The character animation is equally impressive. Jane’s stiff, upright posture contrasts perfectly with Tarzan’s relaxed, grounded stance. The gorillas, especially Kala and Kerchak, are rendered with such realistic weight and muscle tone that you forget they’re cartoon characters. This is 2D animation at its absolute peak.
🎨 Before Tarzan , background environments in 2D animation were beautiful but static. Disney invented a proprietary technology called "Deep Canvas" for this film. It allowed artists to paint 3D backgrounds that the 2D characters could move through rather than just in front of. This gave us those breathtaking "surfing through the trees" sequences that still give you that rollercoaster feeling in your stomach today. tarzan animated
At its core, every animated iteration follows the tragic yet heroic origin of John Clayton, orphaned in the Congo Basin and raised by the Mangani great apes. The character animation is equally impressive