Even Better Than the Original

This film is better than the first; one reason being that the animation is better. Unlike the original which was two hours this one was only seventy-something minutes. This way the viewer is not bored as easily by a segment that goes on forever, like the slow dinosaur segment in the original. The drawback is that often after watching the segments you end up wanting more.

Each segment is hosted by a different celebrity including Steve Martin and Bette Midler. Each segment is entertaining and some manage to explain some history of the original Fantasia and Disney's original vision.

The first segment "Symphony No. 5" is a minimalist work done entirely in pastels and shows a fight between good and evil through the use of flying triangles. The segment is quick and overall colorful and entertaining. The music is very bombastic and engaging. Overall this segment deserves four stars.

"Pines of Rome" is directed by Handel Butoy who directed The Rescuers Down Under. It is about flying whales, who are in 2 1/2D animation (that means their part 2D and part 3D,) in the Arctic and focuses on a playful baby whale who gets trapped beneath an iceberg. There is a nice scene at the end where the whales fly through the sky and into a shining light, but overall this piece is slow. It is mostly blue and dark. I saw this movie in the theatres with my Mom and she complained how dark it was and how she could not make anything out, ( then again she also complained that Batman & Robin and Fellowship of the Rings were too dark so you got to wonder about her). The music goes rather slowly and is not very memorable and there is less action this segment than any of the others. I give this two and a half stars.

"Rhapsody in Blue" was directed by Eric Goldberg who directed Pocahontas. This is my second favorite. It uses digital animation, takes place in the big city ,and tells the story of four people who would rather be doing something else than what they are currently doing. The city and the characters are done in the style of cartoonist Al Hirshfeild with entertaining results, these designs are really unique. The segment moves quickly, is very active and humorous, and matches George Gershwin's wonderful score perfectly. This one gets five stars.

"The Sorceror's Apprentice" is the only returning segment from the original Fantasia and still manages to entertain. Though the animation is dated, Mickey's mishaps with a bunch of walking brooms remains an animated classic and an inspired piece: four stars.

"Carnival of the Animals" is the shortest segment and is also directed by Goldberg. It is about a flamingo with a yo-yo who annoys his fellow flamingos. The music is quite catchy. This segment is lively, comical, and colorful, the backgrounds are very bright. This one deems three stars.

"Piano Concer No. 2" is set to the story of the Tin Soldier and is also directed by Butoy. It contrasts the computer generated 2 1/2D characters with a one-dimensional old fashioned background. The computer animation is quite interesting especially with the large evil Jack-in-the-Box and the plastic hair of the ballerina is quite an interesting site to see. the music is good and the story is quite entertaining. I give this four stars.

"Pomp Circumstance" stars Donald and Daisy Duck and tells the story of Noah's Ark. It is a story about the Duck's love for each other how each one thinks the other has perished. The animation is the most colorful in this segment than all the others and Donald is as funny as other (let's face it he's just more entertaining than Mickey). The story follows the graduation march quite well and never fails to entertain. This deserves five stars.

The last segment "The Firebird Suite" is the best was directed by the Brizzi brothers who directed some French films and the Ducktales movie. This story is about nature and death and rebirth. It is about a beautifully animated forest spirit (you really have to see her) and an elk whose forest is destroyed by a firebird who arises out of a volcano. He is not quite the demon from the end of the original Fantasia, but he is quite impressive none the less. The music is wonderful, the story is wonderful, and this segment has some of the best animation I have ever seen. This naturally gets five stars.

DVD: The DVD contains an opening form Roy Disney, the movie's executive producer and the man who got the Disney coorporation to okay the project, an interesting making-of documentary, informative director's commentary ("Rhapsody" includes commentary from Al Hirshfeild himself), a couple of old and short music-based Disney. There is one problem with the DVD unless you have surround sound in the theatre there is a scene where Mickey supposedly goes back stage to look for an absent Donald who is late for his segment and all the backstage dialog is done from speakers at the back of the theatre. The DVD does not reproduce the dialog, so the segment is a bit confusing.