Animations play a crucial role in modern web development by enhancing the visual appeal and usability of web applications. Kendo UI provides a suite of reusable animation components that can be easily integrated into React applications, allowing developers to implement predefined animations such as fade, expand, push, reveal, slide, and zoom. These animations utilize the React TransitionGroup component to manage transitions as elements enter or exit the view, providing customizable animation effects to fit specific needs. The Kendo UI Animation component offers flexibility in managing animation durations and directions, making it suitable for creating engaging user experiences, as demonstrated in a tutorial for building an animated login page featuring a push animation for transitions. While Kendo UI is effective for standard animations, it may not be ideal for handling more complex animations, but it remains a valuable tool within its intended scope.