Fantasia 2000

Rating:
Summary: Flying Whales?....Disney does it again.
Review: This film is an absolute delight for all of the family. It is supported by animation that sets the senses reeling and the imagination soaring. The music is skillfully adapted so as to feel every beat as it corresponds to the actions of dancing characters, so full of life, that they appear to jump right off the screen. It is bound to appeal to young and old.

This critically acclaimed compilation is not only unique in its presentation but it leaves you with a sense of memories created. To this day I remember my first viewing of the original "Fantasia" with my daughter. How often does a film like this come along? Not only will "Fantasia 2000" become a treasured memory but you will also enjoy the clarity and vivid colors of DVD technology. How can you lose? 12/28/00

Rating:
Summary: Musical Magic
Review: A great movie with it's great music. You should buy it automatically.

Symphony Number 5 is composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven. The music is glorious. The animation shows the story of two little butterflies that get lost and try to get back to their tribe of butterflies before some bats can get them.

Pines Of Rome is composed by Ottorino Respighi. The music is great. The animation shows the story of a whale that gets stuck in an iceberg and tries to get out to get to his parents.

Rhapsody In Blue is composed by George Gershwin. The music is great and fun to listen to. The animation shows the story of the troubles of some people in New York City and how they solve their troubles.

Piano Concerto Number 2, Allegro, Opus 102 is composed by Dmitri Shostakovich. The music is great and very enjoyable. The animation tells the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier.

The Carnival Of The Animals is composed by Camille Saint-Saens. It is great music and makes you enjoyable. The animation answers the age-old question, "What would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?"

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is composed by Paul Dukas. The music is enjoyable. The animation tells the story of an apprentice of a sorcerer's apprentice and when he takes the sorcerer's magic into the wrong hands.

Pomp And Circumstance, Marches 1, 2, 3, and 4 is composed by Sir Edward Elgar. The music is glorious. The animation tells the story of Noah's Ark with a slight twist.

The Firebird is composed by Igor Stravinsky. The music is horrible. The animation tells a story of life, death, and rebirth.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasia Continues... On Video and in IMAX!
Review: When Walt Disney first premiered Fantasia, his groundbreaking 1940 marrige of animation and classical music, he stated he hoped that new segments could be added periotically to keep the movie fresh and exciting. Almost 60 years later Fantasia 2000 makes good on Disney's dream. In this update of Disney's masterpiece, new interpretations of great works of music are presented.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: As principal of a small elementary school, we arranged to take the whole school to see this film at an Imax theater. It was hard to tell who enjoyed it most, the chaperones or the kids. The whale sequence seemed to be a particular favorite of everyone.

Rating:
Summary: kinda good
Review: i enjoyed the animation and some of the interpretation of the music, especially the gershwin one. the interpretation of it was perfect, but i didn't care for the interruptions by steve martin, james levine, and others. it just didn't seem to flow with the picture. please, disney, next time, try to make it flow. it is possible to have live people talking and making such a piece of art flow, but it didn't work in fantasia 2000.

Rating:
Summary: Something for everybody.
Review: I think everybody I've watched this movie with has had a different favorite part, a part they instantly connected to. For me, that's the Firebird Suite. The movie is fantastic and, while definitely putting a modern spin on Fantasia, many parts are astoundingly true to the first movie. The extras on the DVD are nice--there are enjoyable shorts and some enlightening interviews.

Rating:
Summary: A Magical Trip
Review: I saw the 1940 Fantasia when it ran in the theaters (Not the first showing, of course. I'm not that old!) It was magic and had me enthralled. This evening I watched Fantasia 2000 with my daughter. The magic was in her eyes as much as in mine--for me the first time around and this time as well. The DTS soundtrack is pretty good and the video is superb. More than the media, the content is first rate. Hats off to Roy Disney for picking up Walt's mantel and carrying it out in style.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Decent Though not Without Flaws
Review: "Fantasia" is best described as the classical equivalent of MTV. While MTV plays videos of rappers dancing around on the streets of New York, the idea behind "Fantasia" involves things such as hippos and flamingos and flowers dancing around to orchestral music. Such was the original version of "Fantasia" released in 1940 (long before the days of MTV). Designed by Walt Disney himself, the movie was over two hours long and featured (fairly) abstract interpretations of well-known classical pieces: Tcaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 6," among other less-famous works. At the time of it's release, Disney had planned to continue to update these classical "music videos" in future releases of the film. However, due to the fact that the movie turned out to be a commercial flop, no such updated version was ever made. At least until now. For at least the last twenty years or so, the original "Fantasia" has been an esteemed classic, and finally Disney got around to making the follow-up, originally released as an IMAX last spring. Following the same theme as the original, "Fantasia 2000" uses pieces such as Beethoven's 5th, Resphigi's "Pines of Rome," Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," and Stravinsky's "Firebird Ballet." Overall, the animation seems a bit more concrete; dinosaurs and Greek gods being replaced by the streets of '30s New York. While such concrete interpretations don't detract from the animation too much, they do sort of diminish the context of the music, which was often composed with a different story attached to it.My other complaint with "Fantasia 2000" is that it seems quite a bit too short, featuring only seven different animations (one of which was re-used from the old "Fantasia" and two of which were extremely short). In addition, a considerable chunk of the 74-minute movie is taken up by various celebreties introducing the animations and making fruitless attempts at humour. However, despite these complaints, the overall quality of the animations was good, as was the musical selection for the most part. All in all, "Fantasia 2000" was a movie well worth watching - but certainly don't miss out on the classic "Fantasia" over it.

Rating:
Summary: Too Beautiful to be true!
Review: Oh yes, Walt Disney is a great innovator. But... Fantasia 2000 is a marvellous concert. All the pieces are great music and great animations. The ideas are funny at times, dramatic at other times. The Tin soldier is beautifully rendered on a perfect music. The Jack in the Box only gets what he deserves and the one-legged tin soldier can finally bring his love for the balerina to a real start and fulfilment. I rediscovered the Sorcerer's Apprentice with awe and admiration. It has not aged one single minute. Noah's ark with Donald Duck gives a happily sad version of this famous character of Walt Disney, our dear and beloved Donald Duck. It is dramatic. It is poignant. It is a piece of pure sweet pleasure. The moment I prefer though is the closing tale about that volcanic eruption and the coming back of life from one or two tears from the sad eyes of Nature when she looks down on herself and finds everything destroyed and covered with ashes. Life is eternal. Yet, may I suggest that it is a little bit too optimistic for a western audience, especially a young audience, because it seems to imply that the environment is no real issue, that it will always manage to survive any kind of catastrophy and destructive fury. I could say the same thing about the opening piece, marvellously constructed to its music. We see with pleasure those whales and their kind of eternal survival. They even become mythic. But mythic may mean living in our memories and dead in real life. The endangeredness of the species is not at all addressed as a real problem. I think that Walt Disney is a lot more conscience-building in other films, even if naively. Here there seems to be no conscience-buildingness and that is a regret on my side. This film is for kids. It wants to open young children to classical music or to jazz (What a beautiful piece on New York City with that phenomenal Rhapsody in Blue), but it seems to aim only at entertaining the eyes along with the ears of our children, and little their conscience and reflection. Thinking, social-mindedness and altruism have to start early or they will never be anything but a varnish on top of deep indifference. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

Rating:
Summary: Kids at my screening mostly fell asleep
Review: I saw the original Fantasia once when I was a kid and again when I was a teenager and I have to admit that it put me to sleep both times. When you're watching it, you can't help but think of it in the same vein as the old jazz standards your music teacher made you listen to in the fourth grade. It was just nearly impossible to relate. I think Walt, with Fantasia, was trying to raise Cinderella into the realm of high art - a big screen ballet. Unfortunately, his audience wasn't interested. The same holds true for the new version.

Fantasia 2000 is, like the original, a sequence of musical interpretations of classical music. The most interesting thing about it is the fact that the animators used so many little touches to remind us of the first Fantasia. Celebrities take the place of the conductor introducing us to each peice and although the animation is good, it's not great. At least not until the vary last segment. There are little glimpses of grainy, faded shadows very reminiscent of the old 1940's animation style (If you've ever seen the old Superman serial with it's great art deco look, you'll know the shadows I'm talking about). The splashes of water are chalky and primitive, the abstract lights and lines shimmer irregularly and reveal the artist's pen on paper - it's a strange thing to see in these days of ultra-fluid animation. But it's still not enough to keep us interested.

In the end, this is a series of classical music videos. They may not be as abstract as some were in the original Fantasia, but they are nearly as uninteresting to a modern audience. I mean if I was bored, I can't imagine how the kids must have felt (except the one behind me who kept asking 'Where's Mickey?'). At least they gave us a slam bang ending. The last segment may be preachy environmentalism, but the animation is outstanding. If you liked the original Fantasia or feel honor bound to expose your kids to something more than Pokemon, feel free to see this new version, but on behalf of your kids I'll beg you to let them stay home with a sitter and a Playstation. You'll bore them to death.