Fantasia

Starring: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Walt Disney (uncredited), Tim Matheson (uncredited)
Directed by: James Algar (uncredited), Samuel Armstrong (uncredited)
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Fantasy
1940

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: A series of animated shorts are set to classical music.

Review:
Tim: I have to be upfront here- I've never cared for Fantasia. I still vaguely remember watching it as a child and feeling incredibly bored and certain points, and overwhelmed and frightened at others. I understand the technical achievements of the film, but it's always felt like a bland viewing experience. I watched the movie in 2020 for the first time in multiple decades (this time with my kids) and I felt pretty much exactly the way I did as a child. I know this is a beloved classic, but I believe it's overrated.

The movie is really just a series of animated short films, each set to a different classical music composition. It's clever in a sense, how the animators listened to the music and crafted a story that aligned with it. From a technical standpoint, that's outstanding. I can't begin to imagine how challenging this must have been- not only to depict a story that the music seems to be telling, but to get the animation and the music to match up perfectly. That's crazy complicated and the move flawlessly pulls this off. That's definitely a big win for the movie.

The problem is that it doesn't make a great movie. We get these live action shots of the orchestra between each song, which feels disruptive to me. Deems Taylor comes on screen and introduces the next sequence. The problem is that these scenes are pretty boring. Taylor seems intelligent, but he's not the most engaging speaker. He has helpful information, but the movie bogs down every time he comes on. The animation sequences are a bit uneven. There's some gorgeous animation, truly stunning at times. The problem is that the stories aren't always entertaining. They don't contain enough of a narrative. They connect well to the music, but they often feel like they go on too long and are repetitive. I often found myself bored as a child watching these sequences and the exact same thing happened as an adult. I couldn't always stay engaged with what I was seeing on screen.

None of the sequences is bad, but some are much better than others. "The Nutcracker Suite" opens the movie and while there's some excitement as you're learning the approach, is mostly forgettable. "Rite of Spring" is cool in its depiction of life evolving on Earth, but it makes far too many big leaps in time, giving it a bit of a rushed quality to it. "The Pastoral Symphony" was never that engaging to me. There's cool moments here and there, but the story isn't good enough and it feels like it lasts forever as a result. These are the ones that work less well.

There are three that are more effective and the standouts of the film. "Dance of the Hours" is memorable for its dancing hippopotamuses, ostriches, elephants, and alligators. It's zany and funny enough to hold our attention. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is the most iconic from the film, featuring Mickey Mouse in Wizard garb, losing control of his spell and wrecking havoc. I remember disliking this as a child. Mickey had been a hero to me before this, and it was weird seeing him cast as a troublesome assistant. It felt overwhelming to me and I remember being stressed by it. I didn't feel those things as an adult. While I liked the idea of this sequence and I loved that image of Mickey with the blue wizard hat, the sequence itself was good but not great. The one that really stands out to me is the last one, "Night on Bald Mountain". As a child, this one frightened me. The skeletons, the ghostly imagery, the frightening music, the enormous devil at the top of the mountain- I was truly afraid watching this. As an adult, I appreciated how atmospheric and disturbing this sequence was. No one today would put this in a children's movie and it deserves some acclaim for that. When we watched it, I talked my son through the whole thing because I didn't want him struggling to sleep like I did as a child. He's braver than I am and didn't have any lingering issues. It's an amazing piece of animation and it's the one sequence that felt most engaging to me.

The other issue I have with this movie is that Fantasia is 2 hours and 5 minutes long. That's absurdly long for a movie like this. It's a marathon for kids to sit through, especially since the story is uneven and not always compelling. I remember being a kid and feeling like it would never end. We broke it up over a few days when watching with our kids, they didn't have the stamina to make it through.

From a technical standpoint, I get it. Fantasia did amazing things that had never been done before. It features over 500 different animated characters. It's often called one of the all-time classics. I just disagree. It's fine, but it's an exhausting experience. This movie might be important, but it's not that good.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Fantasia 2000