No Plot! No convincing Dialogue!
Written: Jun 24 '00 (Updated Jul 09 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: exposes kids to classical music
Cons: what's so bloody great about classical music?
|
|
|
| kiljoi's Full Review: Fantasia/2000 |
I can't quite put my finger on why this installment of the Fantasia series disappointed me. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the Internet culture as I repeatedly thought, "You mean to tell me I paid 8 bucks to watch a screensaver???"
The animation is just so good and so polished that it just no longer seemed appropriate for the music. And plus there are the storyline segments that just failed to grab my attention.
The film begins with a familiar little number by Beethoven, everyone's favorite deaf guy. It just seemed unimpressive. I felt as if I had seen this before.
Steve Martin introduces the ensemble as the next piece leads into a composition about pine trees that is interpreted by the animators as flying whales. Sure, the whales are majestic. Sure, the thought of a baby whale being stuck inside a cave where he can see the mommy but she can't see him tugs at the heart strings. Sure, we'd all like to see whales flying as a flock up to the sky so very high just like a dragonfly...oh, sorry. Serious music. But it just failed to be interesting.
The highlight of this film has to be the New York carcicature set to Rhapsody in Blue. It's one of those weird 6 degrees of living shorts that make you laugh at the absurdity of the size of this globe. Drawn in a style not unlike that featured on the cover of the New Yorker, this piece is a welcome break from the over-polished features that sandwich it.
Donald Duck as Ark-boy on the Noah Cruise Line was amusing sure. It was even more amusing set against "Pomp and Circumstance". Donald's a funny, frustrated guy. Somehow he seemed perfect for the song (evil evil grin).
Once again, for old times' sake, they show "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"...and it may be one of the best things about this film...Mickey as the opportunistic dreamer and a roomful of splinters that mean business- it's still very clever and very engrossing even today.
The film ends with a short about Stevie Nicks restoring life to a forest after Ozzy Osborne bites the head off a volcano and it explodes...okay, so not quite but it's your typical regeneration story. I just thought it would be more fun if they featured rock stars instead of nature.
Since Fantasia 2000 was such a fussworthy movie, celebrities have been asked to introduce each piece. Steve Martin, Bette Middler, Angela Lansbury, and James Earl Jones all do a delightful job of reading the teleprompter and I think we should give them all a round of applause.
It's just a shame because their presence just makes the films seem even more polished. I don't know what it is about the old Fantasia...was it the way the animation wasn't flawless? Was it the more compelling storylines (remember that dinosaurs one?)? Was it just that it seemed longer? I don't know... all I can say is that I just found this piece to be a huge letdown.
So, now I wonder. Did I not like it because I have lost so much of my innocence or is it because Disney has lost so much of its own?
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
kiljoi
|
|
Member: Thermo Color
Location: Prescott, AZ
Reviews written: 184
Trusted by: 236 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.