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Fantasia (60th Anniversary Special Edition)Rating:
Release Date: 08 November, 2000 Retail Price: $29.99 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: |
Fantasia (60th Anniversary Special Edition) Reviews
ARTISTRY IN ANIMATION, MUSIC & THE COMPUTER ALL PUT TO FANTASTIC EFFECT
IN A NUTSHELL: LET FANTASIA SPEAK FOR ITSELF & IT SPEAKS MAGICALLY
I have hesitated to comment on this, "The Fantasia Anthology (3-Disc Collector's Edition)" simply because I feel I can't possibly describe it adequately. The Fantasia Anthology is a transcendental, magical mystery trek into an animated world made alive with music. Excellent music and Excellent animation.
EXCELLENT MUSIC & EXCELLENT ANIMATION
One thing must be considered while viewing either Fantasia or Fantasia 2000; these pieces may take time for one to fully appreciate all their sensory richness. This is true - really! I can recall the first time I saw the original Fantasia with my oldest son around 1984. [Somehow this is one Disney feature I missed when I was growing up.] I can recall that he and I were both waiting through the first two segments for the 'story' to begin. Really, we had no idea what Fantasia was all about and it seemed completely off-the-beam. Where was the story? When were characters going to start talking? What was it that we were watching. This is significant, because although I can to truly love seeing and hearing Fantasia, as often as possible, I had almost the same reaction to Fantasia 2000, when I first saw it 6 years ago. The difference is that I 'thought' I knew what to expect - I was wrong. For several years and about two dozen viewings Fantasia 2000 was not terribly interesting or moving, but gradually my attitude toward it grew fonder until now, when I enjoy both the original and new Fantasia almost equally well. Obviously, the delay in appreciating both Fantasias' is derived from subjective, emotional sources from within.
WHAT FANTASIA AND FANTASIA 2000 ARE ALL ABOUT:
The legend of the birth of Fantasia goes something like this: The animated short produced for the "SILLY SYMPHONY" series titled, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was considered too good and also too costly not to be the centerpiece of a Disney Feature Film. Problem was, that as grand and expensive as it was, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was only eight minutes long. So strong was this notion that this animated sequence even found its way into Fantasia 2000, as a kind of commemorative to the original impetus for producing the first Fantasia in the first place. The result in 1940 was a 125 minute animated epic which featured the famous Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra plus a plethora of new arrangements for classic music.
Obviously, the new arrangements by Leopold Stokowski were made to condense these pieces and to match them to the action more neatly. In all, there were 8 [including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"] musical animated pieces with appropriate narration by music famous music critic [and composer] Deems Taylor. It worked wonderfully, but believe it or not it lost money and hurt Walt Disney deeply and personally. Though Walt Disney originally planned to keep Fantasia alive by adding peices periodically and showing it around the county like a kind of 'road-show' the lack of commercial success wrecked his plan and the update in Fantasia waited until 1999 and 'Fantasia 2000'. Sadly, Fantasia 2000 was not a big money-maker either, but it will probably endure as the original Fantasia has forever.
WHAT YOU GET IN THIS FANTASIA PACKAGE
-----> THE ANIMATED SEGMENTS OF 'FANTASIA' -
1] "TOCCATA & FUGUE IN D MINOR" - J.S. BACH
2] "THE NUTCRACKER SUITE" - PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
3] "THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE" - PAUL DUKAS
4] "THE RITE OF SPRING" - IGOR STRAVINSKY
5] "THE PASTORAL SYMPHONY {6th} - LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
6] "DANCE OF THE HOURS" - AMILCARE PONCHIELLI
7] "NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN" - MODESTE MOUSSORGSKY
8] "AVE MARIA" - FRANZ SCHUBERT
-----> THE ANIMATED SEGMENTS OF 'FANTASIA 2000' -
1] "BEETHOVEN'S 5th SYMPHONY"
2] "RESPIGI'S PINES OF ROME"
3] "GERSHWIN'S RAPSODY IN BLUE"
4] "SHASTAKOVICH'S PIANO CONCERTO NO.2"
5] "DUKA'S SORCERER'S APPRENTICE"
6] "SAINT-SAENS' CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS"
7] "ELGAR'S POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE"
8] "STRAVINSKY'S FIREBIRD SUITE"
Not original but still worth having
Yes it is true that Fantasia has been edited, but that is because Disney had to edit something that by today's standards would be socially unacceptable. for the time the movie was made (1942) it would be a different situation. I agree with their decision to edit those parts out, although you can find the scenes on the internet, and they are interesting to watch, but I can agree that they were edited for good reason. and it is true, just because a movie is edited doesn't mean that those parts weren't there, but if you want to own Fantasia on DVD, then this is worth buying. the only difference from the VHS version to note is, the narration has been re-recorded, and though it is not the original narration, it is still good I only noted 1 or 2 differences in the narration from the original. this is the best (socially acceptable) copy of Fantasia you will ever find, those of you who are looking for the original version (ie 1942) you are out of luck, every re-release of this movie since the 1970's has been edited, and unless you want celluloid film you'll just have to get this.
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