21st Century Cartoons
Written: Jan 31 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sublime animation and brilliant uses of new technologies
Cons: Emotionally packaged and a bit artificial
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| MovieBodega's Full Review: Fantasia/2000 |
Disney's release for FANTASIA 2000, on the first day of the new millennium, was meant to send a message. The sequel to what is, perhaps, the world's most ambitious animated film, this new work signals a new era, a computer-induced Golden Age of cartoons and their capabilities. In viewing this latest marriage of classical music and cutting-edge animation, there's clearly a change underway, but perhaps not the one Disney was expecting. With its celebrity introductions, narrative-based pieces, IMAX technology, computer graphics and unbelievably short running time, FANTASIA 2000 is a film for people who didn't like the first one.
Consider it Fantasia2K. FANTASIA 2000 may or may not be a classic, but if it is, it will be a modern one. The major difference between it and its predecessor is its accessibility. While the original FANTASIA sought to elevate its audience through animating the works of great composers, the latest film (overseen by Uncle Walt's nephew, Roy Disney) uses the works of great composers as musical highlights for the graphics. Of the seven scenes, only two abstract their stories to achieve a seamless interaction with its musical source. Coincidentally, these two sequences -- one set in the arctic circle with flying whales, another celebrating the emergence of spring -- are the most successful and gratifying. Of the other five, all are narrative (except a very brief, hilarious sequence with a flock of flamingoes -- and a yo-yo). Computer images (a static "Steadfast Tin Soldier") battle with more traditional 'flat' animation (a Hirschfeld-inspired tale of life in New York set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue"), but it's never muddled or confusing. Whenever things start to get out of hand, the music is abbreviated (one of the film's most egregious missteps). It's like a class in Cartoons And Classical Music taught by brilliant animators at your local community college.
Comedy is king in FANTASIA 2000, featuring familiar friends (Donald Duck as Noah's ark-bound helper, and a repeat of Mickey Mouse in 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice') and new (the hilarious flamingoes, the hammy characters of Hirschfeld's New York). One would surmise that the lack of serious subject matter is due to the fear that modern attention spans aren't what they used to be. However, should anyone start to drift away in FANTASIA 2000, Disney has enlisted a series of A-List stars (Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Angela Lansbury, and James Earl Jones among them) bring everyone back to awareness by 'introducing' each segment. These injections of reality, however pleasant they may be to star-worshipping audiences, break the rhythm of the film. It's as if a feature-length work suddenly has all-star commercial breaks.
Of course, the words "feature length" barely apply to FANTASIA 2000. Clocking in at just over 70 minutes, one may guess that, to Mickey and Company, brevity is the soul of wit. But look closer, and it becomes clear that the Fantasia Idea runs out of steam if it goes on much longer. The spectacle of IMAX, which impresses even if it's projecting a test pattern, becomes oppressive with time. Best to get on and get off, and Disney never wears out its welcome.
FANTASIA 2000 is an enjoyable diversion, but it's a thoroughly modern movie. While children will coo with wonder at the marvelous images on the big screen (much the way their parents did with the first one), the larger ramifications that FANTASIA 2000 holds for cinema in the 21st century may leave fans with an uneasy feeling.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
MovieBodega
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Member: Gabriel Shanks
Location: New York City Area
Reviews written: 152
Trusted by: 92 members
About Me:
Professional film critic at CozziFanTutti (www.cozzifantutti.com) and founding member of Cinemarati (www.cinemarati.org).
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