Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Successor To The Original
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Just as perfect as it should be, but DVD has one little flaw
Review: I have little to say aside from the fact that this film is amazing. I am only writing this review to say one thing, and that regards the DVD edition. The film is presented in the widescreen format, which is perfect and it makes me happy. However, the film also includes a piece from the original Fantasia. The original Fantasia was made before the cinemascope widescreen process was invented, therefore the piece from the old Fantasia is shown in its original aspect ratio. Which is the way it should be. My only problem with this, however, is that on the DVD, Disney kept the letterbox going through the segment. In other words, the bars are still at the top and bottom, as well as there being bars on the sides, too. It made it look like my TV's picture tube was shrinking. Being as though the segment was originally made in full screen, why doesn't the format switch to that for the duration of the piece? I found it to be rather lame.
Rating:
Summary: High Quality, Less Quantity
Review: Overall I felt very good about the artistic effort put into these pieces. My feeling about the computer imagery seems to differ from many of the critics: If the goal is casting art with music then the medium can afford to place second to the end result. No matter the palette, the idea must exist in the mind's eye first; the results were spectacular. For those who fear disappointment in the whales' digiscape for "The Pines of Rome," you'll find relief in the beautifully organic art that accompanies Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite." My overarching gripe is this: Disney has always seemed to me a geyser of art and creative industry...why, then, do I feel short-changed by this film? Could we have dispensed with some of the star-studded segues in exchange for a complete presentation of Beethoven's 5th? How about more excerpts from "Carnival of the Animals"? And as much as we all love the classic tale of Mickey as the sophomoric apprentice, why couldn't we have reserved that space for more new features? This last one is a personal gripe for which I've made allowances in my overall rating, considering the fact that the original intent was to continually add to the Fantasia experience while reviving older pieces. Inventive, majestic and humorous in the right proportions...whatever that means. See it and you can tell me what you think.
Rating:
Summary: It brought tears to my eyes!
Review: I love classical music and always felt the original Fantasia fell a little short of expectations. However, Fantasia 2000 was so wonderful there are no words to describe how it made me feel! All I can say is that it brought tears to my eyes. No words spoken, but the music took you to places the animators intended. We could have new reasons to make "silent films" come back into style if scored with such musical poetry!
Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Disney.
Review: I saw this film several times in the theater and enjoyed it more every time. This new version of Fantasia is much more entertaining for the modern movie-viewer than the older one (which I always fall asleep during). Disney chose some great music and combined it with amazingly appropriate visual scenes. It almost seemed like the music was written to fit the animation, not the other way around. Disney's talent always amazes me, and Fantasia 2000 is just one more reason why.
Rating: 
Summary: worst movie I have ever seen
Review: I saw this movie on a field trip with my high school students and even I wished I could fall asleep. This is a movie that did not need to be remade. I was completly diappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful
Review: The animation is great and the music is beautiful. It is modern in that it uses the latest technology in animation but the music and substance of the animation could have been done decades ago, making 2000 as timeless as the original masterpiece. There is an incredible animation set to Rhapsody in Blue which tells the story of four New Yorkers (including a little girl) going through their mundane existences but, each has dreams and maybe their dreams come true. The story is set at about the time that Gershwin lived. Another beautiful piece is Hans Christian Anderson's The Steadfast Soldier set to Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto. Where else, other than this wonderful Disney movie, would you ever get your kids to listen to Shostakovich and like it? There is a reprise of the Sorcerer's Apprentice and they show the original of Mickey Mouse shaking hands with a sillouette of Leopold Stokowski. Then, Mickey goes over to maestro James Levine and you can see how much animation has advanced as Mickey grabs Levine by the lapels and Levine's Tux become's rumpled as Mickey pulls it. Just incredible! This great movie is a treat for the whole family.
Rating:
Summary: MIND-BLOWING
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: You've got to be kidding!
Review: OK, I think in all fairness I normally would have given this a 2/5 instead of a 1/5, but given everyone's glowing reviews someone needs to balance this out. So what's wrong with F2K you ask? Nearly everything. The biggest problem--one that seems glaring to me--is that virtually none of this film is actually animated (that is, by hand.) I'd say around 80%-90% is all done with computers, often to painful effect. Take a look at the now famous whale sequence and you'll see for the baby all they've done is make a big computer whale and stuck a hand animated eye on its side. Maybe this doesn't bother anyone else, but F2K really doesn't look any better than a lot of video games out today, and in spirit it is closer to video games than it is to Walt's original fantasia. Secondly, some of the animation, computer or not is deplorable--a long ways away from the mighty animation spectacular that Fantasia is supposed to be. Take a look at the first shot of the stag in the closing section of this film and while it is walking in the distance you'll note it seems to stagger or as if frames of animation are missing. Why?? There is just no excuse for some of the sloppiness. Thirdly, and most repugnantly, this film is just full of itself. The live-action sequences are so self-inflated that terms like 'tooting one's horn' don't even come close to expressing the sheer pretentiousness of it. The acting is terribly stiff and low brow and I won't even mention Steve Martin's short but jarring segment. So in the end, I don't get the people giving this 5 stars, or even 3 stars. All the computer generated stuff will look like dog crap in under 5 years, and to anyone with an observant eye, it doesn't look good now--not to mention simply being boring. I can only imagine that Disney's staff has forgotten the ability they once posessed to represent the illusion of mass and the dynamics of motion--this is the only excuse I can see for leaving a job so brilliantly done by Walt in the 40's to a computer. Honestly, the Whale sequence looked more like a level from Sonic than from something Walt would have made. In its totality, this is really nothing less than a terrible embarrassment, on a massive scale.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasia Returns
Review: An update of the Disney classic with even more breathtaking animation accompanied by wonderful classical music. The celebrity introductions tend to be distracting. The best sequence is the Rhapsody In Blue one done in the style of Al Hirschfeld. This one succeeds because it has a story to tell, and not just to show off special effects. Some of the others are dazzling visually but don't hold interest because they don't tell much of a story. Maybe Disney could get Pixar involved for the next one. I'd like them to attempt Wagner, Bach, and Strauss.
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