Fantasia 2000

**1/2

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

Fantasia
"Above and beyond the wonders of computer-generated artwork and a whole new box of tricks available to animators in the 21st century, one thing remains constant - sentimentality."

For sheer pomposity and self-congratulation, this tribute to the spirit of Walt Disney surpasses even the Oscar ceremony. Rather than have the courage of the first Fantasia and present an animated feature, based on a classical music score, producer Roy Disney provides "hosts" to introduce each of the eight segments.

Thus the likes of Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Angela Lansbury and Quincy Jones, dressed in dinner suits and ball gowns, crack weak jokes and blab sycophantic marketing gunge about how great it was (is) in a studio set that resembles something Albert Speer would have approved.

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The animated segments, accompaning Shostakovich, Beethoven, Elgar, George Gershwin and others, are a showcase of skills, from The Lion King lookalike with a thoroughly modern Donald Duck to abstract butterfly wars. The quality of these shorts in artistic terms is unquestionable, particularly the adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, done in the style of Toy Story.

For old times sake and because this is a memorial of some kind, Mickey Mouse makes an appearance in a rerun of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which Mickey commits murder, except it would never be called that, since the object of his rage is a disobedient broom. Above and beyond the wonders of computer-generated artwork and a whole new box of tricks available to animators in the 21st century, one thing remains constant - sentimentality.

From whales that fly to a sprite with hair as long as a river, Fantasia 2000 drowns in the stuff.

Reviewed on: 19 Jan 2001
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Fantasia 2000 packshot
Tribute to the original film, provides sugary interpretation of musical classics.
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Director: Hendel Butoy, Pixote Hunt, Eric Goldberg, James Algar, Francis Glebas, Gaatan and Paul Brizzi, Don Hahn

Writer: Eric Goldberg, Hans Christian Andersen, Joe Grant, Perce Pearce, Carl Fallberg, Gaëtan Brizzi, Paul Brizzi, Don Hahn, David Reynolds, Irene Mecchi, Brenda Chapman, Elena Driskill

Starring: James Levine, Yefim Bronfman, Ralph Grierson, Itzhak Perlman, Steve Martin, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn Teller, Angela Lansbury

Year: 1999

Runtime: 74 minutes

BBFC: U - Universal

Country: US

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