Review of Fantasia 2000 (2000) by Sebastian W — 08 Dec 2010

Although not as masterful as the original Fantasia, this predecessor is a beautiful, imaginative and inspiring mixture of music and image.

There is a huge amount of variety in the musical pieces in this film. It opens with a similar style to the original, a majestic piece accompanied by abstract images with not particular plot. In the original Fantasia, this was Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor". In this, they a chose an almost severely shortened version of the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No.5 in C Minor".

The second movement took advantage of the IMAX experience, and Ottorino Respighi's "Pines of Rome" was accompanied to interesting, but rather bizarre, images of flying whales migrating from the ocean to the stars.

The third movement is probably George Gershwin's most famous piece, "Rhapsody in Blue", a "jazzical" piece as I call it, painting a modern story of life in New York City during the Great Depression.

The fourth is Dmitri Shostakovich's "Piano Concerto No.2 in F Major-Allegro", set to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier".

The fifth movement I actually quite disliked. Being less than two minutes long, and being childish compared to the other pieces, this section shows a flock of flamingos playing with a yo-yo to Camille Saint-Saens' "Le Carnaval des Animaux-Finale".

The sixth is originally from the 1940 Fantasia, a digitally restored version of Paul Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

The seventh is an arrangement of Sir Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance Marches". This march is set to the biblical story of Noah's Ark.

The final piece in Fantasia 2000 is a story of life, death and renewal to Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird", and probably my favourite piece in the movie.

Although much shorter and slightly simpler than the brilliant Fantasia 1940, Fantasia 2000 is an entertaining and heartening experience.