A semi-sequel to Disney's 1940 classic 'Fantasia' which features
the original film's most famous sequence - the Mickey Mouse
adventure 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' - plus seven other all-new
animated interpretations of classical music. Highlights include
the interwoven stories of a group of 1930s New Yorkers
accompanied by Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', the volcanic
eruptions which illustrate Stravinsky's 'Firebird Suite', and the
story of Noah, his ark, and his assistant Donald Duck, played out
to the strains of Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance'.
From .co.uk
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More ambitious in than any of its other animated
films (before or to come), Disney's 1940 Fantasia was a dizzying,
magical and highly enjoyable marriage of classical music and
animated images. Fantasia 2000, originally made for the IMAX
large-screen format, features some breathtaking animation and
storytelling, and in a few spots soars to wonderful high points,
but it still more often than not has the feel of walking in its
predecessor's footsteps as sed to creating its own path. A
family of whales swimming and soaring to Respighi's The Pines of
Rome is magical to watch, but ends all too soon; a forest
sprite's dance of life, death and rebirth to Stravinsky's The
Rite of Spring too clearly echoes the original Fantasia's Night
on Bald ain/Ave Maria sequence. But when it's on target,
Fantasia 2000 is glorious enough to make you giddy. Hans
Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a perfect
narrative set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Donald
Duck's guest appearance as the assistant to Noah (of the Ark
fame) set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches is a welcome
companion piece (though not an equal) to The Sorcerer's
Apprentice, the one original Fantasia piece included here. The
high point of Fantasia 2000, though, is a fantastic
day-in-the-life sequence of 1930s New York City set to Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue and animated in the style of cartoonist Al
Hirschfeld; it's a perfect melding of music, story and animation
style. Let's hope future Fantasias (reportedly in the works) take
a cue from the best of this compilation. The music is provided by
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine,
interspersed with negligible intros by Steve Martin, Bette
Midler, Itzhak Perlman, James Earl Jones and others. --Mark
Englehart
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are also available together in the
three-disc DVD Fantasia Collection (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000051YH2/%24%7B0%7D ).
From the Back Cover
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Embracing Walt Disney's original vision for a
feature-length "extravaganza" of and sound, a whole new
generation of Disney animators and film makers push the
boundaries of the medium to present Fantasia 2000
In this electrifying feature, vivid imagery is the backdrop for
classical compositions from Beethoven, Shostakovich, Respighi,
Gershwin, Dukas, Saint-Saens, Elgar and Stravinsky. From the
antics of playful flamingos to a modern city in bluesy motion,
brilliant animation brings a visual counterpart to the music of
the masters.
This all-new film begins where its predecessor, Fantasia, left
off, with seven completely new segments and the return of one
favourite - Mickey in "The Sorceror's Apprentice." Sixty years
after the first incarnation of this masterpiece, the magical
innovation of Fantasia 2000 is sure to captivate audiences of all
ages.