Review of Fantasia (2004) by Paul B — 30 Jul 2009

Having already turned the full-length animated film into a legitimate artistic medium, Disney allowed his animators to run wild with this film. No longer constrained by any obligation to appeal strictly to a young audience, they unleashed some of animation's potential for creating worlds that could not exist anywhere else.

"Fantasia" is nothing if not an exercise in expanding the styles, themes, and stories that could be created with hand-drawn images. Each vignette has a life of its own. This is not a narrative film, to be sure.

The segments don't add up to any single story or premise. What ties them together, besides the obvious, is the imagination at work. The segments each show the possibilities that were opened up when synchronized sound came to the movies.

The ear adds fresh meaning to what the eye sees, and vice versa. The greatest thing about the movie is its capacity to make animation lovers enjoy classical music, and classical music lovers enjoy animation.

I watch the movie from the position of someone who already loves them both, but it still manages to further my interest in both as well. The animators choose not to be limited by the programs of "Nutcracker," "Rite of Spring," or "The Pastoral Symphony.

" It would just not be as interesting for them to draw only the images that seasoned listeners expect to see. Not being a musical professional, I like each and every one of the changes they made. The finished products are works of fantasy, evolutionary epic, and mythology.

None of the three is quite as interesting or exciting as the abstract art of "Toccata and Fugue" or the frighteningly accurate visualization of "Night on Bald Mountain," however. To these are added the wondrously funny "Dance of the Hours" and the immortal "Sorcerer's Apprentice," starring Disney's greatest creation.

I love the Deems Taylor narration as well, and in recent years I've even come to enjoy the live-action parts to a certain degree, especially the use of color and shadows. The movie is a wonderful experience of beautiful music, beautiful images, and creativity for its own sake.