fantasia 2000

[Niffiwan]

Today I went to an Imax Zeatre and , about 7 dayz before it's closing, zaw ze movie Fantasia 2000. Surprizingly, I found it one of ze bezt moviez I have ever zeen. My Spathi relatives, however, deed not like it at all.
I zink zat mozt people REALLY liked it, zough, for almozt everyone ztayed in ze zeatre until the credits were over. It ees very, very rare zat I zee an audienze do zat.
Zo I waz wondering what ze good people at Entmoot zought about it; az ze greatest work of Dizney, or az ze worzt Disney production ever done.
I, for one, ztill have ze muzic ringing in my earz 6 hourz after zeeing it.

[IronParrot]

I saw it the day it came out. Repost from <a href=http://pub4.ezboard.com/bnicktheshadow>my board</a>:

Well, I'm going to deviate from the PROS/CONS/OVERALL style for this one, and migrate to a rating system for music compilations, simply because it is more fitting here.

5 - Worth the $11 ticket price by itself.
4 - Extremely worthwhile and entertaining.
3 - Can range from "fair" to "good", through the entire middle range.
2 - Poor - brings down the cumulative quality of the film.
1 - Could be seen as a reason NOT to see the film.

Beethoven's Symphony No.5 - It's not often we get to see abstract animation. As a matter of fact, I can't name ANY notable works of abstract animation at all besides this one... I think this was a brilliant work of art. The colouration was magnificent and beautiful, and it doesn't try to force an interpretation of the music - the interpretation can be interpreted in so many different ways by itself.
SUMMARY: 4 - Stunning and lavish.

Pines of Rome - In stark contrast to the first one, quite fittingly, but beautiful in its own right. As far as the actual animation quality goes, in Fantasia 2000 this is second only to the Firebird Suite in terms of artistic merit. The whole flying whale thing I didn't quite understand completely, although it was quite a spectacle. The scene where the young whale is trapped under the ice is sheer brilliance. I commend the animators warmly for this one.
SUMMARY: 4 - It LOOKS good.

Rhapsody in Blue - WOW! This one is wonderful! Out of the eight numbers featured in Fantasia 2000, this is a close second favorite behind Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (more on that later). Each character is brought to life in such a brilliant way against Gershwin's music (music-wise, my favorite selection in this film). The depiction of 1920s New York is the best I've seen since the "Broadway Melodies" contemporary number in Singin' in the Rain. While the animation itself isn't as much of a technical spectacle as Pines of Rome or Firebird, it serves its purpose fully in bringing about each of the events in the 2D story set on brilliant Gershwin jazz.
SUMMARY: 5 - Absolute brilliance! I love this number!

Shostakovich Piano Concerto/Steadfast Tin Soldier - I thought this one was a particularly good piece. As they said in the introduction leading up to this number, the music and the Hans Christian Andersen tale were an excellent match together. Definitely worth checking out. Whereas the ballerina and the "Jack-in-the-Box From Hell" are somewhat run-of-the-mill, the Tin Soldier himself was brilliantly animated in an excellent combination of 2D and 3D.
SUMMARY: 3 - A very nice addition to the program.

Carnival of the Animals - This one is definitely very questionable. Firstly, I don't see why they've restricted it simply to the Finale, when the other movements in the piece are so vivid in imagery as they are. Secondly, the flamingo with the yo-yo is too... well, slapstick. Although it was certainly a laugh while it was on screen, this pales in comparison to the rest of the film. I don't like to call it the "worst" of the lot, but it's certainly the "least best" for me.
SUMMARY: 2 - Waaay too short and overly silly.

The Sorceror's Apprentice - Well, this segment is the one that started it all, and it's probably one of the reasons why somebody would want to see this film - if they loved the original and wanted to see it in IMAX. They would be disappointed. While the sequence is still wonderful as ever, it looks too much like an ordinary film compared to the stunning, spotless film quality of the rest of Fantasia 2000.
SUMMARY: 3 - Would be a 5 if it weren't so grainy.

Pomp and Circumstance - This is another of those wonderful, beautiful sequences, like Pines of Rome (but not quite). The Noah's Ark twist on it is far-fetched, but interesting. The Donald Duck involvement, even more so. Now what I like about this is that Donald Duck isn't nearly as annoying as he usually is, simply because he doesn't speak at all. Occasionally, he's a little TOO comic, and is reminiscent of none other than Jar Jar Binks, but that's okay with me. I don't know how serious Christians will take this, though.
SUMMARY: 3 - Very good sequence overall.

Firebird Suite - This alone is one of the most wonderful pieces of animation I have seen in a very long time. It is beautiful in every way. It is absolutely flawless in every respect. There is NOTHING wrong with this selection at all. As a matter of fact, it is at least the equal of the Mussorgsky finale of the original Fantasia - I would say that it is even BETTER, but music-wise I like "Night on Bald Mountain" better than Firebird, although they are both wonderful selections for finales at any concert. WOW... I still can't get over how brilliant and wonderful this sequence was. I am thrilled.
SUMMARY: 5 - This is a 6-star segment in a 5-star world; it MADE this film.

So overall, you can see that I had a very positive outlook on this film. One thing to be wary of - the celebrity introductions. James Earl Jones, Bette Midler and that magician duo from Las Vegas were welcome additions, but they just HAD to balance them out with... shiver... Steve Martin. I CANNOT stand Steve Martin... he is simply so unfunny and ultimately irritating that, well, without him the film would have been a lot better.

That said, my review of the first film released in 2000 is over.

[Niffiwan]

I would have given ze flamingo one a 3.
alzo, in ze whale one, when ze whalez roze out of ze zky, for me it meant zat zey have *exceeded, gone higher zan anyone in zeir zepciez did before*. When ze rezt of ze whales joined zem, it meant for me zat zey have shared zeir new wayz wiz ze rezt of zeir race and brought zem higher too. When zey went through ze zundercloud, I zought zat zat meant zat zey were facing ze usual "ztormy" trouble zat anyone haz to face before changes are made.
Did you know zat zey didn't uze computer animation for zat piece? Hard to believe, but true; they drew everything. You can zee zat if you look cozely.
Actually, I liked ze whale one a bit better zan ze firebird one.
But, az I said before, one of my relativez didn't really like fantasia2000, and ze ozer said it sucked. Zomezing about zere being not enough details in ze animation, and ze film being rushed...
Ah, well. Everyone to zeir own opinion.

[IronParrot]

Actually, the whale one WAS done with computer animation. The guys at Disney said so themselves.

[Niffiwan]

Oh....
ok...
It'z juzt zat when I looked at ze eyes of ze baby whale I zought I zough drawing, not 3-D animation.

[bmilder]

I saw it today, in a regular theater. It was only average. The music was good, but I thought the movie was a little on the dull side. I almost fell asleep watching those stupid whales. They were created very well, along with everything else, but it's not the kind of movie I'd watch over and over. The Firebird sequence was good, but I liked Night on Bald Mountain better. I think I liked Fantasia 1940 somewhat better, but of course I was a lot younger when I last saw that and I think that was on the boring side too ;)