mike48128
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!
Michael_Elliott
Fantasia 2000 (1999) *** (out of 4) When FANTASIA was first released in 1940 it was meant to be the first of a series of films but the lukewarm fan reaction prevented it from happening. Then, nearing the 60th anniversary of that film, Disney decided to re-do it with this fun natured film that once again focuses on famous music and adds animation to it.FANTASIA 2000 is certainly an entertaining film that contains some brilliant visuals but there's not too much here that comes close to the original movie. In fact, I'd say the only thing better here is the fact that it runs a very short 72-minutes. Outside of this I'd give just about everything to the original but it might be unfair to compare the two. Either way, this is certainly worth watching if you're a fan of classical music or Disney animation.The animation itself is certainly the highlight of the picture. Just take a look at the Pines of Rome sequence, which will have your jaw on the floor. The sequences of the whales jumping from the water is certainly one of the most amazing animated visuals you're ever going to see. Another highlight comes towards the end when Donald Duck gets to put his spin on the Noah's Arc tale. The way the animals are presented was certainly terrific. The rest of the shorts are all entertaining but there's no question that their fail to reach a classic or even very good status.The introductions by the various famous faces really didn't add anything nor did having The Sorcerer's Apprentice reappear here. Why not put Mickey in a new film? Either way, FANTASIA 2000 is certainly worth viewing at least once, although it can't come close to matching the studios best films.
Dalbert Pringle
Released 60 years after the original Fantasia, I found that this ambitious and well-produced sequel from Disney Studios fell quite short of my preconceived expectations.When I speak of Fantasia 2000 not living up to my satisfaction, it all comes down to comparing it, as I have, to the 1940 original.What I found was that the original's animated segments were undoubtedly more entertaining and their stories much more well thought out, than were those of the animated segments in Fantasia 2000.When it came to being more vibrantly colourful, and having a greater richness in style, it was the distinctiveness of the hand-drawn animation of the 1940 film that easily won out over the CGI animation effects of Fantasia 2000. As a true work of art, the former's animation techniques were (and always will be) unsurpassed.I view the original Fantasia as a literal masterpiece of classic animation. While, on the other hand, Fantasia 2000 may indeed have had its share of spectacular moments, but, it could never be considered anything even coming close to being in the league of a masterpiece.For the most part Fantasia 2000 did succeed well-enough as being fairly entertaining animation.Out of the 7 new animated segments in this picture there was really only one that impressed me at all. It was the segment presented along with Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" as its musical accompaniment.
WakenPayne
Fantasia was a pretty straight-forward idea - obviously the people at Disney wanted to add to it, one thing I didn't like was the re-doing of The Sorcerers Apprentice when they have not covered every last bit of classical music in the world, If they wanted Mickey Mouse my suggestion is put him as a character in something else.As for the animation segments - I thought that in the first one the segments were either three things: Good, interesting or okay. In this one however there were some that I thought they shouldn't have used if that was the best they could come up with (Rhapsody in Blue, anyone?). I thought that putting these animations in modern day was a big mistake and one that I hope doesn't get repeated in the next Fantasia out another 60 years later.So these movies are decent entertainment - like I said in my review for the original - there is nothing like it. Although I felt this wanted to be in the original's shadow
AD
