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Groundbreaking on several counts, not the least of which was an
innovative use of animation and stereophonic sound, this ambitious Disney
feature has lost nothing to time since its release in 1940. Classical
music was interpreted by Disney animators, resulting in surreal fantasy
and playful escapism. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra
provided the music for eight segments by the composers Tchaikovsky,
Moussorgsky, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ponchielli, Bach, Dukas, and Schubert.
Not all the sequences were created equally, but a few are simply glorious,
such as "Night on Bald Mountain," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and "The
Nutcracker Suite." The animation ranges from subtly delicate to fiercely
bold. The screen bursts with color and action as creatures transmute and
convention is thrust aside. The painstaking detail and saturated hues are
unique to this film, unmatched even by more advanced technology.
--Rochelle O'Gorman |
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More ambitious in scope than any of its other animated films
(before or to come), Disney's 1940 Fantasia was a dizzying,
magical, and highly enjoyable marriage of classical music and animated
images. Fantasia 2000 features some breathtaking animation and
storytelling, and in a few spots soars to wonderful high points, but it
still more often than not has the feel of walking in its predecessor's
footsteps as opposed to creating its own path. A family of whales swimming
and soaring to Respighi's The Pines of Rome is magical to watch,
but ends all too soon; a forest sprite's dance of life, death, and rebirth
to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring too clearly echoes the original
Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria sequence. But
when it's on target, Fantasia 2000 is glorious enough to make you
giddy. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a perfect
narrative set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Donald Duck's
guest appearance as the assistant to Noah (of ark fame) set to Elgar's
Pomp and Circumstance marches is a welcome companion piece (though not
an equal) to The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the one original
Fantasia piece included here. The high point of Fantasia 2000,
though, is a fantastic day-in-the-life sequence of 1930s New York City set
to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and animated in the style of
cartoonist Al Hirschfeld; it's a perfect melding of music, story, and
animation. Let's hope future Fantasias (reportedly in the works)
take a cue from the best of this compilation. The
music is provided by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
James Levine, interspersed with negligible intros by Steve Martin, Bette
Midler, Itzhak Perlman, James Earl Jones, and others. --Mark Englehart |
