Hollywood Reporter Review:
By Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
After the creative and financial short-falling of numerous recent big-budget franchise films (the latest tanker, Independence Day: Resurgence) and the ill-fortune Warner Bros. has lately suffered with several expensive intended tentpoles (The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Pan, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), it comes as something more than a mild surprise that The Legend of Tarzan isn’t half-bad; actually, it’s pretty good. Beautifully made and smartly set at the beginning of Belgian King Leopold II’s rapacious colonization of the Congo in the 1880s, this is certainly the best live-action Tarzan film in many a decade (which, admittedly, isn’t saying much) and offers a well-judged balance of vigorous action and engaging-enough drama. David Yates’ first directorial outing since capably overseeing the final four Harry Potter installments (his Potter follow-up, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, opens Nov. 18) looks to swing to brawny mid-summer box-office returns internationally.