has received the main thing he wanted all along: acceptance.

Overall, you gotta love the film's ending, with Jane's wild abandonment of society when she hops off the boat, swims to the shore, and jumps into Tarzan's arms. Her father follows shortly after, saying a darkly funny line — "...tell them that you never found us. After all, people get lost in the jungle every day" — to the ship's captain, who intended to take them back to England.

There's something so beautiful about their love of their research, Jane's love for Tarzan, and her father's love for his daughter — that they make this decision knowing it's a permanent, life-altering decision. And equally beautiful is Kala's acceptance of Jane. (Kala is obviously the most lovable character in this film!)

Though it makes me cry, I love this movie and its impactfully sentimental moments. Whether you blame my hormones or not, the heart of this film breaks and restores my heart.