Customer Reviews

Fantasia 2000 [Region 2]

5 star:		(106)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This movie is a worthy successor to the original Fantasia movie. The artwork in all the pieces was superb (although, you could tell the art from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is old). This movie, as with the original, gave me a greater appreciation of classical music, while entertaining me with impressive visual imagery.

The pieces are as follows:

Beethoven, Symphony #5. A classical piece of music (who can't identify it upon hearing it?) portrayed as a good vs. evil contest.
Respighi, Pines of Rome. Flying whales!! A great piece of music which builds to a fantastic finish. Has some cute moments with a baby whale.

Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue. Easily the best (and longest) piece in the movie. Done in the drawing style of Al Hirschfeld, a magical tale is told of four people in Depression-era New York. A heartwarming, moving piece.

Shostakovich, Piano Concerto # 2 Allegro Opus 102. A charming piece of music, used to tell the story of the Steadfast Tin Solder. Some of the scenes in this piece may be scary for little kids.

Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals, Finale. A (very) short, but very funny piece which answers the age old question: "What happens when you give a flamingo a yo-yo?" I was laughing out loud at this one.

Dukas, The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This is the same piece as from the original 1940 movie. Still worth watching after all these years.

Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance. Donald and Daisy Duck star in this reinactment of the story of Noah's Ark. Fun to watch and enjoyable.

Stravinsky, Firebird Suite. A wonderful story about life, death and rebirth. The piece builds to a wonderful ending, both in the story and in the music. Some of the younger children may be scared by some of the scenes in this piece as well.

Overall, this movie is a wonderful addition to any home video library.

The original "Fantasia" was extremely experimental animation that attempted to broaden the appeal of animation at a time when animation primarily appealed to children. Walt Disney intended that the original "Fantasia," according to Roy Disney's commentary on the DVD, be a continuously changing work of art that would be different, and yet familiar, every time you watched it. "Fantasia 2000" is an attempt to be true to that vision.

There are eight vignettes captured in the 74 minutes of this all-too-short DVD, with introductions for each of the vignettes by a host of familiar names such as Steve Martin, James Earl Jones, Penn and Teller, and Angela Lansbury, among others. I think that some of the vignettes work as well or better than those in the original, and others are okay but barely match the original.

The two vignettes that I enjoyed the best are "Pines of Rome" and "Firebird Suit - 1919 Version." In the former we see a fantastic vision of whales that is wonderfully surrealistic and beautiful. The only flaw in the wonderful vision is that the vision ended all too soon. There is a lot in the vision that the animators could have been explored in much more depth. The "Firebird Suite - 1919 Version" includes a phenomenally-animated nymph. This nymph combined a flavor of Japanese Manga with traditional Disney animation to create a character style that is wondrous and beautiful. I longed for this segment to last longer.

Disney animators once again created a new classic short in "Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102," which provides the music for "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." The story-telling is quite taut and well organized. However, just as with the "Pines of Rome" story, Disney animators could have expanded this vignette significantly.

The remaining vignettes vary in quality and length. There is a cute new Donald Duck story with Noah's Ark as the backdrop, set to the music of "Pomp and Circumstance." There is a clever story set in New York City set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." There is pure silliness involving a group of flamingos and a yo-yo in "Carnival of the Animals, Finale." The one vignette remaining from the original is "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" starring Mickey Mouse, a classic for all times and ages.

In addition to the film there are two musically-based animated shorts, "Melody" and "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom." Both are clever and have made appearances on one of the original "Worlds of Disney" weekly shows and on The Disney Channel. There are also extensive commentaries and making of features that are okay if you are into the reasoning behind making of the movie and the process by which the music and concept for each of the features was selected, but much of it was pretty dry.

On the down side, this DVD does feel like it should have been part of the original "Fantasia" to create a single work of adequate length and scope. I suspect that one day Disney will re-release both works on a single DVD, and I'll likely have to have that one too to keep my collection complete. On the up side, all of the animation is equal to or better than traditional Disney animation, and two particular works I thought were extremely good. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra provided the excellent music throughout, and makes this DVD and the original an easy way to introduce anyone to classic works of music. While the DVD is too short, the quality is excellent and well worth having in any collection of Disney animation, especially if you liked the original "Fantasia."

I was fortunate enough to see this at an IMAX theater. It was an amazing experience, to be surrounded by such wondrous music and imagery. The animation is of the highest quality, seamlessly blending modern and older styles. It will be interesting to see how the film plays out on a more intimate screen.

Although some of the pieces stand out more than others, they all had charm. " The Pines of Rome" is the most popular segment, featuring lush computer animation of blue whales soaring through the arctic ice until they take off into the sky. Disney really did a job on this one, with just enough of a story to balance out the imagery. Clearly borrowing from the art of Charles Vess, "Firebird Suite" is a pretty fairy piece with a bit of fire and danger. "Rhapsody in Blue" is as close to perfect as you need to get, blending a great Gershwin tune with Al Hersfield's familiar style. And of course, one can never get enough yo-yoing flamingos.

My personal favorite is "Pomp and Circumstance," as it made me hear a piece of music, and not just the background track to graduation ceremonies. It really took me by surprise, and this is always a good thing. I also really enjoyed the participation of Donald Duck, who is usually my least favorite Disney character. It is a very heart warming segment.

Who would have believed it? It really is a worthy successor to Fantasia.

Everyone's already said that it's excellent music and excellent animation - which is true.

What's been left out is that it's an incredible overview of all the best of what Disney animation has to offer. Even the introduction uses animation techniques impossible a few short years ago. It offers a proper tribute to the original while setting the stage (literally) for a whole new series of wonders.

Beethoven's Fifth is stylized abstract animation -- just a glorious celebration of color, shapes and music, with a complexity impossible without modern computer enhancing techniques.

Pines of Rome adds new dimensions to CGI animation. The whales are quite realistic, and their movements are serene and joyful.

The Rhapsody in Blue segment combines a distinctive Anerican music style (Gershwin) to an equally distinctive American art style (Hirschfeld). Its stylized story-telling is delightful (and I would never have believed that a segment of Fantasia would ever be set in New York City). Don't recognize the name Hirschfeld? Well, neither did I - but I recognized that style of caricature instantly. And so will you.

The Steadfast Tin Soldier is an excellent example of adapting a traditional fairy tale to modern animation. It's classic Disney story-telling with modern techniques, and the movement and art styles of the three main characters make them visually distinctive as well as helping the characterizations.

The Carnival of the Animals is zany cartooning at its frenetic and silly best.

Mickey in the Sorcerer's Apprentice is as good an example of Classic Disney as you could hope for.

You can almost see the storyboard developing in Pomp and Circumstance. "The music is associated now primarily with graduation processions, so let's attach it to a traditional procession - the animals entering the Ark. We want some humor, so let's use Donald. We'll put him in charge of the animals - that will allow a lot of slapstick. Now, Walt always said for every laugh there must be a tear. How do we generate tears for Donald? He's lost Daisy, of course." It's a symbiotic whole of silliness, pomp, traditional story-telling, animated animals, sadness, joy, and love.

The Phoenix is a natural tale of death and rebirth, using animal, plant, and volcanic movements that are precise, beautiful, incredibly realistic, and compellingly moving.

The movie as a whole is incredible for animation fans, compelling for music fans, fascinating for artists, and satisfying for those (like me) for whom the original Fantasia is one of the best movies ever made.

The original `Fantasia', released in 1940, was meant to be the first in a series of similar movies; collections of animated shorts set to classical music. It's a format I can identify with- as a kid, I habitually made up stories while listening to orchestral recordings. Here, animators have done the same thing in visual form.

`Fantasia 2000' was formatted to be shown in Imax theaters. Unfortunately, Imaxes being so few and far apart, I never got a chance to see it on the Really Big Screen, and I know I've missed something. I can only advise fellow video-viewers to watch this one on the largest available TV.

Another alteration; rather than featuring a single anonymous narrator, `2000' uses on-screen celebrities. I'm not sure this is any improvement , but at least some of them (Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones) have done previous Disney voice work, a couple (Quincy Jones, Itzhak Perlman) have bona-fide musical credentials, and one (Steve Martin) manages to be genuinely funny. Still, there's no doubt that the music and pictures are the real Stars of this flick.

Following the pattern of it's illustrious predecessor, the opening piece- set to the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony- is semi-abstract. A conflict between hordes of black and pastel-colored butterflies is involved, but the real points of interest are the variant lighting effects.

Next comes Ottorino Respighi's `Pines of Rome', accompanied by images straight off a New Age calendar. A nova appears in the sky above the Arctic Ocean, inexplicitly giving the power of flight to a large pod of humpback whales. No plot to speak of; it's just an excuse to present hundreds of whales frolicking among storm clouds. Which is certainly good enough for me!

In contrast, the following set is completely concerned with story-telling. Al Hirschfeld, acknowledged master of the affectionate caricature, provides the line-drawing style to accompany George Gershwin's `Rhapsody In Blue.' A day in the life of four variant New Yorkers, each of whom longs for something, and achieves it (at least temporarily) by the piece's end. Strikingly apt in it's depiction of a uniquely Manhattan mood, it also includes an unprecedented Disney acknowledgement of racism- at one point, an African-American construction worker is repeatedly ignored by the taxis he's trying to flag down.

Shostakovich's `Piano Concerto #2' provides the soundtrack for Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" (or rather a version of that tale- per usual for Disney, Andersen's sad ending has been perked up.) This is the only section of the movie done entirely with computer-generated animation, which seems appropriate; it *is* a toy story.

Next: a brief, highly energetic cartoon. One member of a flamingo flock acquires a yo-yo, entanglements ensue, to the sounds of Saint-Saens' `Carnival of the Animals' finale. Easily the most amusingly silly segment.

Then comes a transplant from the original `Fantasia'; Mickey Mouse in Dukas' `The Sorcerer's Apprentice.' Nothing more to say about that.

Apparently somebody at Disney thought Donald Duck deserved a similar showcase, for he has a comparable role in the next piece. Donald and Daisy are Noah's assistants in the story of the Ark, set to Edward William Elgar's `Pomp and Circumstance' (the first time I've heard that work played in it's entirety.) Donald without his voice is definitely more diminished than a mute Mickey, but the duck manages some funny bits without it- I loved his double-take after directing a pair of mallards aboard. And there's some genuine pathos when Donald and Daisy, separated in a loading mix-up, are both led to believe the other missed the boat. These two Disney love-birds have never been more sympathetic.

They saved the best for last. Igor Stravinsky's powerful `Firebird' frames a dramatic account of the Mount Saint Helen's eruption, with some mythical entities added. A verdant-tressed sprite represents life and renewal, while a truly frightening Firebird symbolizes the destructive power of the volcano. Their's is a primordial clash, but it's inevitable which one will finally win, and Stravinsky's score makes that triumph nearly as moving as the real-life events.

Overall, I'd say this video is not *quite* as good as the first `Fantasia', but as the original is among my all-time favorite movies, that's hardly criticism. Certainly `2000' is a very fine effort, well worthy of a sequel.

Here's hoping the gap between this and the next Fantasia will be somewhat shorter than sixty years.

With one small flaw, this is a wonderful, relaxing and exciting series of animated vignettes set to classical music. The only segment repeated from the original 1940 Fantasia is Mickey Mouse in The Sorceror's Apprentice. All the others are new and of inconsistent quality. Donald Duck is a Noah-esque hero set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance; butterflies dance to Beethoven's 5th Symphony; whales fly as we hear Respighi's Pines of Rome; Al Hirschfeld-esque drawings animate Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue; Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals is accompanied by flamingos with a yo-yo; Nature battles destructive forces to Stravinsky's Firebird Suite; and Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 lends itself to a depiction of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. The only weakness is that there are short celebrity introductions which are entertaining but it would be nicer to be able to play the DVD without the interruptions, particularly if you've seen the disc more than a few times.

Extras include: narration or captioning in English or French; two commentary tracks that include comments by the executive producer, producer and conductor or each segment's director and art director; a highlights program; a Making Of feature; and two 1953 cartoons that take place in a bird school and have to do with music (melody and rhythm).

This is a lovely dvd that will stand up to many viewings. Nice selection of animation and music. Very enjoyable indeed.

This is really sort of sad. The original Fantasia dazzled because it touched so many parts of what we as humans are. The music and themes it used were so incredible and varied. It did segments that not only touched all sorts of people, but touched bases with all the sorts of feelings that we, as people have. This film failed to do that. Virtually all of the pieces gravitated around things and concepts, which is sad, since the first words spoken by the Narrator in the original Fantasia described that some music shouldn't be made to describe a story. Yet, every musical piece in Fantasia 2000 was used in exactly that way. What's worse, most of the animated pieces didn't even really feel that wonderful. The Sorceror's Appretice is always good, and "Firebird" wasn't bad, but many of them were silly and immature, which is incongruous with the peaceful tastefullness of the original Fantasia. Also, as expected, the nudity of the original was dispensed with in the sequel. Obviously, without their artistic sense, Disney didn't know how to deal with that sort of thing. However, it doesn't FEEL like they were being cautious, or even just aiming it at kids. It felt like they were just plain scared. I can't respect that.
Still, all these debacles would only have earned it a 3 out of 5 if not for their central mistake. Big names. Fantasia 2000 shamelessly dragged out Big Name actors and actresses between segments, such as Steve Martin and James Earl Jones, giving them lines that not only were silly, but nearly killed whatever tastefullness might have been left in the film. No one wants to see big name stars introduce musical numbers they know (and for that matter, probably CARE) nothing about, and the only people who WILL be able to look past this are children. This leads me to my opinion that this film was aimed at children, and not, like the first one, at adults.
Say what you want about that. It makes the movie less enjoyable for me.
Clearly, the advanced graphics did nothing to cover the difficulties Disney was having at understanding what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece. As I've said, this film seems to be more aimed at children, and a masterpiece that does not make. For whatever reason, I can imagine myself buying the original Fantasia, but I wouldn't pay 5 dollars for this installment.

I don't understand all of these one star reviews! I saw Fantasia 2000 in an IMAX theater when it first came out and I was knocked out! I grew up on all the animated Disney classics and this one is by far the most advanced artistically and creatively. With Fantasia 2000, Disney finally gives us an 'adult' production that is an excellent depiction of how far 'traditional' animation can go into scope, symbolism, expression, and stylistic ranges. There's something for everyone here, from the charming Tin Soldier to the Rebirth of the Firebird Suite. Some reviewers call this pretentious, but who cares! I like something that will make me think, nothing wrong with that.
The new Fantasia is better than the original, having recently watched them back to back. The original is great but slightly dated compared to it's sequal (or it's continuation). Mickey's segment is preserved in the 2000 version however. Fantasia is a work of art worthy of standing next to films the likes of 2001 Space Odyssey, Amadeus, Clockwork Orange, Godfather 1-2,or Lord of The Rings. Highly recommmended! Broaden your outlook, and grow up along with Disney studio's triumphant Fantasia 2000.

When Walt Disney released Fantasia in 1940, he was hoping not only that he had created a feature that could be updated and kept in perpetual release and spread an appreciation of classic music, he was also hoping that it would be the vehicle to allow his artists to explore new concepts and experiment cutting edge artistic and photographic techniques. However, poor box office, conflicting reviews and World War II would foil Walt Disney's dream and he would never attempt such a grand effort again in his lifetime. Only in early 1990's would Fantasia finally generate the popular and financial support to begin a new Fantasia feature.

Fantasia 2000 consists of eight segments, of which only one segment, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", remains from the original ("The Nutcracker Suite" was dropped at the last minute). The segments are connected in a manner similar to the original except that each segment is introduced by a different person(s). Although some of the introductions are somewhat irritating, it does work better than a single presenter a la Deems Taylor, especially if one or two segments are replaced at a time in a future releases.

The program opens with a nod to the original Fantasia by having Deems Taylor introduce the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which like Bach's Toccata and Fugue in the original is rendered as a visual abstraction. Here however the images match the power and strength of the music. There is one possible gripe here; this is a shortened three and half-minute version of the first movement which might irk some classical purists.

Steve Martin and Itzhak Perlman introduce the next segment "Pines Of Rome" by Respighi that presents the flying whales. Like much of the original Fantasia, the animators reinterprets the composer's intent for the music. This segment is quite enjoyable and the giant herd of whales swimming through the skies in the sky in the last third is incredibly powerful.

Quincy Jones introduces George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the entire segment rendering in the style of Al Hirschfeld, making this segment the most distinctive of the feature. Although this segment at times feels overly long, it does capture the hustle and bustle of 1930's New York City fairly well.

Bette Midler introduces the story of "The Steadfast Tin Solder" with Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 as its score. It is a remarkable segment because the story and score are unrelated but they have been fused together beautifully. Also, the use of CGI and traditional animation gives an interesting way to contrast reality and fantasy.

James Earl Jones introduces the finale of the Carnival Of The Animals by Saint-Saens. It is a very short, fast paced segment about a flamingo playing with a yo-yo, it could easily the favorite segment of many viewers especially among adults who understand its presentation of the conflict between conformity versus individuality.

A bombastic Penn and silent Teller introduces The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Dukas and starring Mickey Mouse. Mickey will later help conductor James Levine introduce Donald Duck's Fantasia debut in Elgar's Pomp And Circumstance, whose march is familiar to most people. Donald Duck plays the assistant to Noah in the events surrounding the Great Flood. Unfortunately, the segment does not quite click with the music although the reunion scene between Donald and Daisy Duck is a very sweet moment.

Angela Lansbury introduces the Firebird Suite by Stravinski which tells the story of a life-giving sprite, her chance meeting and flight from the Firebird, her apparent destruction and her eventual triumph. Once again, the visual matches the power and strength of Stravinski's work and it is a great segment to end the program.

There has been criticism from several quarters about Fantasia 2000 since its theatrical release. Much of it comes from the belief that Fantasia 2000 looks to the past as much or more than to the future, often overlooking the fact that in 1940, Walt Disney had little or no past to look at and so had little choice but look forward. There has also been criticism about the use of computers instead traditional hand animation for most of the segments. It might shock such critics that Walt Disney used special effects in Fantasia that had nothing to do with traditional hand animation such as the multiplane camera to move fixed backgrounds and foregrounds to give the animation an illusion of depth and inserting live action shots such as the large snowflakes into the Nutcracker Suite and the bubbling lava and steam in the Rite Of Spring. Walt Disney was always looking for ways to advance his medium and would have certainly embraced the computer as a creative tool had the technology been mature enough during his lifetime.

The DVD features a digital to digital transfer making the print one of the best ever seen on a DVD. It contains lots of extra features including two commentary audio tracks and two musical Disney shorts from the early 1950s. Even more features are available if one purchases the anthology with its third DVD. In the end, it is up to each viewer to decide whether Fantasia 2000 is a modern classic or not but it is worth one while to get it. One hopes that Disney Animation will resurrect Walt's dream and continuously update Fantasia in the future, especially since it has a good starting point.

The new Fantasia 2000 follows the original's artistic vision, providing "music videos" of exquisite animation to classical pieces of fully orchestrated music. And like the original, this film is one of those mind-blowing experiences that is mesmerizing, entertaining, moving and outrageously creative. Some pieces are better than others, most notably Pines of Rome, which features a dream-like world of flying, swimming whales in a narrative-type scenario, and Rhapsody in Blue, which tells its own urban story in Hirschfeld-style animation that looks as if it were imagined at the same precise moment as the music itself. The Steadfast Tin Soldier and Pomp and Circumstance, along with an encore of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, feature more family-friendly characters, including Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and a heartbreaking little tin Soldier with one leg. This movie is so rich with imagery and imagination that I think the only problem with it is that unless you have a large-screen TV, you will be missing its true glories.