Fantasia Review

There are many films that can pull my brain into the depths of my childhood memories. But regarding enigmatic art, Fantasia takes the cake. In these days of instantaneous access to all forms of education and entertainment all at the push of a button, it is tough to think of a movie with a runtime longer than two hours that can keep the attention of the average moviegoer. Still, to this day, Fantasia succeeds in pulling in audiences from all ages and backgrounds from the very beginning to the ending credits. Can you imagine another film (especially from the 1940’s) that actually gets children interested in such sophisticated and mature works of art such as Toccata and Fugue in D Minor without the use of an educational environment or dumbing down the content? That’s right, I’m calling you outSchool House Rock! (Though to be fair, your simplistic charm is attractive in its ownright). Fantasia manages to breach the generational boundary classical music desperately hides behind, to allow the raw force of the compositions to seep into the souls of every witness.

Fantasia is a series of short animated segments put to classical compositions and strung together with narration by Composer Deems Taylor. Legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski composed the music and the Walt Disney Studios did the animated segments (though this is all a grossly simplified

explanation of the development of this film). Each piece tells a story, sometimes through the use of colors and shapes, which are as emotionally

intangible as the music itself. Other times, the animation depicts three act shorts, in which definable characters face wide ranges of conflicts, including finding mates to facing off against Tyrannosaurus Rexes and demonic forces.

Despite trotting a very thin line between artistic expression and patronization, Fantasia manages to perform the preverbal tightrope walk with flying colors (in some cases, literally). Placed in the wrong hands, this film could have easily been a complete failure. I could just imagine Walt Disney making this film a phallic symbol representing the artistic abilities of his artists in his animation studio and the access they have to animation technology. Such a film would be slapped across the faces of the audience and sprinkled with an overabundance of unnecessary celebrity cameos for the sole purpose of flaunting the Disney greatness (yes, I am referring the sequel…more on this later). However, every time I watch this movie, I get the feeling that everyone who worked on it put their hearts and souls into it to make the final product an absolute feast for both our eyes and ears. Granted, some of the segments are more “cartoony” than others, including a ballet composition of Dance of the Hours with various animals such as Ostriches, hippos and Alligators. But I would hesitate to ever call such a performance watered down just because it’s funny. In fact, watching it brings a smile to my face every single time I see it. If that is not entertainment, I have absolutely no idea what is.

My favorite segment, of course, is the Night on Bald Mountain. The sequence begins when a sleepy little town is possessed by the devil (Chernabog). The winged beast looms over the townsfolk, waking the dead and scattering nightmares and phantoms

across the land. They celebrate in their demonic jamboree, spreading chaos and fear as Chernabog watches the horror with a wicked glee. The satanic orgy lasts all night, until the dawn approaches to draw the nightmares back to Hell (Did you ever think you'd see such imagery in a Disney movie? Insert Bambi's Mom joke here...). The sequence is followed by a beautiful composition of Ave Maria set to some inspirational and particularly iconic religious imagery.

When I hear stories of the humble origins of this film, how Walt Disney shopped it around the country to countless venues and it received mixed reviews for the longest time, it places me in a state of awe to look at the now domineering corporation Disney has become. Fantasia had at one point

strained Disney’s finances so much, it had run the risk of going under. But the present day box office domestic grosses show that fantasia is currently the 21^st highest grossing film ever made. To top it all off, Fantasia is Disney’s favorite star child, with the chapter based on the Sorcerer’s Apprentice becoming more iconic than any other film Disney has ever made. Every customer of the Disney World theme park in Orlando Florida is reminded by this the moment they take some of their first steps into the Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney World's MGM studios theme park). Directly in the middle of all the hubbub and hullabaloo is a giant recreation of the Sorcerer's Hat from Fantasia's Sorcerer's Apprentice. I suppose the ironic part of all of this is that Walt has gone on the record for calling this film a "mistake" at the 14th Academy Awards, when today it is considered the greatest thing to ever come out of the Disney Animated studios.

For those of you who are fascinated by sound editing, or would like to learn more about the creation of this musical masterpiece, I found a wonderful article which depicts the process Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski used to create the Fantasound format Fantasia was recorded in. I’d honestly like to sum it up myself, but there is just too much interesting stuff for me to put it all into one paragraph; I simply wouldn’t be doing it justice. You can find the link to the article here.

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~smpte/forties.html

I cringe at the idea of calling any movie perfect, but this is one of the rare exceptions. Fantasia is a true masterpiece. Watching this film has opened many doors for me, including exposing to me the beauty of classical music and sharing with me a fond appreciation for such topics as magic, Greek mythology, science and history. There is only one word I can think of that sums this piece of artwork up in a tight little package, and that word is integrity.

This film proudly deserves 5 out of 5 stars.

P.S. I was not going to address the censorship of the racially insensitive character of Sunflower, a black centaur who plays the part of a servant girl to the blonde haired centaurs. But if I may throw a few words out there into the universe, racial discrimination is a horrible act that shares a tragic history (as you all know). But I object harshly to the act of censorship for the purposes of palliating a modern day audience. The sequence was a product of its time and though I disagree with the use of racial stereotypes (unless given a satirical connotation), I think what I would rather see is an option to offer the uncensored version (in the special features at least) in order to A) Expose the art piece to a modern day audience as it was originally intended, and B) Educate the people to how the stereotype was so commonly accepted in the media during the period the piece came out. I just don’t think you can truly defeat racism by sweeping ancient history under the rug and sticking your fingers in your ears.