Disney's Fantasia 2000 (2000)

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This is going to be interesting because this will be the very first Disney animated feature film I am reviewing that I did not watch growing up, so this was my first viewing of the movie. After watching it, by and large, I walk away feeling like it was nothing more than an inferior version to the previous one. For those few unaware, Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are a series of short animated features set to the tune of classical music rather than act as a single feature-length film.

On one hand, I don't want to discuss each short individually, because I would largely be saying the same thing about each piece. By and large, there is one problem I have beginning to end of this movie, and that is I don't feel the music matches the scenes that are playing. I just don't envision a group of hyperactive flying whales flying while Pines of Rome plays. It doesn't help that the whales look like this, and it's oddly horrifying.

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Aside from that, it's a largely well-animated movie. Each short looks good, and there are a few times I think it looks downright fantastic. Animation is not something Disney has been known to skimp on. And while most scenes I don't feel match the music, there are two that work well. The first being the Flamingo animation to The Parade of Animals, where you see a Flamingo bored of the others dance routine and starts playing with a Yo-yo. It's a lot of fun, the slapstick going on is funny, and it feels like it matched.

The second one is cheating, because they just played The Sorcerers Apprentice again, which was already in the first Fantasia. It's just the same short. And yeah, it was great the first time around, so I guess it's still great here. This is something that would be fine if Fantasia was just a live event with a variety of live pieces and animation, but as a movie, on its own, it just feels like they are recycling material to fill time.

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The worst part of the experience, however, is the pointless celebrity cameos to introduce the clips. They just aren't funny or interesting, nor do they add anything to the experience. It's not that any of them did a bad job, it's just that they were entirely unnecessary. It was also frustrating they took a moment to bring up some ideas that didn't make the cut, a couple of which were more interesting than anything they decided to show.

Fantasia 2000 lacks the novelty and originality of the first while not having the ambitions ideas to make it interesting. It's not a bad watch if you get the chance, the Flamingo one and the Donald Duck Noah's arc at the end are both enjoyable, but after this, I am going to forget about pretty much everything this movie had to offer.

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 2 years ago (edited) 

Maybe not the most "fun movie” ever made but a great peace of art, beautiful.