Tarzan Cannot Be Rebooted

Sometimes filmmakers try to do the right thing and it comes out wrong, as it does in “The Legend of Tarzan.” The movie conveys an earnest effort on the part of the producers, the screenwriters, and the director to reboot Tarzan on virtuous principles, but the results feel constrained to that virtue. Despite the gratifications of rewarded justice that the story delivers, every narrative twist feels calculated to that good-natured end. The movie has a didactic knowingness that undercuts suspense, and even curiosity, at every turn.