Sadly Over-hyped

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

From Uncle Walt's own admittance, "Fantasia" was the kind of one-hit wonder that could only be elaborated, improved but never duplicated, I don't even think it could be improved. It wasn't a kind of something, but one of a kind. There can't be another "Fantasia" as much as there can't be another Mona Lisa or Eiffel Tower. I guess that Walt Disney meant the "concept" of "Fantasia" rather than the finished result. After all, there couldn't make a second "Bambi" but they could make "The Lion King".So the concept can be duplicated indeed and for as long as animation is here to entertain children and adult, the temptation to combine music and drawings in a harmony of sounds, shapes and colors would be too great not to yield to it. I myself do a lot of editing and I can relate to the satisfaction in combining movements with music, I can relate to the struggle to find the right musical piece to match visual footage or the opposite. "Fantasia" plays in another league of course, but this is the common denominator between the professional wizards and the computer's sorcerer's apprentices, we use music as an imagination tool and animation as a choreography. Any work combining both is a potential "Fantasia" segment. Inimitable maybe, but inevitable indeed.But ever since its iconic predecessor, the sequel of "Fantasia" had been delayed for years and years. It was a dream from Walt Disney to make it a series, a franchise but the relative failure at the box-office put an end to this dreams. There would be no "Fantasia" sequel but the Disney Studios still provided between 1941 and 1950, two animated musical based on the same structure: "Melody Time" and "Make my Music". These films were made on the cusp of the first Golden Age and the Renaissance with "Cinderella" and were not lacking charm of their own. "Blame it on the Samba", "The Flight of the Bumblebee", "Casey at the Bat" and "Peter and the Wolf" were among the few shorts that emerged above the overall forgettable quality of these movies, at a time where Disney was looking for a second breath of creativity. It is said that it was the success of home video release of "Fantasia" in the early 90's that convinced Roy E. Disney to make the sequel, it was the project of the decade, taking years and years within the 90's to collect and reassemble all the vignettes, initially, three clips from "Fantasia" were supposed to be kept but at the end, only "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" made it."Fantasia 2000" tries to capture the same magic of the Creation of the World sequence with a ballet of flying whales, the abstract opening with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is a reminiscent of Toccata E Fogue in D Minor from Johann Sebastian Bach and you can tell the Pink Flamingoes is a cute nod to the ballet of hippos and alligators, and it's the part I enjoyed the most, short, funny and whimsical.And the film doesn't always keep itself under the first one's shadow, it features an interesting sketchy version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" paying a tribute to veteran caricaturist Harry Hirschfield and a second short involving a beloved Disney figure, a reconstitution of the Noah Ark episode with Donald Duck. But as visually energetic and beautiful as these shorts look, there's something that seems to fall flat ever since it starts, whether it's the knowledge that most of it is computer imagery or because it just takes itself too seriously for its own good. I mean, flying whales or animals entering the ark, wasn't that a bit too pompous? The 'Donald' part was like a rehash on the Lion King's opening and didn't have much to offer. The "Blame it on the Samba" segment in "Melody Music" was a better use of the iconic duck, instead of Edgar's "Pump and Circumstances".And it is indeed "pompous in the circumstances", while not a disappointment, the film leaves a lot to be desired and doesn't 't succeed in capturing the magic of the first. It is also spoiled by the introductions from various celebrities (Steve Martin, Quincy Jones, Elizabeth Landsbury, Bette Midler) giving it the odd flavor of a TV ceremony rather or one of these "Once Upon a Time" documentaries rather than a legitimate theatrical feature film. The film even misses the opportunity of a great finale and ends in a very anticlimactic and rushed fashion with ending credits popping up right after the end of the last clip. If you're going to play it like a show, the least you can do is to say us goodbye and wishing we've enjoyed it. It must have looked great in these IMAX theaters but the format was kind of cheap given the spectacular entertainment it was supposed to be.It is very ironic that the sequel of "Fantasia", as intended so, was released, in 1999 at the end of Disney Renaissance with "Tarzan" and before the sorry trend of sequels to previous classics. I still don't know if we should consider "Fantasia 2000" as the worst movie of the Disney Renaissance or the best sequel made in that trend, but it wouldn't make the Top 10, not even Top 20 of the best Disney experiences on screen, it certainly looks great and some parts are magnificent-looking, but overall, the quality is very uneven.

Either Disney Productions ran out of money or ran out of interest. Called "Roy Disney's Folly" by then CEO Michael Eisner. For a complete sequence synopsis, see other "reviews" or "Wikipedia". Beethoven's 5th isn't even close to the "Dances of the Sugarplum Fairies", "Chinese" Mushrooms, and silky Goldfish that open the original Fantasia. The "Rhapsody in Blue", "Pomp and Circumstance" and "Firebird" pieces are the best, with honorable mention for the stories of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", and the "Yo-Yo Flamingo". Nothing has the power of "Bald Mountain" but "The Firebird" tries very hard. The dumbest segment is Blue Whales swimming in the sky with bubbles. Mickey's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" has been "freshened up" and looks lacking in detail. Some of the segments are not well-"hosted". Steve Martin was a bad choice, and so was Penn and Teller. Getting rare. Not many copies left!

Fantasia 2000 (1999): Dir: James Algar, Gaetan Brizzi, Paul Brizzi, Hendel Butoy, Francis Glebas, Eric Goldberg, Don Hahn, Pixote Hunt / Featuring: Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler, Quincy Jones: Marking the 60th anniversary of one of the greatest achievements in animation and music. It also celebrates the beginning of a new century through one of Disney's greatest classics. It is beautifully animated yet it lacks the magic that made the original so unique. The filmmakers apparently attempted to recapture that when they included The Sorcerer's Apprentice as part of this update, but it hardly matters. One big throwback is its ridiculous celebrity introductions by Steve Martin, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler, and Angela Launsbury. Even Quincy Jones lends his talent to this and cannot rise above looking foolish. These are all gifted performers, but here they are required to overact and look foolish in front of the camera. It is detailed with themes of death, reproduction, achievement, goals, individuality, and a Noah's ark sequence featuring Donald and Daisy Duck. The Sorcerer's Apprentice represents the timelessness of the original, but what will make this sequel timeless? This is not the art that Fantasia ultimately became but it is well directed with beautifully animated musical segments celebrating past and future. Score: 6 / 10

it is out of this world the music is wonderful i never saw a movie like this it is a must see movie for everyone it is the best movie ever made i think it is one of the best Disney movies ever made your whole family will enjoy this one of a kind movie it is a outstanding film full of music this is what i call a great movie there is nothing like this it is sweet make this the number 1 movie ever made it is a classic there is nothing like this it is one of the coolest movies ever made it is a great movie it is a super movie you will laugh hard on this one of a kind movie it is a movie that i never wanted it to end but it did but it was great i never saw a movie like this before it is the bomb you have to watch this movie you want believe your eyes it is a super film i never saw a film like this have a outstanding day everyone