While Alexander Skarsgard brings the brawn and Margot Robbie the spunk, The Legend of Tarzan fails to capture the fun and adventure of Edgar Rice Burrough’s iconic character in this ultra-dour CGI infested retelling.

Post Harry Potter and the Dark Knight Trilogy, there is no doubt that Warner Bros are keen to find that next big franchise to see them survive within a “franchise or die” infested industry. With their slew of DC Comics adaptations failing to do Marvel Studio numbers and Sherlock Holmes 3 still a-ways away, Warner looked to an iconic character (one of many in their canon) to help save the day and make that money…only to release a one and done lethargic dose of not-so-visual spectacular.

It’s a shame. The Legend of Tarzan had the makings to be something quite good, with a solid choice for director in David Yates (who helmed the last four Harry Potter movies to critical acclaim) and a made for this role Alexander Skarsgard in the lead. Yet for all its posturing and chest thumping, this 49th film incarnation of the Tarzan character results in a resounding…meh.

A somewhat origin story, the film begins in 1880s Victorian London with the legendary Tarzan, King of the Jungle, fully integrated as the wealthy Lord John Clayton III, head of Greystroke manor and husband to free spirited Jane (Margot Robbie). When the British government along with United States representative George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) inform Clayton of alleged slavery in his former home of the Congo at the hands of King Leopold II of Belgium, John and Jane return to their spiritual homeland to combat a threat in the form of Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), envoy of the king who has sinister plans to extract the Congo of its rich mineral deposits and enslave its people.

With the issue of slavery front and centre, there is no surprise that …Tarzan takes such a serious tone. And by all rights justifiably so, with Tarzan as a character one that brings many risks of the racial variety especially in these PC times.

While Yates and company try to offside this issue in the casting of Samuel L. Jackson as a former Civil War soldier turned gun slinging government official, and everyone’s favourite bad  guy Christoph Waltz as a white suit wearing, rosary wielding harbinger of death (once again proving that Catholic’s are always game for scaremongering in Hollywood), the desire to please everyone results in a film that suffers from one hell of an identity crisis.

With its ultra-serious reboot structure screams Batman Begins and its CGI jungle environments trying (and failing) to match the likes of The Jungle Book, what The Legend of Tarzan really needed was a dose of fun personality ala Pirates of the Caribbean to add some energy to its doldrums.

Margot Robbie tries with her spunky, attitude driven performance as Jane the perfect accompaniment to Alexander Skarsgard’s gallant, physically imposing turn as Tarzan. In fact, Skarsgard’s monstrous, chiselled torso almost steals the show and with good reason as it is the most entertaining aspect in an action adventure movie that forgot to inject fun into the proceedings.

The effort is there to be seen, yet the execution of The Legend of Tarzan is one big miscue.