Fantasia (1940)

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I found this movie to be interesting but not one of my favorite Disney movies. I really enjoyed the music of this film and found the animation aspect to be quite unique.

Fantasia is the greatest thing that Disney ever made, there I said it. We all praise Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, but for 2D animated films, Disney is most creative with Fantasia. It's wonderfully brilliant because if you think about it, it's one of the first AMVs to ever be made. It sets classical music to animation and manages to make wonderfully brilliant imagery. But its more than that, the music has three forms in Fantasia 1.) Music that tells a definite story, 2.) Music that paints definite pictures, and 3.) music that exists simply for its own sake. Fantasia is composed of eight orchestral pieces which I will list below. 1.) Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach 2.) Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 3.) The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas4.) Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky 5.) The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig Van Beethoven 6.) Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli 7.) Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky 8.) Ave Maria by Franz Schubert One can love Fantasia purely because of the brilliant music but it's the beautiful imagery that really makes Fantasia stand out. So much of the life experience can be seen in these orchestrations because of how fantastically wonderful and yet mysterious it seems. Walt Disney really created something that was breath-taking in that he made something that added beauty to the life experience. Disney is known for being great at adapting stories: taking a story that we already know and adding a new take on it. The illusion is that Disney is creating new stories, which just isn't the case most of the time. However, with that said, Fantasia is something that is completely original because they're adding visuals to musical compositions. You can't adapt that, it has to be created and Disney really goes above and beyond with it. Fantasia is beauty incarnate, there is no better way to describe it. Watching Fantasia is a truly indescribable experience. It's wonder, it's joy, it's sadness, it's mystery, it's fear, but most of all it's magic, and it remains my favorite Disney piece. Fantasia truly is magnificent and will be remembered for all time.

One of those silent movies that captures the eye so many scenes with gorgeous illustrations. Each illustration and movie picture express a scene tell a story. The film starts out slow the theme starts to change colors fade out. This film is very relaxing not to dramatic like other mis-en-scene. The theater audience would most likely feel verisimilitude listening to the orchestra gives that soothing vacation. When the song speeds up you start to feel like someone is chasing you. The art is so crisp.

I had never seen the original Fantasia before, and dove into this unsure of what exactly to expect. However, for a very well known Walt Disney original movie, I went in with high expectations. Not only were those expectations met, but they were greatly exceeded. I had always been fond of the idea of translating sound and music into art, and Walt Disney mastered it. The animation was nostalgic to watch, as it had become a lost art in the current world of CGI, and it was relieving. The scenes were creative and represented the music to each and every instrument. It was exciting and relaxing, the music flowed, and the animation flowed with it. The music burst, and the animation burst as well. Both the music and the animation had the magic touch of Walt Disney and it was phenomenal to see again.