Destino (2003)

This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead: This is the latter-day result of an unlikely collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney begun in the 1940s and ultimately set aside and forgotten until rediscovered by Roy Disney and completed almost 60 years later.It's impossible to mistake this as anything but a collaboration between Dali and Disney. While it reminds one of Fantasia, it's likely that the short would have disappeared without a trace had it been completed as originally scheduled. If anything, it's even more esoteric and artistically inclined than Fantasia and Fantasia was widely seen as a flop. As a short it would have set the studio back far less financially than Fantasia did as a feature, but Disney was already starting to have trouble making back the costs of its shorts because Walt Disney had such high expectations from even his shorts. That financial pressure was part of what put this in mothballs in the first place.It would have been interesting to see what the Disney studios would have made of this in the late 1940s-early 1950s. As it is now, this looks for all the world like a series of Dali paintings brought to life and set in motion. Half melted objects, a likeness or two of Dali and other Dali trademarks given the Disney touch make this a fascinating curiosity and the quality of the backgrounds and character designs is magnificent.This is available on the Blu-Ray release of Fantasia 2000 and looks beautiful, particularly in HD. There's also a feature length documentary on the project on the same disc which I haven't seen but which looks to be very good itself. Well worth watching. Most recommended.

I spent the day yesterday in Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of the reasons I went there was to try to see the Salvador Dali's exhibitions but the tickets have been sold until the end of April. While in the museum, I was able to see two films that Dali was a big part of. In the video Gallery of the museum, two intriguing projects have been running together in the continuous loop, the early "Un Chien Andalou" (17 minutes) and the recently released, animated Destino (6 minutes). This was the first viewing for me. I kept coming back to the gallery for few more times and I never was tired of both short films.What would've happened if Salvador Dali and Walt Disney had decided to work together on a project? The answer is "Destino" , the 6 minutes, 40 seconds long animated film based on a Mexican love ballad entitled "Destino". Dali and Disney admired each other's work and their meeting at a dinner party in 1945, inspired the idea for collaboration. Although, the film was abandoned in 1946 due to the economic problems created by WWII, Dali's storyboards, sketches, and paintings were saved. Work began on Destino in May 2001 and in June 2003, "Destino" premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.Set to the Mexican ballad, the idea behind the film was described by Disney as "just a simple love story - boy meets girl". Dali called it "a magical exposition on the problem of life in the labyrinth of time". The end result is a tender, beautiful, sad, and charming love story as only Dali could imagine it, complete with the images as only he could create by the power of his imagination - melting clocks, tuxedo-clad eyeballs without faces, ballerinas, ants that turn into bicycles, and surprising baseballs.

I had the privilege to see Destino at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.It's the only place in the world where it plays on a regular basis. It six minutes I believe.I thought it was beautiful. Enchanting. If you can, see it. I absolutely loved it.

The idea of Disney and Dali working together seems as weird as one of Dali's paintings. A play off Broadway several seasons ago imagined Dali's effect on the Disney Studio and Alice in Wonderland which was in production at the same time and was quite funny.The reality of situation was something else and ended after lots of sketches and paintings had been done (many later stolen) but for all the work only several seconds of film had actually been animated. For 50 years there was always a feeling of "what if it all had worked out" to the project. Now 50 Years later Roy Disney picks up where Uncle Walt left off and completed the project.The result was better in the realm of "what if".There is nothing really wrong with the film, except its not really interesting. I saw it as part of a children's film festival and most of the kids seemed puzzled. Most of the adults just took the odd images in stride. It was well animated but nothing special to look at, its really more a collection of paintings that move than an actual film. Yes there is a romance of sorts with a surrealist twist, but its nothing compelling.The film was nominated for best animated short, but having actually watched the entire film I think it was more a favor to Roy Disney than to any Oscar quality of the film.If you get the chance see it, but its not worth going out of your way to see. Nor do I think it will be worth the price of Disney's proposed DVD release featuring a documentary on the making of and the film itself. If they charge anything over ten bucks they truly will have be as mad as Dali himself.