Fantasia/2000 Movie Review
Fantasia/2000 Review
"Fantasia/2000" Overview
Rating: G
2000
Cast and Crew
Director : James Algar,Gaetan Brizzi,Paul Brizzi,Hendel Butoy,Francis Glebas,Eric Goldberg,Pixote HuntProducer : Donald W. Ernst
Screenwiter : Irene Mecchi,David Reynolds
Starring : Steve Martin,Itzhak Perlman,Quincy Jones,Bette Midler,James Earl Jones,Penn Jillette,Teller,James Levine,Angela Lansbury
Little known fact: When Walt Disney released Fantasia in 1940, it was intended
to be a permanent work in progress. Each time you saw it, you would see
something new combined with something old and familiar.
It didn't quite happen that way. The original Fantasia became a classic,
although a static one. 60 years later, that's about to change. With the
release of Fantasia/2000 we get eight animations set to music: seven new pieces
and one classic. Oh, and this time it's presented on IMAX -- the first ever
animated feature for the large format.
Already the chatter of parties, people want to know, "How does it stack up
against the original?" Comparison is difficult, but on the whole, I prefer the
new version, mainly because the overall animation is better fit to the music.
Fantasia/2000 is good, but it isn't uniformly great. The segments range from
the abstract (Butterflies dancing to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) to the modern
(A NYC-themed "Rhapsody in Blue") to the bizarre ("Pines of Rome" can be
described in only two words: Flying whales) to the stupid ("Carnival of the
Animals" and its flamingos-with-yo-yos animation).
Then there's something old, the classic "Sorcerer's Apprentice" story with
Mickey Mouse and the magic brooms, plus at least two new classics:
Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 playing for a recreation of "The Steadfast
Tin Soldier" fairy tale, and the grand finale, a gorgeous Mother Earth vs.
volcano story set to "The Firebird Suite."
Fantasia/2000 also features interstitial narration from the likes of James Earl
Jones, Steve Martin, and Bette Midler. This is amusing, but in decades of
moviegoing, I can say I've never seen anything so frightening as the image of
Angela Lansbury projected to a height of 80 feet.
Like all IMAX films, Fantasia/2000 is never short of fascinating while making
you mildly nauseous. Like the original, it's really not a kid's film, but it
is another Disney classic for the vaults.
Join the Disney Movie Club and get three free Disney
DVDs!
Whale of a tale.
Reviewer: Christopher Null
