I went to this movie fully expecting to love it, and it certainly is not without its charms. Unfortunately, I can't give this movie a thumbs up.
They make a big deal about how they are attemting to carry on in the tradition of the original Fantasia, and then they proceed to ignore the first film's accomplishments.
There is not a single piece of music in this film that went in as it was written (with the exception of The Sorcerer's Apprentice that was taken from the original Fantasia). We only get one movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and that is presented with its entire middle section cut. Resphighi's Pines of Rome omits a movement and cuts up what is remaining. Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance wanders around from section to section depending on which musical effect is needed for the on-screen story. You get the idea.
This is the main problem here. The writers for this film seem to have been too lazy to try to write their stories to complement the music, and instead decided to chop up the music in order to fit it in with their story line. Laziness is the only explanation I can think of for doing this. While this flaw was not absent in the original film (Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was reordered extensively, Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain was altered some to fold into Schubert's Ave Maria, and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker was reordered.), it was done VERY carefully and with, what I thought, respect for the composers' vision. In this Fantasia, though, the music seems quite secondary to the film's conception. Stravinsky's Firebird has a fantasy oriented story to it that would have been right up Disney's alley, but they went with some different concept that involved omitting all but 3 movements, and they were chopped and cut heavily.
This is not to say that the movie has no appeal. The animation sequences are stunningly well done, and the interludes between numbers are well done and often pleasantly amusing. This movie ultimately fails, however, because it considers the music to be window dressing for the cartoons when it should have done the opposite. Too Bad.
They make a big deal about how they are attemting to carry on in the tradition of the original Fantasia, and then they proceed to ignore the first film's accomplishments.
There is not a single piece of music in this film that went in as it was written (with the exception of The Sorcerer's Apprentice that was taken from the original Fantasia). We only get one movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and that is presented with its entire middle section cut. Resphighi's Pines of Rome omits a movement and cuts up what is remaining. Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance wanders around from section to section depending on which musical effect is needed for the on-screen story. You get the idea.
This is the main problem here. The writers for this film seem to have been too lazy to try to write their stories to complement the music, and instead decided to chop up the music in order to fit it in with their story line. Laziness is the only explanation I can think of for doing this. While this flaw was not absent in the original film (Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was reordered extensively, Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain was altered some to fold into Schubert's Ave Maria, and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker was reordered.), it was done VERY carefully and with, what I thought, respect for the composers' vision. In this Fantasia, though, the music seems quite secondary to the film's conception. Stravinsky's Firebird has a fantasy oriented story to it that would have been right up Disney's alley, but they went with some different concept that involved omitting all but 3 movements, and they were chopped and cut heavily.
This is not to say that the movie has no appeal. The animation sequences are stunningly well done, and the interludes between numbers are well done and often pleasantly amusing. This movie ultimately fails, however, because it considers the music to be window dressing for the cartoons when it should have done the opposite. Too Bad.