Fantasia 2000 (2000)

Either Disney Productions ran out of money or ran out of interest. Called "Roy Disney's Folly" by then CEO Michael Eisner. For a complete sequence synopsis, see other "reviews" or "Wikipedia". Beethoven's 5th isn't even close to the "Dances of the Sugarplum Fairies", "Chinese" Mushrooms, and silky Goldfish that open the original Fantasia. The "Rhapsody in Blue", "Pomp and Circumstance" and "Firebird" pieces are the best, with honorable mention for the stories of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", and the "Yo-Yo Flamingo". Nothing has the power of "Bald Mountain" but "The Firebird" tries very hard. The dumbest segment is Blue Whales swimming in the sky with bubbles. Mickey's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" has been "freshened up" and looks lacking in detail. Some of the segments are not well-"hosted". Steve Martin was a bad choice, and so was Penn and Teller. Getting rare. Not many copies left!

At the start of the new millennium the Fantasia sequel was released.I remember seeing this in the Berlin Cinemaxx.This sequel includes the rerun of the Sorcerers Apprentice.Also some new stories.Like flying whales that gives the movie an epic start.Including a look back at old New York.So, here are something for everybody.But, it was one of the many Disney sequels that laid forgotten.Despite the rushed running time the movie, and it's not for everybody Fantasia 2000 has some outstanding animation, humor and heart.8/10

Having spent a long time in the making, Fantasia 2000 is the next installment in the sequence of movies started by the original Fantasia all the way back in 1940. Walt Disney had originally intended for Fantasia to be a recurring thing, with people going in every few years to see new segments set next to old favourites. Unfortunately the original failed at the box offices, not being at all what the audiences had expected, and it took the studio almost six decades to make a new one.So how does it hold up? In some areas really well, in some areas not at all. There are a couple of really good segments, like Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, a thrilling jazz piece with an animation style inspired by Al Hirschfeld. Easily my favourite in the whole film and actually pretty close to being my all-time favourite as well. Fast, energized and oozing personality. The opening segment, Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven, is also an excellent update on the original opening segment, and is actually even a bit better, containing more colours and a stylized storyline.Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward Elgar and The Carnival of the Animals, Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns are not as great, but both have some really good moments in them and are animated very well, with The Carnival of Animals being especially good with its fluidity and humour.And then there's of course The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas, the only segment from the original Fantasia, and it is of course a timeless classic. One of the greatest shorts ever made. Don't let anyone tell you differently.But then there are Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi, Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102 by Dmitri Shostakovich and Firebird Suite—1919 Version by Igor Stravinsky. The first two fail because the use of CGI, which has aged awfully. Shostakovich's piece, telling the tale of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, is especially bad in this regard, looking all rubbery and like it was ripped straight from a Playstation cutscene. Firebird Suite, on the other hand, is objectively looking rather nice segment, telling about a spirit of spring awakening after winter but running into problems when she encounters a dormant volcano. But, you kind of have to compare it to the original closing segment in Fantasia. That of Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. And I'm sorry, but it's not even close.The film also suffers from truly horrendous interlude announcers. Do Steve Martin and Pen & Teller sound like the kind of people you want to see cracking jokes just before you're about to be pulled into an art experience containing some of the best pieces of classical music ever composed? Of course not! Their levity pulls you straight out of the mood and you have to build it all back up again. Some announcers, like James Earl Jones, do a fine job of providing the needed gravitas, but most of them don't. It was a risky move from Disney, taking in all these people when the original film only had one, and it didn't pay off.All in all I'm glad Fantasia 2000 exists. It has some really good segments and has some of that magic that made the original one of Disney's all-time finest. It's not as good, but I'm glad they tried. Perhaps they don't need to wait another sixty years for the next one.

For the first time in years, Disney finally managed to create a new masterpiece in traditional animation. For me Fantasia/2000, is one of the greatest animated films of all time. It brings such talent and magnificence to screen with its lavish animation and segments. This will be reviewed by each segment.Symphony No. 5 in C minor-I. Allegro con brio by Ludwig van BeethovenThe first Fantasia 2000 segment starts off to the musical note of Beethoven's Symphony No.5 with some abstract shapes and colours which take the shape of butterflies trying to escape a multitude of bats in spectacular splashes of light. This segment's surrealism gives the film a grand opening and makes it an accomplished segment because the musical number fills in very well with this segment and gives it a different and unknown kind of animation for viewers to see which is surreal art. Surreal art is one of my favourite kinds of art and I was very pleased to see it in brilliant form.Pines of Rome by Ottorino RespighiFor the second segment of Fantasia 2000, The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi was chosen to be played along with the animated story of a group of whales who are able to fly due to a supernova occurring in the water they live in. They are then able to fly into the clouds to another nesting grounds of water. This segment is a grand spectacle of Computer animation as well as traditional animation. The Computer animation which is used in the whales is brilliant because for a time like 1999, this was groundbreaking technology and it is wonderful to see it in animation because it gives animators inspiration to go to new grounds of animation. This segment is my favourite because it has grand tune towards it and the story of it is brilliantly put forward to this animated tale of magnificence. Rhapsody in Blue by George GershwinThe third segment of Fantasia 2000 takes us to the streets of New York during the Great Depression. The musical number is the famous Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin which gives the segment a jazzy and tuneful theme upon itself. This segment's animation was inspired by the animation of Al Hirschfeld whose animated productions have delighted audiences around the world and certainly when it was used here. This segment remains a complete success because it is terrific at relating the perils of the Great Depression with children as well as adults and if anyone could relate trauma and perils in a colourful and charming way then they would become great tellers of harsh times. The whole layout of this segment is brilliant and it deserves a standing ovation. I did not think it was one the best segments but it was not a bad one.Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major-I. Allegro by Dmitri ShostakovichOur fourth segment is based upon the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Story of the Steadfast Tin Soldier. This segment is drawn upon traditional animation in classic fairy tale fashion of music and art. I don't have much to say about this particular segment apart from that I thought the music went very well with this tale of animation and I think that is what remains is that the animation is very similar to animated films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King and that makes it very well known to modern audiences and children. The musical number which comes from Dimitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No.2, creates a connection with this fairy tale in the sense that it becomes almost as similar as the segment itself making it perfect for the task.The Carnival of the Animals, Finale by Camille Saint-SaënsThe fifth act of the film takes place among a bunch of flamingos who go by their boring routines until another flamingo comes along with a yo-yo to ruin it all for them in comical fashion. This brilliantly built along to the musical tune of Camille Saint Saens' The Carnival of the Animals. Although this segment is short, it does provide a lot of fun for different types of audiences and is created to be very funny as well as being brilliantly constructed to provide a great new segment.Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward ElgarTo start our final two acts, we have Donald Duck appearing in a story based on Noah's Ark with Donald as Noah's First Mate. This is combined with Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches to create grand march between the animation and the music. It successfully attains that goal by making traditional animation fun to watch as we see Donald Duck messing about with the animals while also being reunited with his wife towards the end after believing that she might have died when the flood came. If there was ever going to be a third Fantasia, I believe this one would be chosen as it contains Donald Duck in an unforgettable cartoon.Firebird Suite – 1919 Version by Igor StravinskyOur final piece is taken from Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. The animated story is that of a woodland sprite who is accompanied by a deer to bring happiness toward the forest they live in by having the sprite make everything shiny and wonderful until we come to a nearby volcano where inside a Firebird lives. As we might expect the sprite gets destroyed by the Firebird but is resurrected by her companion to remake what happened earlier but this the sprite manages to spread grass and trees and shiny stuff around the volcano and the forest surrounding it. It manages to gives us one final grand animated tale which combines macabre and fantasy in one huge spectacle of light and destruction.I listed it as the fifth best film of 1999.