When I first heard of Fantasia 2000, I had thoughts of low expectations. This was because the first Fantasia was so brilliant that I never thought a sequel to this film would succeed it as it is very rare to have sequel surpass their predecessors e.g Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Godfather: Part II. As soon as this sequel pressed on my eyes, I was completely and utterly mesmerized at the quality and superior animation that was devised in this sequel. The new segments I thought were completely revolutionary and this was definitely a sequel that would for me surpass it's predecessor.
Now for my review in which I will review this film by review each segment in the film to make things interesting.
Symphony No. 5 in C minor-I. Allegro con brio by Ludwig van Beethoven
The 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 favorite kinds of art and I was very pleased to see it in brilliant form.
Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi
For 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 favorite because it has grand tune towards it and the story of it is brilliantly put forward to this animated tale of magnificence. There is a part of this segment in which the whales rise from the water into the new world in the clouds. This part shows a great representation to drumbeats of war which made me prefer this segment more and more because it looked different to any other kind of animation I had ever seen.
Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin
The 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 Shostakovich
Our 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 relatable 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-Saëns
The 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.
I will not include The Sorcerer's Apprentice as it is from the original Fantasia in 1940 and need not be reviewed as it is one that is famous and that most of us know about. However I will include a video as a reminder.
To 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.
Our 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 forrest surrounding it. This Segment is a metaphor for the 1980 eruption of the Mount St. Helens volcano. It manages to gives us one final grand animated tale which combines macabre and fantasy in one huge spectacle of light and destruction. I thought it was a great tale and definitely deserves a standing ovation.
This concludes Fantasia 2000. It is a film that deserves to be recognized even if it was a box office disaster. It will remain with me a classic animated film because as I have said many times it is very good at combining new kinds of animation such as the whales in the second segment and the sprite in the last segment. If any animated tale could achieve that then they would bring new delights for audiences and critics. I enjoyed every piece of this film and deserves multiple audiences as well as praise from anyone.
I will give Fantasia 2000 4/4 stars and you can catch all my review at Blogspot.
