Rating: 
Summary: Allegro Non Troppo
Review: ...the live action sequences were hilarious and enhance theanimation through contrast, they weren't meant to be sophisticated or subtle, it's called "slapstick".
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: Allegro Non Troppo is an open tribute to Disney's Fantasia. Instead of being a slavish derivative, however, it stands very well on its own.
The format is the same, a set of animations set to classical music, separated by brief live-action interludes. The interludes are set in an orchestra - but with a hilarious difference. The conductor could be the prototype for "the pointy-haired boss," always abusing the poor animator, while the impresario tries desperately to hold the show together.
The cartoons are the real point of the movie. They leave out most of Fantasia's cuteness and add in a big dose of satire. The opening piece, set to Bolero, chronicles life on earth. It starts with the earliest primordial blob, and works up to - well, see for yourself. A piece by Vivaldi accompanies a poor bee trying to get a square meal, while the giant humans trample everything in sight. Other pieces comment on blind urbanization, or (my favorite) show what might have happened if Eve had left the apple with the snake.
This isn't one for the kiddies, unless you're very broad-minded. It is a keeper, though, and I look forward to seeing it again.
//wiredweird
Rating:
Summary: Video for Music Class
Review: Allegro Non Troppo is the best animated feature I have ever seen. All the humor and pathos of music are creatively expressed in each segment. I saw this feature in college and have never forgotten it. My favorite part is the "Sad Waltz" (Valse Triste) by Sibelius. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! I will be using parts of the movie in my music classes. The kids need something new and fresh.
Rating:
Summary: Video for Music Class
Review: Allegro Non Troppo is the best animated feature I have ever seen. All the humor and pathos of music are creatively expressed in each segment. I saw this feature in college and have never forgotten it. My favorite part is the "Sad Waltz" (Valse Triste) by Sibelius. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! I will be using parts of the movie in my music classes. The kids need something new and fresh.
Rating: 
Summary: Prisney did this?
Review: Allegro Non Troppo. The title is Italian for a musical instruction in classical music. Literally translated, it means "cheerful, not too much"The b&w live action segments, which take place in the beginning and inbetween animation, feature a young presenter, who tells us proudly, "This show is destined for immortality. Music interpreted in cartoons." He then says the movie is called Fantasia, only to get a phone call, at which he's clearly embarrassed. "They've say some guy already made this picture, a certain Crisney, Prisney, an American." Which he doesn't believe. The rough and brutal conductor has more the manner of the local butcher, and the orchestra, consisting of old women in their 60's through 80's, are fearful of him, as is the animator, a mild-mannered man with a balding but flowing haircut that makes him look more like an 18th century composer. His creations make the old ladies applaud, laugh, and cry. There's a funny segment involving a gorilla (don't ask) and him doing the Russian kalinka dance. The first is Claude Debussy's Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune, which traces the repeated attempts of an aging, pudgy satyr to have one of the beautiful, nude and nubile women for himself. Debussy did write this dreamy work harkening back to the idyllic paganism of Greece. I was surprised my parents let me see this when I was nine(!) Antonin Dvorak's Slavic Dance No. 7 tells the story of a man who moves from his cave-dwelling neighbours to live alone, only to have his actions imitated by the neighbours. Frustrated, he constructs a different house, only to be imitated by the mindless crowd. Their imitative actions give him an idea. The next two segments are stand head and shoulders above the others. Life evolved from a Coke bottle, one of the glass ones, not the plastic ones we have today. That is set to Ravel's Bolero. To which the presenter asks, "Who composed it?" From some bubbling liquid Coke, to an amoeboid creature to a reptile, and beyond, the animation also presents the march of life over the ages. The tempo of animation accelerates in tune with the music, where each instrument takes its turn playing the repeated 8-measure tune based on a Spanish dance. Dinosaurs, prehistoric birds, sea creatures, and even the ape, all walk across the volcanic landscape, and things really heat up when the strings kick in for the first time. The animation to Jean Sibelius's Valse Triste put a real tear in my eye, as it portrays a cat who climbs from a crawlspace under a large house, only to discover it is a bombed ruin. The cat's eyes glow when it remembers happier times, such as an old lady knitting in a sofa, a caged canary, when the house was full of life in general. The colourful scenes when the house is reconstructed in its glory days is a highlight. However, the cat is clearly distressed upon seeing the stark wreckage. A perky and funny bee's nice lunch in the meadow is constantly disrupted by an amorous human couple. The music is set to one of Antonio Vivaldi's concerti, which resembles the Spring segment of the Four Seasons. Set to Igor Stravinsky's "Fire Bird" is a revisionist retelling of the Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Serpent. Both Adam and Eve refuse the Apple, to which the Serpent himself eats it, and gets a nightmare flurry of images, a post-industrial hell, complete with horned demons and live footage of the night life. The image of the heart filled with money is a telling one. The attempt of an Igor-like behemoth to find a fitting finale from the files is actually pretty funny and warped. Bruno Bozetto's animation is in varied styles, be it the lovely hues of idyllic Greece or the collage of twisted images in the finale. The overall theme here is how the post-industrial society comes into conflict with the old ways, be it pre-war days, romance, and nature. I first saw part of this back in 1977, and 26 years later, have finally seen this parody of Fantasia in its entirety, and am glad because of it. A real one-of-a-kind.
Rating:
Summary: Prisney did this?
Review: Allegro Non Troppo. The title is Italian for a musical instruction in classical music. Literally translated, it means "cheerful, not too much" The b&w live action segments, which take place in the beginning and inbetween animation, feature a young presenter, who tells us proudly, "This show is destined for immortality. Music interpreted in cartoons." He then says the movie is called Fantasia, only to get a phone call, at which he's clearly embarrassed. "They've say some guy already made this picture, a certain Crisney, Prisney, an American." Which he doesn't believe. The rough and brutal conductor has more the manner of the local butcher, and the orchestra, consisting of old women in their 60's through 80's, are fearful of him, as is the animator, a mild-mannered man with a balding but flowing haircut that makes him look more like an 18th century composer. His creations make the old ladies applaud, laugh, and cry. There's a funny segment involving a gorilla (don't ask) and him doing the Russian kalinka dance. The first is Claude Debussy's Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune, which traces the repeated attempts of an aging, pudgy satyr to have one of the beautiful, nude and nubile women for himself. Debussy did write this dreamy work harkening back to the idyllic paganism of Greece. I was surprised my parents let me see this when I was nine(!) Antonin Dvorak's Slavic Dance No. 7 tells the story of a man who moves from his cave-dwelling neighbours to live alone, only to have his actions imitated by the neighbours. Frustrated, he constructs a different house, only to be imitated by the mindless crowd. Their imitative actions give him an idea. The next two segments are stand head and shoulders above the others. Life evolved from a Coke bottle, one of the glass ones, not the plastic ones we have today. That is set to Ravel's Bolero. To which the presenter asks, "Who composed it?" From some bubbling liquid Coke, to an amoeboid creature to a reptile, and beyond, the animation also presents the march of life over the ages. The tempo of animation accelerates in tune with the music, where each instrument takes its turn playing the repeated 8-measure tune based on a Spanish dance. Dinosaurs, prehistoric birds, sea creatures, and even the ape, all walk across the volcanic landscape, and things really heat up when the strings kick in for the first time. The animation to Jean Sibelius's Valse Triste put a real tear in my eye, as it portrays a cat who climbs from a crawlspace under a large house, only to discover it is a bombed ruin. The cat's eyes glow when it remembers happier times, such as an old lady knitting in a sofa, a caged canary, when the house was full of life in general. The colourful scenes when the house is reconstructed in its glory days is a highlight. However, the cat is clearly distressed upon seeing the stark wreckage. A perky and funny bee's nice lunch in the meadow is constantly disrupted by an amorous human couple. The music is set to one of Antonio Vivaldi's concerti, which resembles the Spring segment of the Four Seasons. Set to Igor Stravinsky's "Fire Bird" is a revisionist retelling of the Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Serpent. Both Adam and Eve refuse the Apple, to which the Serpent himself eats it, and gets a nightmare flurry of images, a post-industrial hell, complete with horned demons and live footage of the night life. The image of the heart filled with money is a telling one. The attempt of an Igor-like behemoth to find a fitting finale from the files is actually pretty funny and warped. Bruno Bozetto's animation is in varied styles, be it the lovely hues of idyllic Greece or the collage of twisted images in the finale. The overall theme here is how the post-industrial society comes into conflict with the old ways, be it pre-war days, romance, and nature. I first saw part of this back in 1977, and 26 years later, have finally seen this parody of Fantasia in its entirety, and am glad because of it. A real one-of-a-kind.
Rating:
Summary: Please put this out on DVD!
Review: An Italian send-up of Fantasia, but with more bite. You gotta love the idea of all life evolving from a discarded Coke bottle, and the Debussy segment always makes me cry, even thinking about it. Bolero will never be the same - Maurizio Nichetti took it back from "10" before "10" even happened!
Buy the tape and pray for the DVD!
Rating:
Summary: This film is the business
Review: Bruno Bozzetto creates a masterpiece with this offbeat animated feature........originally a take-off of Fantasia, Allegro Non Troppo dares to go where Fantasia never did......none of the cutesy characters for this film.For sheer wit and creativity in animation,(take the story of evolution from the outpouring of the Coke bottle, for example) this film is a must see. Allegro Non Troppo is also a film that grabs your heart strings and wrenches them......just have a look at the scene with the cat in the deserted building to the tune of Sibelius' Valse Triste......a box or three of Kleenex is strongly recommended for this segment. The linking non-animated sequences are a laugh too. One word of caution... although this film is mainly animated, some of the content would not be suitable for young children. If you see one video this year, make it this one.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Excellent animation. Very imaginative. Great music selection. I've been looking for this everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Love the animation, but....
Review: I first saw this film in mid-70's at an animated film festival - and thought it brilliant satire. However, In the new millenium, the live action is now silly and tired. But the music! And the animation! Worth the price. As a previous reviewer said, this movie marked my discovery of Sibelius - and La Valse Triste brings tears each and every time. Bolero is ingenius, and Afternoon of a fawn such bittersweet fun.
|
