Fantasia 2000

Fantasia / Fantasia 2000

2-Movie DVD & Blu-Ray Collection

Part 2 - Fantasia 2000

The Film Itself

Fantasia 2000 is the sequel that almost never was. I touched on it in my last review, but forgot to fully address what Walt Disney had originally planned for the Fantasia franchise. Over time, Disney wanted to release sequels to Fantasia adding and subtracting different scenes to create a different, new, and exciting experience to the mix. This would have happened, IF the original Fantasia had gone over just a little bit better. At the time, even musical experts could not agree on whether or not animation should ever mix with classical music.

Personally, I believe that Fantasia pushed the envelope a little too far. Maybe they should have nixed the intermission piece and just done a Mary Poppins-style title card for the intermission and then continued afterwards. Hindsight is 20/20 and I am no expert, but that’s just my thoughts.

Anyway, Fantasia 2000 came about due to a bit of nostalgia (and no small amount of marketing) from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Disney Animation Studios even has the Sorcerer’s hat in front. So, instead of disappearing into Disney obscurity (like the Great Mouse Detective, Rescuers Down Under, and Robin Hood) a sequel was made that featured celebrities, mostly new features, and…a flamingo with a yo-yo?

There are a lot of things that sort of confuse me about this film. I can kind of understand James Earl Jones’ connection with Disney (voice of Mufasa from Lion King). However, Penn and Teller? Steve Martin? Bette Midler? Where did they come from and who wrote their far-less-interesting-than Deems Taylor introductory speeches? Steve Martin in particular is just not funny. I was forcing myself to laugh at his schtick just because it was Steve friggin’ Martin! How do you mess that up?

My second problem is that the shorts are great, but lack a strong theme. In the originalm Toccata and Fugue was abstract art, Nutcracker Suite showed the change of seasons, Sorcerer’s Apprentice was about the fallacy of youth, the Rite of Spring was a depiction of Earth from the beginning, the intermission should have been dodged, the Pastoral Symphony was about a small feud between Greek Gods, Dance of the Hours was a comedy showcasing the feel of different times of day, and Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria was about the very basic good vs. evil.

Now let’s take a look at F2000. It starts off abstract with Symphony #5 which becomes a good vs. evil story. Pines of Rome was about flying whales. Rhapsody in Blue was about being hopeful in hard times. Piano Concerto #2 is a retell of the Steadfast Tin Soldier with a Disney-esque happy ending. The Carnival of the Animals is the yo-yoing flamingo who I guess could be stretched into a tale about bucking tradition (kind of a stretch). The Sorcerer’s Apprentice makes a much needed return to take a break from the silliness. Then, of course, we jump right back on the silly train to watch Donald Duck slapstick his way through the story of Noah’s flood while searching for Daisy Duck (set to the tune of graduation-staple Pomp and Circumstance). Finally, the Firebird Suite, which comes out of nowhere and amazes with a story about nature and disaster.

If you couldn’t tell, there are parts I like more than others and yes, I have to compare this to the original because it tries so desperately to follow in its footsteps. Perhaps if they’d stuck with the Musicana title instead of trying to re-create magic of another, stronger variety, I would enjoy it more and forgive more of the flaws. Let me be clear and say that this is still a fairly good movie and each short is wonderful to watch (even if I have to skip the introductions).

The Menu and Features

The Blu-Ray menu, like I accidentally covered in my first post, is the same as the one for Fantasia but with scenes from Fantasia 2000. The music during the menu is the same as the flamingo with a yo-yo (Carnival of the Animals, for those keeping score of the…score). If I had to nitpick, I’d say that I really don’t like Carnival of the Animals in general and the fact that it plays during this menu does nothing to endear itself to me. Whether it’s the music itself or the fact that it will forever be associated in my mind with the goofy-looking flamingo is up for debate. Probably both. Fun tidbit, I failed to notice last time that the running time appears when Play Movie is highlighted.

 Starting with the commentaries, the special features of this part of the set really compliment the feature. Roy Disney, James Levine and Don Ernst give us their insight into this film, but the other commentary is the one I’d watch first. The directors and art designers of each segment of the film give their input on their creations. If you ever wanted to hear why they went with a flamingo with a yo-yo (yes, I’ll leave the flamingo alone now) this is your chance.

Next we move onto the documentary Musicana. I really wish I had seen this before starting this review. A sample excerpt is the fact that there was actually a book called Future Fantasias that actually had ideas for the sequel Fantasias that never were. Musicana itself started in the ‘70s with two giants of Disney animation. I won’t ruin too much more of this documentary (except John Lasseter of Pixar working on the Mickey portion based on a Hans Christian Anderson tale). It really is worth a look to see how a sequel could have been done if the Disney animators had done it in the 70’s. I kind of wish I had that film to look at as well, but Musicana was not to be. Perhaps it would have been a timeless but underappreciated in its own time movie like the original Fantasia or a complete disaster (no, Fantasia 2000 is not a complete disaster, it justs acts like one).

If you hadn’t noticed from the sticker on the front (and I didn’t until halfway through writing the last review) Destino, an Academy Award nominated animated short is also lovingly placed in with Fantasia 2000. I didn’t initially get why this Dali/Disney collaboration had been placed in with these two music movies. For one, there is an actual singer on this short. Not to mention there are some actual 3-D animated sets in this short. My best guess is that it s actually fairly dark and abstract. I don’t know how much meaning we’re supposed to take from this; this short is uncompromisingly artistic. Maybe the short documentary for Destino (also included in F2000’s bonus features) will shed a bit more light on this.

After watching this documentary, I can see why the documentary was placed higher up on the Bonus Features list. It’s obviously implied that you should watch the documentary first if you want to get more than just your own impressions of the short. I will admit my own ignorance of Salvadore Dali and his surrealist style of painting. Knowing the other half of this collaboration is very important and the documentary treats the average Disney fan boy (like me) to Dali. Destino and its documentary are a more natural fit than first meets the eye and I am fairly glad that this obscure unthinkable tag team finally was unearthed and shown.

The final special feature of this disc set is the Disney Virtual Vault. I would describe this as a gallery of video clips, like the art gallery in the Fantasia set, Again I am fairly blown away by the sheer amount of material gathered for your perusal and the ability to add clips into a queue while you watch a video streamlines the choices for you. Easily another movie in itself, this Virtual Vault is another feature that I’m going to have to praise in these Blu-Ray movies. It’s clear that a studio that has a lot of information about a movie can go above and beyond to deliver it to us in this Blu-Ray format that you just couldn’t do outside of a six disc special edition DVD collection. Just wow. I didn’t think I’d find two gems like these in this 2-Movie collection and I will be spending a lot more time with these in the future.

The Cover Art and Discs

I’m going to just save myself some trouble. You remember this section in the last review. Yeah, copy and paste. Don’t remember it/haven’t read it? GO! Read the Fantasia review! What are you doing reading these out of order?

Final Verdict on 2 Movie Collection

Now I did myself a favor and a disservice. Since this is the 2-Movie collection I’m reviewing, I have to give my final verdict on both films simultaneously and grade them together. Considering the wealth of information about these two movies, the bonus features (even with the Destino short) are a nine out of ten easily. The cover art and discs do a lot to make these two movies a pair, but in the end they are two completely different films under the same banner. I would have liked to see less comparison and more contrast (not a total disconnect, mind you) between these two movies and so I give it an eight out of ten. While I’d love to grade these two feature length experiences differently, I’m constrained by the fact that they are conjoined in this Blu-Ray/DVD release and with respect to that must give the overall film content a solid nine out of ten. There is a lot to love here and if you already love these films then be prepared to love them more. Overall, a 26 out of 30 makes this a B-Plus and must-have for any Disney film collector.

Agree with me? Don’t agree at all? Let me know in the comments below or on twitter - @madeyelouie