oooo...so close

There is no denying that Fantasia is my favorite film of all time. The music is magnificent, the artwork is beautiful, and the way the two mesh together without any other use of sound effects is just beyond compare. However, GOD DAMN THE DISNEY EDITORS! It claims that this film is restored and uncut, when of course, the Pastoral Symphony sequence remains edited. How I wish this weren't the case, how I wish I could give this release a perfect rating. But alas, because of this flaw, I cannot. *sigh* Edits or no edits, here's why I like this film so much.

-Firstly, three of my very favorite classical pieces are included within this film: Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, and Mussogrsky's A Night on Bald Mountain. Now, whenever I hear these numbers, I envision the settings that are used in the film.

-The artwork and the style of some segments remind me of later Silly Symphonies (Moth and the Flame, Farmyard Symphony, Merbabies, Old Mill, etc.). This is truly great for me because Silly Symphonies are quickly becoming as significant to me as Mickey Mouse, me being the music enthusiast that I am.

-The choice of setting for each of the 7 pieces is certainly not what you might initially expect, which is nice. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is almost sort of an acid trip; the Nutcracker has many different settings; the Sorcerer's Apprentice is a Mickey Mouse cartoon, plain and simple, but focuses more on music than action; The Rite of Spring is used to tell the story of how life began on our planet; the Pastoral Symphony is set in a Greek Myth; the Dance of the Hours is a comical ballet of Ostriches, Elephants, Hippos and Alligators; and A Night On Bald Mountain is set in a hellish environment controlled by a monstrous demon.

-The idea of using musical instruments to represent any sound effects that may be used (an oboe is used to represent the sound of a baby unicorn's cry for help, for example) is truly not like anything seen at the time it was made.

-Can you imagine, simply try to imagine, how a simple Mickey Mouse short expanded into a 2-hour masterpiece with seven epic cartoons told through symphony? Only Walt Disney could have done such a thing.

With the exception of those stupid edits, there is no denying that this is my favorite film of all time, as you can see. It's all the proof one needs to show that Disney was at it's best when a man who bears the company's name himself runs the company. But if this has you wanting more proof of that, then the Silly Symphony collections are just for you. Whether it be the crudely animated, black-and-white, rhythm-minded cartoons of the early days, or the beautifully painted, colorful, majestic pieces of musical art of the final few years of the series, they are just what you need to put the icing on the cake of this fine film, the finest of all Disney's feature-length animations: FANTASIA!

A fantastic gem

The 60th anniversary DVD of Fantasia is a gem and a great find. The DVD has the original narration, not the 1962 re-release narration (which is on the VHS version), and everyone who has seen both has preferred the original.

The sound and video quality, while not exactly Pixar quality, are never the less impressive considering the age of the original.
This film is one of those timeless classics that endures very well.

Phenomenal Feature

It would be difficult to praise this film enough. Disney took music to a new level when he imagined how music might look when animated. The result alternates between drama and comedy, between whimsy and pathos. The result is entertaining and fun and a grand vision of creative animation that has set a standard that has yet to be exceeded.

The imaginings in this movie begin smoothly with Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Disney animators imagine what music might look like, with the clever use of abstract art. The animation for this opening number is but a small taste of what is yet to come.

The end of the Toccata takes us back to the orchestra we began with, leading next into a brilliant rendition of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, featuring flowers, mushrooms, fish and fairies dancing flawlessly and whimsically. I find temptation to use the words imagination and creativity endlessly in this review, because each of the pieces contains incredible amounts of each.

The next selection features Disney icon Mickey Mouse in Paul Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Mickey discovers that using magic to make his life easier has a downside. We benefit from a wonderfully performed piece of classical music well-matched with a clever story.

Drama abounds in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which shows the creation of the earth and the evolution of species through dinosaurs. Purists may cry foul because species that existed in different eras appear together and T. Rex has three fingers instead of two, but the combination of music and animation is expressive and chilling as extinction reaches out to claim dinosaurs.

After an intermission and an imagining of how waveforms might appear, presaging graphic equalizers and screen savers, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony provides the music for a world of mythology. Centaurs, a Pegasus and family, cherubs, fauns, Greek gods, and assorted other creatures cavort in Grecian-inspired scenery. This portion of the movie has generated significant criticism. There is brief female centaur nudity and a centaur inspired by African American caricatures of the era, the latter of which would be unthinkable in modern film and the former would be unacceptable in modern children's films. Versions released in recent decades have excised the African American inspired centaur, but the nudity remains. I find the nudity unusual, but inoffensive.

Amilcare Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours provides a vehicle for dancing ostriches, crocodiles, hippos, elephants and alligators in a classical setting. The animation is incredibly frantic and humorous as the alligators give chase faster and faster, all the while missing out on a meal.

The final segment features Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Schubert's Ave Maria. The Bald Mountain segment is the most dramatic portion of this film and contains elements that may be frightening to very young members of the family. A demon appears on the mountain and raises an assortment of ghosts, skeletons, zombies and other fantastic creatures. This segment ends with a segment showing a line of people walking through the forest to the song Ave Maria.

The 60th anniversary release is the most complete version of this film that exists. The scenes involving the stereotypical centaur are gone, but the film quality is otherwise the best it has been in many decades. The original Leopold Stowkowski soundtrack has been restored as fully as possible. Unfortunately, the narration by Deems Taylor had deteriorated to the point where it was unusable, and voice actor Corey Burton provided the updated narration. The restoration is effective and brilliant.

"Fantasia" remains a controversial film. Some music critics lambasted the film because of the liberties Disney took with editing of some of the music. Disney also received criticism because of the matching of Beethoven's music with mythological themes.

The visual elements also contain aspects that are controversial to various segments of the population. The depiction of nudity, however brief and non-sexual, always generates outcries from certain groups. Other groups decry the depiction of pagan gods and mythological creatures as somehow promoting witchcraft and paganism. The depiction of evolution rather than creationism also generates isolated indignation.

What critics seem to forget is that "Fantasia" is an artistic interpretation. The interpretations in the film are those of Disney and his animators, and they are neither right nor wrong, they are just art. Fortunately, the vast majority of people will ignore the undeserved criticisms and focus on the unique achievement that "Fantasia" represents. I doubt there will ever be another movie with the artistic scope and vision of "Fantasia," which makes it even more precious and marvelous. This movie is a great addition to the libraries of people who can appreciate the artistic vision Walt Disney tried to achieve.

Enjoy!