The Disney animation unit has finally, after 60 years, fulfilled Walt Disney's original goal to add new selections to the concert feature, Fantasia.In "Fantasia 2000", they have retained "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" starring Mickey Mouse. The latter has stood the test of time and children and adults alike had broad grins on their faces when Mickey went through his paces in the Dukas classic. The film opens with a short abstract piece animated to Beethoven's 5th. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Bach "Toccata and Fugue" which opened the original. Whales are the key characters in the spectacular sequence drawn to the strains of Respighi's "The Pines of Rome". Probably the most imaginative piece is the Gershwin "Rhapsody in Blue" sketched in the style of Al Hirshfeld and set on the streets of New York during the Depression. To keep the momentum going, animators have cast Donald Duck (mericfully mute) as Noah's assistant in keeping the ark's animals in order (Pomp and Circumstance). The most humorous selection animates a group of flamingos becoming tangled in the string of a yo-yo (Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals"). Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier is set to Shostakovich. The last selection is underscored by Stravinsky' "The Firebird". It has some of the dark undercurrents of the original's Night on Bald Mountain. All of these swirling colors and images are magically magnified on the IMAX screen. The music is also spectacularly recorded. Only the old Mickey Mouse portion shows its age intermittently with grainy images. Disney's magic makers have again produced a film which may encourage youngsters to build an interest in classical music. It whetted my appetite over 40 years ago.
Review of Fantasia 2000
