Fantasia
Ambitious animated epic from Disney studios, which includes
sequences set to music by - amongst others - Bach, Tchaikovsky,
Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Schubert and Beethoven. Also featured is
the famous 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' routine, in which Mickey Mouse
(voiced by Walt himself for the last time) creates magical mayhem
when he tries to get his chores done with the aid of a spell or
two.
Fantasia 2000
A semi-sequel to Disney's 1940 classic 'Fantasia' which features
the original film's most famous sequence - the Mickey Mouse
adventure 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' - plus seven other all-new
animated interpretations of classical music. Highlights include
the interwoven stories of a group of 1930s New Yorkers
accompanied by Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', the volcanic
eruptions which illustrate Stravinsky's 'Firebird Suite', and the
story of Noah, his ark, and his assistant Donald Duck, played out
to the strains of Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance'.
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Fantasia
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 ain", "The
Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The Nutcracker Suite". The animation
ranges from subtly delicate to fiercely bold. The screen bursts
with colour 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
Fantasia 2000
More ambitious in than any of its other animated films
(before or to come), Disney's 1940 feature Fantasia was a
dizzying, magical and highly enjoyable marriage of classical
music and animated images. Fantasia 2000, originally made for the
IMAX large-screen format, 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 sed 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 ain/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 the 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
style. --Mark Englehart