Tarzan

Tarzan is the last film from the so called "Disney Renaissance", a period of 11 years in which Disney had a creative bursts with films that were received well by the public and critics.  

Tarzan is a gorgeous film put together with different techniques, which I didn't know about before. IT bursts with lots of different, very strong characters who all complement each other in a magnificent way. The animation is done gorgeous, while being distributed over two locations: LA and Paris. Tarzan was animated in Paris where Glen Keane partnered up with french animators with a background of excellent life drawing skills. Something that turned out to be quite required when working on a character with such a complex physique. He needs to look strong, without looking too buff. He's human but walks and acts like animals he's surrounded with, adapting to each animal respectively. And of course, he is 95% naked, which causes to give him an anatomically correct physique with correctly displayed muscles.

In Tarzan a lot of different emotions of love, friendship and curiosity come into play, which I think is brilliantly done. The characters each have very strong characteristics in their design, mainly their eyes. The eyes of all characters tell so much to me in this film and I'm not entirely sure why.  

A really important part of the film is the symbolism in the hands touching each other, especially those of Tarzan and Jane's. It became such an important symbol of the relationships between the characters in the film. It metaphors Tarzan's search for his own identity. All his life he's been made fun of for being different, desperately trying to fit in and get approval of Kerchak. Then he finds creatures who look different than all the ones he's been seeing in his life. When touching Jane's hand he first realises they're the same, which is a catalyst for the roller coaster of emotions Tarzan is going through afterwards. Upon realising who he is, he then starts looking for more answers, who is he really? Even though the gorillas are his family, he's technically not the same. A major thing they changed from the comics is the end. Initially Tarzan was to leave the jungle and go to England, but to strengthen the effect and the symbolism they put into family, they altered the story so he could stay. This way Jane could be part of his world emphasising the relationships.

A thing I never realised in all my years watching this film is that all of the backgrounds were technically 3D (to be honest, it's also been a while since I last watched it so I might've been able to notice it now?) They made use of new techniques within the 3D animation of Deep Canvas. This way they could make the paintings come to life, as if they would be walking and swinging around in a 2D environment. How it technically works is that they create a 3D environment, and they paint on the mesh, as if you would when painting on a canvas, and this way you can paint everywhere you'd ever dreamt of painting. Because the backgrounds and the characters always blended so smoothly I never noticed, or even thought of the idea that it could've been another medium.

To bring another emphasis on the whole "family" as a general theme in the film: When the animators went on safari in Kenya to observe the gorillas, they encountered a view they never expected to see. Instead of the ferocious animals they had expected to stumble upon, they saw a beautiful family of gorillas living together, caring and watching out for each other, just like you would see with humans. And this little piece of magic that is the animal kingdom always amazes me.