Cinematography:
James Wong HoweVOD (3)
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A series of eight animated musical compositions. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (3)
A truly impressive affair, where the combination of music and imagery often equals a brilliant connection. This is especially true for the ancient Greek mythical performance full of Pegasus, unicorns, and centaurs, and especially for the fascinating dance of fairies, which color nature and accompany it in its blooming, set to the backdrop of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. The most limiting factor of Fantasia is the guide, who always describes the plot of the following visual composition too literally, and the overly passionately religious last passage with "Ave Maria". ()
Hats off to such a bold experiment, which the transfer of emotions from musical to visual form certainly is. Fantasia can by no means be denied a certain amount of originality and novelty, which gush from all parts of the screen all the time, and it’s up to each viewer to decide the extent to which they will leave the doors of their perception open. And although I am quite pissed off at mine, I have to say that I’m partly disappointed by the final impression. The passage of Mickey and the Wizard or the one with the origin and evolution of life were perfect – exactly as I am used to with Disney – as was the unconventional and truly captivating opening that combines beautiful music with imagery. But the other episodes left me completely cold and I always finished them with the hope that the next one would be better. The drunk Dionysos was better in The Simpsons (if only for a moment) and if I want to see funny dance numbers of seemingly clumsy animals, I’d rather go for Madagascar or The Lion King. The ravages of time must gnaw somewhere... 70% ()
What surprises about this film is certainly the runtime, but primarily the fact that Disney ventured into such a relatively experimental project. Essentially without words, except in the interludes between the individual segments, the film presents cinematic variations on classical music. Disney wouldn't do anything like that today. It's definitely a shame because, even though it may not entirely appeal to today's audience, the joy in animation and music here is captivating. ()
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