I Bet You Did(n't) See... "Fantasia" and "Fantasia 2000"

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

Released in 1940, Fantasia was Disney's third feature film. A series of animated interpretations of classical music (some with existing stories, some without), this was made to be more of an education piece that appealed to all in different ways. It soon became a classic, with Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt Disney) in his wizard outfit becoming one of the most iconic images associated with the film studio.

I have been going through a bit of a classical music phase, so I thought I would revisit this collection of childhood nostalgia: My mum's favourite moment of Hippos and Crocodiles dancing together to Dance of the Hours by Ponchielli; Satan rising from his mountain top on All Hallow's Eve as Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain drills deep into your soul and; Mickey flooding Yensid's castle as Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice always takes me back to the days of watching this on a VHS cassette.

The other parts of the film are:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach, with the on-screen orchestra illuminated in various lights and shadows, before numerous lines and colours fill the screen.

The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky is accompanied by animations of nature, with flowers dancing to the individual parts of the track. This includes the famous mushrooms dancing to the Chinese Dance.

Rite of Spring by Stravinsky guides us through life evolving until the Dinosaurs extinction.

The Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven tells a story on centaur couples, cupids, fauns, flying horses and unicorns living life before the Greek Gods wake up.

Fantasia takes us through time with music, myths and legends and Disney showed how they were the leading studio in animation. While for the previous decade or so, cartoons would often have their action perfectly in time with the music, Fantasia changes how the viewer hears the music through their visuals.

The film itself is iconic and unique. Initially, Disney had intended to adapt, change and modernise the film with multiple releases over the years. However, this became too much for them and they abandoned the idea. It is interesting though, because there is a deleted scene with a black centaur (in the stereotypical depiction from the 1930's and 40's) that has been chased and found by a lot of enthusiasts. Some have called for it to be added back into the original, because they do not want the racial stereotypes and prejudices of the past to be ignored. That's an interesting topic for another day, I think.

This is where Fantasia 2000 comes in. It was an effort to make Fantasia again, but adapted towards a more modern feel. Where as in Fantasia, Deems Taylor introduces each piece and the ideas behind the visuals and music, Disney had multiple celebrities introduce each piece in Fantasia 2000. This breaks the continuity gained from of a single narrator, and where in Fantasia multiple pieces are tied together and tells a story, Fantasia 2000 is just a series of animations over music introduced to you. Steve Martin tries to be funny but with no audience laughter it is just plain awkward.

Fantasia 2000 is good, though. It is different and does well to use both modern and original animations. However, it falls down compared to the success of the original.

Fantasia

Directed by: 12 Directors

Story by: Joe Grant, Dick Huemer

Starring: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor

Release Date: November 13, 1940

Rating: 7/10

Fantasia 2000

Directed by: 7 Directors

Story by: Roy E. Disney, Donald W. Ernst

Starring: James Levine, Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, Angela Lansbury

Release Date: December 17, 1999

Rating: 4/10