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Movie Reviews: Fantasia 2000
In 1940, Walt Disney released a new type of movie: a series of short films tied to classical pieces of music. At the time, it was revolutionary and breathtaking. The combination of color, sound and animation thrilled some audiences but took many years to become a commercial success. Now in the year 2000, Disney and has released a sequel of sorts which once again breaks the boundaries of technology and visual art.
Fantasia was originally supposed to be a dynamic work of art; one that would change over time, removing some parts and leaving some sections in as the film progressed throughout the years. Untouched since the its release, Fantasia has finally made it back the really-big screen in IMAX format.
spoiler warning:
At this point I should give a spoiler warning. Now these aren't spoilers per se. The movie is essentially plotless so there really isn't a plot to give away, but many of you may want to simply go see the movie and have it be a complete surprise.
The film consists of eight segments: seven original and one, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," from the original 1940 film. In between each piece there is a brief monologue by modern actors, including Penn and Teller, Steve Martin, James Earl Jones, and Itzhak Perlman. They also kept the original sequence where Mickey shakes hands with Leopold Stokowski. This is the order of the segments as I remember them. (Disney's site isn't much help):
Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony in C minor, Opus 67". This was probably my favorite piece because it was so abstract that the visuals really blended with the music to create a purely emotional connection with the viewer. There is no logic or story, just rich music.
Ottorino Respighi's "The Pines of Rome". It's got ice and whales and it's breathtaking. To say anything more would ruin the surprise.
George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". This segment follows the intertwined lives of disparate people during the Great Depression in New York City. The black and white line animation is very reminiscent of political cartoons from that era.
Dimitri Shostakovich's "Piano Concerto No. 2". This segment has the most plot. It's an adaptation of the "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," by Hans Christian Andersen; a delightful story about a one legged toy tin soldier in love with the clock ballerina and his quest to rescue her from an evil Jack-in-the-box.
Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals". This is a nonsensical piece, similar to Dance of the Hours from the original (the one with the gators and hippos). A bunch of pink flamingos play with a yo-yo.
Paul Dukas' "The Sorceror's Apprentice" starring Mickey Mouse. This is the one everyone remembers. While the photographic quality doesn't compare to the modern sections, it remains one of the most innovative pieces of animation in the history of film.
Sir Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". This is Donald Duck's first feature since the 50s. He and Daisy work for Noah, helping to herd animals into the Ark before the flood comes. Be sure to look for the ill-fated unicorns and dragons goofing off in the background.
Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird". An tale of death and rebirth featuring a tree sprite as Mother Nature and a "Firebird" as a volcano. This is a nice successor to the "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" sequence from the original. It has a fiery intense section in the middle and ends on a calming peaceful note. This chunk is directed by the Brizzi Brothers, who were responsible for a lot of the design of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
What I liked: The music and visuals are amazing to begin with, and seeing it on a four-story screen with 15,000 watts of sound makes it only more so. The choice of pieces helps to round out their survey of western music, and the familiar face of Donald Duck will play well with the children.
What I didn't like: Since the ultimate target of the movie is 35mm and video, it didn't take full advantage of the IMAX format. Only a few of the pieces truly filled the screen with color and motion. (The first and last segments come to mind). Also the actor host parts don't seem to add much. The musical choices are pretty conservative compared to the original. Nothing as daring as the "Rite of Spring" is found here. Plus they are still lacking a piece by Mozart.
Fantasia 2000 is the first IMAX film by a major studio and at 80 minutes doubles the length of the average IMAX film. Because of its long running time and the lack of IMAX capable screens in general, there are only 70 theaters worldwide which can show it. Disney had originally planned to release it on 35 mm in April, but have moved it back to a summer release because the IMAX version has been doing so well.
The original score was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra with Stokowski at the podium. This time, the score is performed by the Chicago Symphony with Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine. Known for his steadfast interpretations of Wagner's operatic work, Levine brings a special shine to the pieces in Fantasia 2000.
Overall, Fantasia 2000 is an amazing visual work, showing that Disney can still produce an animated film worthy of their legacy. Also, I am glad to see IMAX becoming a more accepted medium. After Everest made $60 million, IMAX started getting mainstream coverage. Then they built 30 more theaters just for Fantasia 2000 and have attracted the attention of several other major studios. Both James Cameron and the Star Trek crew are rumored to be working on IMAX films. Fantasia 2000 is a triumph for both Disney and IMAX. I hope to see more their artistry in the future.
Slashdot Author Emmett Plant contributed to this article.
I thought that it kept the spirit of the original. Many of the animation sequences were impressive with most staying away from computer animation. I would definitely recommend seeing it if you can. If you like classical music you'll definitely appreciate this movie.
---- "It is never too late to give up our prejudices." --Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)
At least in the Boston area, it'll be hard to catch this movie, as it won't be shown at the Boston Museum of Science. Why (one asks naively)? Money of course. Disney has been a real bitch and set unfavorable demands: a large percentage (can't remember the exact number) of the receipts go to Disney, and no other films can be shown during the complete run of Fantasia. Needless to say, many theaters have balked.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
Things like this make you wonder if there is a section of disney animators that are completly seperate from those "Beauty and the Beast" and "Lion King" types. I remember watching "The Secret of Nymh" as a child and it blew my mind (well... to an 8 year old a strobe light was amazing). Although I read somewhere that the mid-eighties Disney animators had joined other companies.
Good movie as well.
I saw it today with my GF and our kids. Yes, we did see the unicorns and dragons! Since only the adults had seen the original, it was all new for the kids, and of course we had to give a history lesson on MM and Co.
It's worth it, go see it.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
But really, I just like the idea of JonKatz writing a big article thrashing a kid's movie because he's silly and it'd be funny and I'd laugh and be cheered up. :)
I was honored to be able to see it at the premiere back in early December. My first experience with the original Fantasia was when I was much younger, and didn't really appreciate it.
:)
Disney's original plan was to have Fantasia constantly running, and constantly changing. Every time you went to a theater to see it, they added a new part, and removed an old one. This didn't happen for several reasons, but they took many of the concepts behind Disney's original goals into this.
The more I read/hear about Disney, the more I think the man was just born too early. He had dreams of robots, immersive dynamic content, and thoughts of the future.
If he were alive today, he would definately be a geek I would want to meet.
-- Kevin
My frends saw it on shrooms and thought it kicked ass
IMO, you DON'T have to love classical music to enjoy this movie (though it would surely help). The animation itself is very entertaining, with the exception of maybe two of the sequences that lose their appeal several minutes in.
:-)
:-)
My favorite was the Raphsody in Blue. It's the story of several people in a large city who are, well, blue. The animation is fantastic and entertaining to watch. Another sequence I liked very much depicted a flamingo playing with a yo-yo, getting himself into trouble with the other flamingos. I was laughing through the whole thing.
If you get the chance, I'd really have to recommend seeing this film. It's lighthearted, beautiful to look at, and a great way to show everyone how cultured you are!
It was also interesting to note that James Levine, the conductor for most (all?) of the sequences, was the same James Levine I sang Mahler's 8th for in Philadelphia a few years ago (with the choir I was in at the time). During rehersals he always draped a towel over his shoulder--he was a sweaty one...
Overall I liked it. It was great seeing The Magician's Apprentice in the *big* screen again. The whole Pine's of Rome thing was a little odd though, but but certainly not the strangest thing to come out of the halls of Disney...
There were quite a few people who left, though I'm not sure why. The seats weren't terribly comfortable, and that huge a screen can screw with your mind, but I don't think it was THAT bad..
I guess some don't like the new style of the animation, it's got quite a different flavor from the original but I really enjoyed it...
I'd say it's worth the watching...
Ender
Nothing to see here
Hello!?!?!
aren't we supposed to be trying NOT to fund the MPAA's lawyers? heh.. besides.. Tux could have kicked those stupid broom's asses...
I saw it here in Dallas, at the local Cinemark/IMAX. I really wanted to see it at The Science Place (like a science museum, it also has an IMAX).
Speaking with a friend who had seen it at both places, he preferred the Cinemark. The Science Place has one of those "omni-dome" screens, which really distorted the picture, as well as clipping the lower left and right corners. When I heard about that, I was frustrated because IMHO, The Science Place's IMAX is neater and has more stuff to do afterwards.
Anyway, F2K was really good, except for the bits with the human actors (Steve Martin??? give me a break!)
If you're going to go see it, try to make sure the theatre screen is a plain flat non-cool IMAX screen and you'll be able to see the action a lot better.
--Robert
Take a look at http://www.kuro5hin.org - Moderate the submission queue
- David Bowie John I'm Only Dancing Goofy makes homosexual overtures to Mickey.
- Sex Pistols Pretty Vacant Hippos in tutus smash up an EMI office
- Abba Dancing Queen Chip and Dale cover their ears and vomit
- Parliament Funkadelic Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication Medley Daisy notices that Donald isn't wearing any pants and they do what comes naturally.
- The Eagles (any song will do) Huey, Dooey and Louie sit around getting stoned.
I'd pay to see that. --ShoeboyI just called around to all the IMAX theatres in the Houston area (there's 3). The movie is not scheduled to be shown at any of them.
The Wortham IMAX theatre is attached to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and I've never known them to show anything that wouldn't be something for any grade school teacher to justify as a field trip.
Another is in Space Center Houston (NASA's "theme park") and they only show space promo movies. The other is in Galveston at Moody Gardens which really only shows movies about nature and/or the sea.
It's too bad, I would have liked to have seen Disney's shot at culture enrichment (even if it is expensive) on the *big* screen.
"Fantasia"? Yeah I remember this clearly. It was about this high school student who buys a carpet to impress his girlfriend, but later finds that the carpet is actually an interdimensional portal to a magical world after this elf like girl, Malon, emerges from it. She causes him trouble no end with her well meaning magical powers, and things get messy when more people emerge from the carpet in pursuit of Malon. It was just a 30 minute one shot video. Fun, but nothing great. What Fantasia are you talking about?
The original Fantasia (1939) was (as far as I can remember) the first movie shown with a 2-channel stereo track.
These guys play hardball the way even Microsoft won't dare to. Let me count the ways:
- they are among the stingiest companies around (just try getting a grant!)
- their labor practices stink (did you know that the guy scraping the gum off the sidewalks is officially a "performer"? Wonder why...)
- their involvement with the military (yup - same technology, but it's shoot-to-kill in this simulator)
- their scorched-earth, Disney-uber-alles business practices (see another post here)
In short, the reality is a long way off from the oh-so-cute and ever-so-caring image their PR is paid to sell. Don't buy it.Jan
There were quite a few people who left, though I'm not sure why.
Sometimes when I go, they tell you close your eyes, or leave the theatre if you get motion sickness.
Cheers,
Rick Kirkland
why the hell did disney not release this on ordinary theatres ? what made them think that a movie like this would do well or even look good being shown on NOTHING but iMacs screens ?
:) my bad
i havent seen the new iMacs, but i dont think the screens are any bigger than 17 inches.
who the fu... oh wait. sorry. text to speech didnt catch that
of course, you all could have seen it in NYC while you were at the linuxworld expo...
Im a big animation buff, so im speaking from personal experience.
I generally dislike disney films, most of them are contrived trite that are so well target marketed that they lose all of their meaning. Exception being the Lion King (aka hamlet)
Disney's animation has always been the best, but their drive towards childish content has really hurt the animation mindset in America. Because of disney animation has always been "for kids." Now new ground is being broken by the simpsons and southpark, (and duckman.. which was way ahead of its time.) But this.. fantasia 2k.. wow.
This was, as I said on leaving the theater, an animation orgasm. My senses were assaulted with the greatest animation i've ever seen. Hands down. The firebird raised hairs on the back of my neck and the complex butterfly-like triangles awed me.. how do they animate that much stuff without error? wow.
This re-opens the justification of animation as a fine art. By timing the animation to a well recognized and highly regarded form of musical art, rather then, say, some stupid MTV music, the animation is clearly held in high regard.
When do the DVDs come out?
Now that I think about it, is it just me, or have disney been real asses when it comes to dvds lately? bah.
Oh yeah, did anyone else catch the mononoke-hime / princess mononoke reference in the last bit? That was so freaking cool!
no
He is so fucked up......
I tried to watch Fantasia as a young teen or as a child waaaay back, I couldn't appreciate it, so if it's been a decade since you've seen it check F2K out. It's very nice and I don't normally like that kind of music.
I'm told (by my paretns) that I watched Fantasia when I was very young in the hope that I grow up to become 'civilized' or something stupid like that. Classical music never really did it for me, and Disney's Colourful Unicorns never really made me respect it more.
One day I stumbled upon this Italian movie called Allegro Non Troppo", which is more or less the same idea as Fantasia - an animation artist drawing out interpertations to classical music.
But such different execution! First of all, no colourful pegasi, no hippo balerinas, no REALLY snotty conductor at the begining. The whole concept is completely different. I wish I could describe the animation they came up to go along with Ravel's Bolero, but it's quite impossible to describe using words. It's amazing.
Everyone who thinks Fantasia is a good movie should watch this one.
Everyone who thinks Fantasia is a stupid idea should watch this movie to see how it should be done.
One word of warning - try and make sure you don't get the #$%^&* dubbed version (it's not out on DVD as far as I can tell).
--
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
http://www.imax.com/theatres/
I would like to take my mother along to see what I'm sure will be an excellent movie. However, I am concerned about her tendency toward motion sickness. She can go to IMAX movies, but not the ones that have a lot of panning or swooping. (Something about the whole field of vision moving without moving her inner ear) So, whoever has seen the movie: is there a lot of rapid "camera" motion in this?
Thank you for not thinking.
now it makes perfect sense.
Anyone have any idea how they select what pieces to set the film to? Why no Mozart? Why no baroque music? No Brahms, no Bach, no Handel, no Hyden, no Mozart. The truly great ones were left out.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
WARNING: please don't read further if you object to material about the use of illegal drugs
I have seen the new Disney in IMAX with the oppurtunity to use hallucinogens (in this case LSD, 5 hits of geltabs). I watched the original one on video while smoking ganja before/after dropping acid, and I got a ride to the theater where it was playing. I must say the new scenes are very visually striking. The Fantasia of the 1940s shows very obvious use of (AFAIK) opium by the animators and producers of the film (maybe why Mickey Mouse is on blotter acid often). It seemed a little bit less drug influenced but I must say some people must have been using various chemicals there with some of the effects. This movie almost seems to tie into the other "really hippy" feature a few days ago.
(No this is not meant to be a Troll. Mind you.) "Donald Duck's first feature since the 50s. He and Daisy work for Noah, helping to herd animals into the Ark before the flood comes" Noah?! Could this be a McCarthyesquean reply to the dinosaur sequence of the original? Dinos ruled!
Just a few thoughts...
F2K was good, could have been a lot better. Mind, you, I've never done the tedious, painstaking work that even mediocre animation demands of you, so I don't have a lot of right to pass judgment, but...
I really wish the animators had taken more advantage of the possibilities of IMAX. Most of it was conventional animation blown up to IMAX, just like Pokemon was TV animation blown up to normal theatrical standards.
If you get the chance, see the IMAX "Old Man And The Sea" that got an Oscar nomination recently. It was playing at the Sony IMAX in New York until F2K premiered (Disney is strong-arming all IMAX venues into not showing any other IMAX movies while they show F2K - This is why in Los Angeles they had to build a TENT to show F2K even though the California Science Center 10 miles away has a new state-of-the-art theater with really nice seats - The tent had sucky seats and was too damn cold, and Disney still wants $20 a pop).
Anyways, back to Old Man And The Sea. This IMAX animated short is a true work of art and puts every short in F2K to shame. If you are a fan of top-drawer animation you MUST see this film. Hopefully it will win the Oscar and then maybe more IMAX venues will be shamed into screening it even though it's never going to be a huge draw.
Now back to F2K. When you take out the live-action interludes and Sorcerer's Apprentice, it's a damn short movie. I doubt the new animated material was more than 40 minutes. And, speaking of Sorcerer's Apprentice, it's a digital transfer/remastering job by Cinesite. IMHO they did a poor job. If you pay close attention you will see digital artifacts in several places.
Now for the stuff I liked. Rhapsody in Blue was quite good. Pines of Rome was good except for the disparity between the CGI whales and hand-drawn backgrounds, and the fact that it was inspired by those stupid "Wyland" posters they used to sell at the mall back in 1992. My favorite was the last one - The Firebird Suite. It was my favorite because I absolutely love Princess Mononoke and this bit was, well, not quite a rip-off but damn close.
It's pretty obvious that whoever thought this up saw Mononoke Hime in Japan in 1997 and was inspired to do this one. It's about a Goddess/Nymph/Female version of the Forest God with Ashitaka's trusty elk as a sidekick. I was tempted to yell out "Yakkuru" every time the elk was on screen, but I knew it would get me thrown out so I didn't.
Bottom line - F2K was pretty good, given that any animation collection, be it Spike & Mike or whatever, is basically a hit-and-miss kind of thing. It didn't have the feeling of being tied together into a creative whole the way the original Fantasia did. In the end, it begs the question of whether ANYTHING that is put out by modern-day Hollywood deserves to be called art in any real sense of the word. IMHO the original Fantasia did, and this one doesn't even come close.
But please see it for yourself so you can have the chance to disagree with me. Just don't see it in LA because that damn tent is too damn cold. And don't see it in a curved IMAX/Omnimax like the San Jose Tech Museum because curved IMAX is an abomination. Also don't forget to catch "Old Man And The Sea" if it ever gets a wide release. Thanks.
I find it mildly amusing that Fantasia was originally blasted by the critics, and wasn't even considered a children's movie. Fantasia didn't gain critical acclaim until the 60's, partially because of the widescale use of psychedelic drugs at the time (notice the styling on this poster). Now the Fantasia series is for kids... go figure.
Or is this another show of editorial independance; hype disney stuff so they get even more $$$ to kick fellow hackers asses in court ?
Ever heard of loyalty ?
Boiling the DeCSS frog.
I saw this at the IMAX in London a couple of weeks ago. It's not normally the kind of thing I'd enjoy at all, but it really was very good and I'd recommend it to anyone. The combination of music and visuals is outstanding and congratulations to all involved.
Sig is taking a break!
... also, while Mickey really messed things up, note that he at least knew to read the manual before getting started.
--
Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
Here in the Netherlands, it runs in Rotterdam, in the Imax theatre. As far a I know, it runs for another month or so.
From a friend who went to see it last month I understood it's quite impressive. And he usually doesn't like classical music.
----------------------------------------------
the pun is mightier than the sword
I've seen this movie twice now. Seattle has a brand new IMAX theatre downtown.
I found the sequence done to Pines of Rome with the whales far and away the most spectactular, although the firebird suite ranked right up there.
The most disappointing thing was the quality of the Sorcerer's Apprentice which is one of my favorite animated sequences of all time. It was simply the 35mm version blown up to 70mm and it was very grainy. Despite the fact that it would in a sense ruin the originality of the piece Disney should have extensively used computers to clean up the piece. Or it should have been redrawn to fit the format.
A cool IMAX film. However it'll never beat "The Dream is Alive" for coolness, or Everest for raw beauty.
Well worth the $$$.
> Now the Fantasia series is for kids...
Oh yeah? We're not kids & we can't wait to see it, along with a healthy dose of LSD.
(I'm not trolling or joking, just telling it like it is)
Yeah, the IMAX theaters in Edmonton (we have two now) have canned statements to that effect before the (fairly impressive) light & sound stuff before the movie. Noone seemed bothered when I saw it though.
Hmmm. Wonder if my mom's going to get around to taking my sister to see it while its still out...
Intolerant people should be shot.
I know he left to form his own company in the '80s (Maybe because quite a few animators aren't happy about Disney's practices). I think his first standalone theatre feature was An American Tail.
Can anyone shed any more light on this?
- "How do we do it? Volume!" - The Bursar of Unseen University.
Saw it on Saturday night; it was highly polished and very skilfully done, even if the Disney style isn't my favourite.
The thing that really jumped out at me (and others with me) was that it was aimed squarely at the US market and was at its best when referring to the US; the best piece, IMO, was Rhapsody in Blue.
In contrast, the portrayal of the Firebird was wrong - the Firebird is *never* a bad guy (or girl) in the original stories; powerful, mischievous and capricious, but not evil or vindictive.
And no-one in Europe would think of Pomp & Circumstance #1 as 'a piece played at graduations'.
It's known to most of the world as 'Land of Hope and Glory'; one of the unofficial English national anthems; and is sung every year as the finale to Last Night of the Proms.
(Elgar hated the nationalistic overtones that became attached to it in his lifetime.)
It might seem just a small thing, but it's just about one of the most English pieces of music around; an analogue would be describing Yankee Doodle as an 18th-century folk-song; while correct, it misses all of the cultural overtones that it has.
Therein lies a lot of the minor niggles I had with F2K; it was essentially American, not universal.
Gideon Hallett.
I thought Fantasia 2000 came out when Microsoft released their bug-free version of Windows Naw, I don't suppose so. That would be just too fantastic
I did really enjoy the Movie, but the quality of the IMAX picture, really showed up the source was digital, from the opening sequence, whenever the motion is slow ,you can clearly make out jagginess in straight lines. I'm not sure if digital images have been transfered to IMAX before, but the lesson here is they definitely need to be higher resolution.
On a style side, I would have also liked to have seen, a section of animation in the PIXAR style, the sequences though good, were all in the same style of the original Fantasia.
I saw it on the first of january, but the overall impression was not as breathtaking as you would expect by judging from the trailer.
Especially the lack of details didn't worked well with IMAX, but also the fact that most scenes were drawn too little "wide angly" (you saw everything from upfront although stuff on the side should have been more drawn from the side). This lack of "wide angles" would be ok for video, but in an IMAX it looked really weird.
And by the way, the last segment was too short - I was dreaming away when suddenly - poof - the movie was over...
But overall - go see it, but dont expect the best movie ever!
fine.. i changed it...
If you are willing to drive 200 miles to Seattle to see it then I think Disney is completely and 100% correct to demand what they have been. Disney isn't FORCING anyone to do anything and it is obvious they have a hot property. When people drive several hours just to see it, there isn't going to be whole lot of pressure on Disney to change.
Walt Disney was a little facist bastard. I'm glad he smoked hiself to death. His stuff bores the living shit out of me. Even as a kid I much prefered Tex Avery. Disney is an over hyped, over marketed, over priced pile of shite. Micky mouse ? Stuff it up your arse.
Whenever you purchase anything from an MPAA member, you vote for DVD regulation.
Who is Hyden? Do you mean Haydn? He doesn't strike me as one of the great composers. Sure he was prolific, but also very formulaic, and I don't consider him "great" but that's just me.
But Beethoven is one of the true great composers. He basically defined a new era, and used form as powerfully as melody, whereas classical and baroque pretty much followed standard pre-defined forms.
The problem with baroque music as it applies to something like Fantasia is that it's not good for musically illustrating a story. It all falls under the "3rd category" in fantasia, music for its own sake, but still it's difficult to make up a story to go along with baroque/classical. The music they picked was mostly from the 20th century (except for Beethoven) and those were illustrated by short stories. Beethoven was illustrated by more abstract visuals-- but that would've gotten old without more variety.
The other reason that later music was used, Beethoven being the earliest piece, was that they wanted music that would use an entire orchestra. If they had done any baroque, would the IMAX experience have been the same if a harpsichord and a string quartet were used? Even Mozart's orchestras weren't that big. No lower brass, and no percussion aside from timpani. Wagner would've worked out well, but then you'd have to devote half the movie to Wagner (did he write anything short?)
As it stands, the whole soundtrack is amazing. It's the Chicago Symphony, with probably the best brass section of any symphony in the world, so naturally it's very cool that most of the music shows 'em off!
I only have two complaints: in the Beethoven, they skipped some repeats (5th symphony, 1st movement) in the interest of time, and the Soundtrack CD has the CSO playing Sorcerer's Apprentice whereas the IMAX movie used a remastered recording from the original Fantasia. Both are very good, but naturally the quality of the CSO recording sounds better, I just wish they'd been consistent between the film and the soundtrack.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
"The Secret of NIMH" was Don Bluth's work, not Disney's. It remains perhaps his most best work, with the possible exception of "An American Tail". The rest of the lot ("Penguin and the Pebble", "All Dogs Go to Heaven", etc.) aren't even up to the level of Disney's direct-to-TV/video productions, both animation-wise and story-wise.
- Richie
On a side note, the Public Library in Ottawa, Canada has a LD copy of Fantasia; Free for residents, $35/y for membership. They also rent out LD players.... And macrovision didn't exist in the LD era (nudge nudge).
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We won't EVER have it exhibited in IMAX in this country. The deal is that Diznee demanded that the IMAX cinemas show nothing else but F2K for the entirety of it's run. Considering that there is only one IMAX cinema in each major market in Australia, they refused and have thus been informed that they will NOT be getting any prints of F2K. It will be released in September on 35mm and that's the only way that Australians will get to see it.
There are two types of IMAX theaters, dome and flat. I think Fantasia may only be flat screen, which is why in Detroit, you can see it at Henry Ford Museum, but not the Science Center. That and I think We at the HF Museum have better lawyers...
For their lobby in extending copyrights. Copyrights were supposed to encourage artists to make profit from their art. I think Disney has already done enough profit with Mickey & friends.
C'mon, Mickey is with us for as long as I can remember. It is obviously public domain.
My 2 cents..
Drove past a large tentlike structure a bit north of LAX, in Los Angeles, with Fantasia 2000 banners on it.
Apparently, from what my LA friend explained, Disney couldn't get the show time on the local IMAX screens, so they built their own theater for the duration of the show. The land is planned for an unrelated building project next year, but in the meantime, they're making the most of it.
[
The original Fantasia didn't do very well in the box office initially. The concept was quite foreign, and the artwork (especially Rite of Spring) was controversial. Releasing now, in an IMAX distribution, it's doing well... for an IMAX distribution. It's peanuts compared to the 35mm Dolby or THX screens market.
I watched this on the Paramount Famous Players IMAX screen, in one of the Toronto area "Playdium" theaters. The theater was far from packed, but I enjoyed the show.
I give it a 7, on a [1-10] scale. If I purchased a copy, I'd skip DVD (never accept lossy compression on something as poor as NTSC) and go for laserdisc or whatever HDTV is available then.
The graininess of the 1940s Sorcerer's Apprentice piece on the IMAX screen was quite apparent. I'm quite surprised they didn't work harder on it to clean it up for large screens. Much of the coloration is fairly simple; some pixel filters already do such cleanup quite nicely, without disturbing the line art outlines.
[
If you just don't like classical music, there are other venues. Heavy Metal used more modern music, along with barely-associated animation sequences strung together to simulate a plot.
For geek dads: Contraction Timer
First, there is a complete listing of theatres at www.fantasia200.com, second I saw in a dome theatre at the Science Museum of Virgina so it is being shown in domes FYI, third over 90 percent of the film was computer animated according to a recent computer graphics magazine interview with the artists. Major exceptions to the CGI were, of course, the sorcerer's apprentice and of note, the eyes of the whales in Pines of Rome. Interesting that they decided to draw single features such as eyes by hand.... Anyway, the agument about no CGI is bogus, the film is almost all CGI based, which actually makes sense if you think about the incredible resolution IMAX demands. If you blew up a hand drawn image to that size, it simply would look drawn no matter how careful you were in post-production. The posters discussing the lack of Mind's Eye graphics are funny in that they were shown the high end of computer graphics and didn't even know it, ROFL.
....
It is an incredible film, and the choice in music is unreal. Money and having to travel, for me, was no object in seeing it, since I've always been creatively inspired by the first film, and I think it was probably my introduction to classical music in the 70's. As far as being a good inheritor of the Fantasia name, I definitely believe that Roy Disney is setting off on the right track to fulfill his father's vision. Now if only he can produce another one this lifetime?
-Wanrat
My two cents:
I saw the film in Dallas at the Science Place where I worked at the time. I was lucky, and was probably one of the first 3 people to see the movie on a domed screen - it was a technical screening(i sneaked myself and my sister into a press screening the next day too).
I loved it. I barely remembered the original Fantasia, though I think F2K is a lot less scary than the original, though my 23 year old sister did jump during the Firebird Suite. I didn't like the first piece (too abstract, and I didn't think it stuck to the music as well as it could have), but the rest are awesome.
I talked to the head IMAX person at my science museum and learned that IMAX itself was really depending on profits from this movie. It does suck that Disney makes the theatres played it exclusively for 4 months, but they are trying to milk for everything it's worth. And of course they are going for video sales instead of optimizing the movie for IMAX - that wouldn't make the greatest transition to video. I still thought seeing it on one of the huge IMAX screens was worth it. And the sound systems in the IMAX theatres are much better than conventional theatres.
So, I implore everyone to go see it if it is nearby, because it is definitely worth it. I have seen it twice already, and am going to see it at least one more time on an IMAX screen during spring break.
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- o l l a i r e s -
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My, and many other people's, favorite part of the original Fantasia was The Sorcerer's Apprentice. One of the greatest things they could have done with this in the second Fantasia would be to bring Mickey to life again, this time in CGI. Walt Disney was a visionary, and Mickey Mouse was one of his greatest contributions to Disney. As an earlier poster said, he seems to have been born at the wrong time, but at least we could have (can?) brought his vision forward. Pixar could have done a great job with this, and really used the power of the Imax screen to its full potential. Of course, all this IMHO, -Sam Black
I'm a fan of music in general; my wife got me much more interested in classical music. We have international origins; I'm American, she was born and raised in Ecuador, her dad is Czech, and her mother Austrian. Her parents are very interested in classical music. We've seen it twice, now; the local(ish) IMAX theatre charges $11, and it's well worth the money. We've got the original Fantasia on LaserDisk, and we've shown it to the kids (5 and 2). They love just about any kind of music. They also loved Fantasia 2000, although the youngest thought parts of it were too loud. All of us were a little disappointed in the abstract piece, put to Beethoven's Fifth. We were hoping for something more abstract (I'll never forget the lumbering stone from the original Fantasia's Toccata and Fugue). What was actually delivered was a short story involving abstractly-drawn butterflies in an abstract environment. The movie may have been America-centric, but it did appeal to my wife and parents-in-law as well. Of course, they knew most of the music. No one has remarked yet on what I consider a most masterful stroke: when the music was not necessarily recognizable by the typical American audience, the visuals were stunning and/or told a compelling story. For instance, Pines of Rome is music I've never heard (or not enough to recognize, anyway), but it had incredible CGI. Rhapsody in Blue was more recognizable, and carried a more familiar, less breathtaking animation. We've been discussing which piece they'll carry over for the next Fantasia (probably to be presented in four-sense virtual reality :-) but we just can't decide. The only thing we can agree on is that they'll probably drop the abstract portion every time. Wish they'd take up Eine Kleine Nachtmusic. Judebert
For geek dads: Contraction Timer
In the article:
> [Firebird] has a fiery intense section in the
> middle and ends on a calming peaceful note.
I don't recall the Firebird having an ending either "calming" or "peaceful." Calming and peaceful are better adjectives for the second-to-last part (not the true ending), the Berceuse, than for the true ending ("Finale" in the score). The Finale is rather brass-heavy and loud, and is in 7/4 for much of the time, to boot - I doubt any of these characteristics would make for a calm audience (considering that most pop-trash is in 4/4).
Did any of you F2k viewers who are also familiar with the Firebird notice if the piece was cut (perhaps at the Berceuse)?
Repeat as needed until they change their attitude. Pretty simple.
I saw F2K and loved it...but the stupid introductions should be cut out of each and every reel by hand and burned. For those that haven't seen it yet, before each song, they have some famous celebrity (can a celebrity not be famous? does a tree falling in the forest with no one around make a sound? such are the questions we must ponder to truly understand the universe...) introduce each piece...Bette Midler, Steve Martin, Penn/Teller, etc. Just annoying...
--
Deepak Saxena
Deepak Saxena
"Computers are useless, they can only give you answers" - Picasso
I saw it a few weeks ago, and it was great. It's a brand-new theater, and they haven't been going long enough to get lax about the projection quality.
Once again, Disney has taken to re-writing classic stories and fucking them up with a happy ending. In the steadfast tin soldier, both the soldier and the ballerina, die at the end. The soldier is thrown into the fire by the boy in the house, and a gust of wind blows the dancer in with him. All that is left in the morning is a puddle of tin in the shape of a heart, and the dancers jewelery (intermingled with the tin). The goblin in the snuff box (not a jack-in-the-box) wins. I know because I read it last night to my five year old and he wanted to know why it was so different then F2000 (which we saw a couple of days ago in San Jose at the Tec).
Don't get me started on what Disney did to the Little Mermaid...
However, other than the Tin Soldier, and the Noah bit, I liked it.
"Secret" was done by Don Bluth, who used to be a senior animator at Disney, but left during the darker days in the early 80s with a bunch of other folks.
IMHO "Secret of Nimh" is one of the best feature animations ever created. If you enjoyed it, "An American Tail", "All Dogs Go To Heaven" and "Anastasia" (Bluth's latest work) may also float your boat. "Land Before Time" is also a fun movie for any child in the dinosaur-obsessed stage of their life.
Bluth's had quite a few misses, too (anybody remember Rock-A-Doodle, or Thumbelina?), but he's a very talented person.
darius
darius
Surely you don't consider Moses a Palestinian
For those of you in San Jose, I would advise either seeing F2K somewhere other than the Tech, or getting to the theater very early. If you haven't been there, the IMAX theater at the Tech is a Dome; interesting idea, and probably pretty cool if you're lucky enough to get seats in the middle, but at the edges the experience is less than pleasant. The seats don't let you lean far enough back to be comfortable, so you have to crane your neck for 1.5 hours. In addition, the angle made it hard to focus on some parts of the movie. Agree that F2K is worth seeing, but try to see it somewhere else, if you can.
Both the "Pines of Rome" and "Steadfast Tin Soldier" sequences were largely computer animated.
The work on Respighi's "Pines of Rome" was particularly interesting: the whales in the sequence were computer generated, but their skins were hand painted by artists and then a computer was used to apply the hand-painted texture to the whale wireframes. Also, the whales eyes were rendered using conventional (non-computer) animation techniques.
The Gershwin "Rhapsopdy in Blue" piece, which takes place in New York City, was animated in the style of famous artist/cartoonist Hershfeld, who is best known for his renderings of stage actors and actresses. (He's also known for hiding the name NINA in numerous places in his drawings.)
Finally, the Firebird sequence was designed in an Art Deco style.
The Imax web sites lists 150 Imax works made
since the 1970s and upcoming ones.
(Eight per year in 1990s.)
There are couple computer ones later this year tha
sound quite interesting.
I was lucky enough to see F2k back on Jan1.
:)
We had a few people in town and I'd been following the release semi-closely since I had loved the orriginal, the result was that we had a group of about 10 people ranging in age from 2-60 of both sexes.
On the whole everyone enjoyed it.
The one piece that had almost universal apeal was "Rhapsody in Blue", followed closely by "Carnival of Animals" easily the shortest piece shown (unfortunately).
The total run for the movie is 70 minutes, and I believe this may have been partially responsible for the exclusion of more of the original pieces, as well as the brevity of those included.
Things to note about the show:
My niece (who had just turned 2) was often scared by some of the pieces, especially "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" and "The Sorceror's Aprentice" (although she did keep going 'Its Micky!':) and "The Firebird". She sat through it all though (and it was her first movie).
F2K had much fewer 'abstract' pieces, in fact the only abstract piece I can think of is the opening, which harkens back very much styalistically to the opening of the original Fantasia (on purpose I'm sure).
The one 'carry over' piece "The Sorcerors Aprentice" was nice to see but stood out glaringly compared to the other pieces. I assume that the grainy-ness and the lack of colour purity was due to the difference in resolution between what it was orriginally designed for and the Imax format, however it truly detracted from the work. I wish Disney had taken the time to either clean it up or had not included it. Of course if they hadn't included it, we would have been complaining about THAT so I guess it was a no win situation for them
As lots of other people have said, the visuals are breathtaking, and the sound is fun. The transitions don't add alot to the whole movie, but I still liked them, espectially the 'bridge' sequence from "Sorceror's Aprentice" to "Pomp and Circumstance" (if you've seen the original Fantasia you'll see what I mean).
Overall everyone who went to see it loved the movie, and several would even consider going back. It seems to be suited for all ages (my niece walked out and had really enjoyed it dispite the fact that she had wanted to leave in the middle earlier because she was scared), but you may have to reasure youngsters, and there are some parts that just might be too scary for them.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
Of course, that didn't stop them from including the Sorcerer's Apprentice, which was definitely the worst part of Fantasia 2000 for me, just because of the lesser film quality.
Also, the Rhapsody in Blue segment was supposed to be reminiscent of "political cartoons" - the style was based on the drawings of Al Hirschfeld, a famous New Yorker cartoonist.
A final thought - the movie is worth seeing for the Pines of Rome and Firebird segments themselves!
April
I don't understand why everyone was so sucked in by this. I thought the animation was pretty poor, and only looked worse on a big screen. The computer animation looked really bad, with crappy texture mapping and no feeling of mass in the movement of the objects. Disney should have had Pixar do it. Also, everything was done in the sacchrine Disney style. The original had some dark moments and a bunch of impressionist pieces with no characters. F2K had whales with big, cute eyes and a bunch of cute, feel-good stories. What a load of crap.
Petrified girls are da best!
Just because you can do something and still make money doesn't make it correct. A lot (I don't know about the majority for sure) of IMAX theaters are out of museums and other educational venues. It is exceedingly tacky for Dinsey to expect them to just abandon their mission for four months for a commercial and entertainment venture. I will not be driving anywhere to see this film and will be sending a letter of support to the Mugar for choosing against this kind of deal.
-Kahuna Burger
...will work for Chick tracts...
I thought the animation was cool and the music good.. But fantasia has never done it for me.
I saw it Saturday in Baltimore, and the place was packed with yuppie parents and very small children. I didn't really think it was little kid material, but all the shows were sold out Saturday.
I thought it was awesome, but I'd performed most of that music at one time or another in high school. I think they did a fine job of picking out classical music that common people have heard before and can appreciate.
Now, if they'd just do Holst's The Planets or DelBorgo's Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, everything would be right with the world. :)
--mandi
Really I don't see a problem with the restrictions they have given. Most of the population doesn't have an IMAX theater near them. When I was in Phoenix there was one about 2 minutes away, in Pennsylvania, I'm couldn't even guess how far away it is, so unless you live in a major city you can't see the movie. This movie is also supposed to be released in regular movie theaters eventually. So just like with any other consumer service you are going to find, as quality increases so does price. If you really wanted you could wait 10 years until it comes out on some type home theater media and watch it then for really cheap. So if you want to see it PAY... If you don't... STFU... Kalil... "Assumption is the mother of all fu@%ups."
From Stanford: Pointer Fun With Blinky. Available for C, C++, Pascal, Java, and Ada. Stresses the importance of not dereferencing NULL pointers -- Blinky's clay head flies off. The only problem is it's distributed in QuickTime; I'm not certian if it's a free codec.
Come on, the last time I learned anything even vaguely educational from an I/OMNI MAX film was when I was 8. :-)
I suppose all of those hard rock laser light shows that every Museum of Science around the country show have some kind of educational value, too?
And frankly, aside from the curiosity of seeing an animated film really, really big, making Fantasia 2K in the esteemed IMAX format seemed rather pointless to me. IMAX is great when shooting live action, because it picks up details normal film formats do not. But the animators certainly weren't working at four times the size they were trained to work! In fact, 10 minutes into the film, I forgot I was even in a giant round cinema. My memories of the experience certainly don't reflect the ridiculous amount of money I spent on my ticket.
As for the content. . .
I'm really glad they included, "Sorcerer's Apprentice," (For which I noticed the credits conveniently neglected to mention the name of the original composer. I guess Disney feels enough time has passed that they own the rights to it now, and so slyly suggest that it was entirely a Disney Product.)
Now, when Mickey in the wizrd's robe first appeared on screen, I thought, "What the heck is this?! Come on! How little work did you bozos do? Can't you even give us a full feature-length film? Is that why you went IMAX, so you could have an excuse to skimp on the content?"
But I'm glad they did show it. It demonstrated really well just how wide the gap is between the old and new Disney abilities in terms of over-all quality in comedic timing, story rhythm, wisdom of subject matter. . , everything. The Sorcerer's Apprentice had soul. The new stuff was only reasonably well crafted, and certainly not without numerous flaws and kinks which made me cringe each time one of them popped up. I actually had to turn my head when that 'Spring Nymph of Life', or whatever she was, in the Firebrand, swept up in front of the camera with her face filled with the Anime-esque, cliche rapture those bone head animators obviously think passes for real emotion. I mean, YUCK! Basically, I found the level of over-all maturity was severely lacking. When I have 25 year old animators, who by all accounts, are over-worked, depressed and generally lost in life, trying to sagely advise me on anything, let alone the, 'Circle of Life', I just want to puke. The only pieces I found virtually flawless and entirely enjoyable, were Gershwin's, "Rhapsody in Blue", and Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals". But $15 bucks for 10 minutes worth of decent film? What a rip off!
The original Fantasia was spotless and dazzling and FEATURE LENGTH. And most of all, it was made by people driven by something entirely different than the forces driving animators today; something which actually gave them a unique view of the world well worth sharing through their art. Rent the original film and compare!
Basically, the original Disney people back then were still very much in the process of experimenting with animation, and were thinking like this:
"Wow. We love this music. Let's make some animation to go along with it. Let's push the envelope and see what we can do! It'll look sooo cool!"
And frankly, the 'rumors' of psychedelic drug fascination among the animators at Disney at the time, in my mind only further proves their genuine desire to create something interesting to themselves. It wasn't just another job. Or a chance to, "Me Too! Watch, watch! Me Too!"
Today, the driving force at Disney strikes me as anything *but* genuine.
Today, what we have are a bunch of young and, albeit, technically capable animation professionals who in my view are nothing more than over-paid fan boys with stars in their eyes more interested in copying their heros than in exploring their own creativity, (what little of it they have). When Fantasia was made, animation was a loser's career choice in terms of professions. You animated only if you loved the medium heart and soul and could do nothing else. Today, we have a whole different breed.
Today, our most innovative minds are making other things. Like video games, or indy comics or roll playing stuff. And I guess animation is in there too. But Disney sure hasn't got much to do with it.
-Fume-
The problem was that the animation is drawn for small screens. On a large 5 story screen like Imax, the movement jumped 2-3 feet per frame giving a very jerky movement versus a smooth movement. On a normal screen the movement would only be in inches when shown on the screen between frames giving the illusion of smooth movement. I found it very distracting and annoying especially with the busy action happening. Because of this problem I wouldn't recommend viewing it at the Imax.
The problem arises from the original artwork being hand-drawn or computer drawn on small work areas versus the final viewing area. What may look like a small movement on the drawing board is amplified when shown on a 5 story screen.
All of the pieces were beautiful, and I did enjoy the film.
Beware of Spoilers
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But why, oh why, did they have to mangle Hand Christian Anderson yet again. I understand why they had to tag a happy ending onto The Little Mermaid, and that worked with the story. But they played so close to the Steadfast Tin Soldier in such close detail and then they wimped out on the ending. Fantasia is aimed for a more adult audience and I wish they could have left the story alone.
For those of you who don't know, in the Stadfast Tin soldier, the jack in the box is able to drag the soldier into the stove and the ballerina jumps in after him. The cook opens the oven later to find only his melted heart and the paper flower, now a cinder.
-- I'm not evil, I'm
Obviously, it is great that Fantasia is being reborn. I fondly remember the original, which was one of my first exposures to classical music, presented in a dramatic, gripping way. I think it is great that Disney is bringing back this classic. I also think that instead of just doing partial parts of the many symphonies listed in the article, they should have decreased the number of segments in favor of complete symphonies. The original had the complete Nutcracker Suite, if I remember correctly, while this modern version lacks a complete symphony. Despite this fault, and the omission of a Mozart piece, I agree, this is truly a good thing.
Phyrkrakr
"God doesn't play dice"-Einstein
Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation.
Um- Alladin?
Following up on my earlier posting, the entire article can be read online at www.cgw.com. L8r - Wanrat
Why are you such an asshole. Better to see pseduo-intellectual posts then the mindless posts you've put on here.
Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony in C minor, Opus 67".
This was a good piece. the visuals were good and since it was abstract there wasn't much that you could screw up.
Ottorino Respighi's "The Pines of Rome".
Di$ney has always done great animation with animals. the best of course is the Lion King. The begining shots with the ant in the fore ground and the zebra in back ground were great. specially whe the camera seams to switch focus. This piece was great becuase the whales were marvously writen. They seamed to flow great with the music. There wer few sceans that didn't match but a few is understandable. Another thing that made this one good was because they actually use the IMAZ technology in this song. What made this sond suck the whole way through was the damn eyes that the whales had. Di$ney has always been about showing emotion. Through non conventional ways. such as the carpet in aladin. here the took the easy aproach of the eyes. You had these marvolusly looking animimals and then there caroon eyes.
George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue".
In the very start of the song there is a small peivce with one line. that was a great thing. it really showed the emotion of music in it's simplist form. The animation was very good. Especially how they did it in a Hirschfeld motive. Hirschfeld is a great cartoonist and they reall did a great tribute to him. Also the diferent sotry lines were great but i was hoping for a better wrap up at the end. Also there were some big gaps that didn't match the music.
Dimitri Shostakovich's "Piano Concerto No. 2".
This tin-soldier story is great and it actually ties in with the music even though it has the most plot. it is a realy well done piece.
Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals".
This piece you really couldn't mess up because it was just flamingos playing with a yo-yo. it was great humor put into the piece. great after the tin solder. so this peice was not just done well but it was placed well in the movie also.
Paul Dukas' "The Sorceror's Apprentice"
This is the one everyone remembers. For having every single animation and movie program at it's disposal Di$ney really craped out on this one. yes its a clasic but it just looked dirty. they just took the original piece and converted it onto IMAX film. no retouching nothin. It could have used some digital retouching. the colors could have been brightened up or something. i repeat it looked dirty.
Sir Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance".
The movie didn't match at all to the music. the drawing style was great. the animals were fantastic. just like in the Lion king. but then Donald came in looking like a cartoon. yes i know the movie is a cartoon but don't give me great drawings and then hand me something that a 10 year old with an imagination can do.
Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird".
I would say this is my favorite piece on the film because it just had so much emotion. it showed the spirit of survival to it's fullest. it was inspirational.
Well that's it. i think that this a film that could been seen at home or in the regular theater. but unfortunatly people (aperantly like me) will pay a lot of money to see it. even drive 200 miles to see it. i sugest you wait until i comes out on regular theater. Di$ney may have revolutionised IMAX by beng the first major company to make an IMAX film but they didn't even begin to scratch at the technology.
if you agree or disagree write to me.
Gee, people seem to really like this film. I saw it in San Francisco and was not blown away.
It was short! I forget how long the original Fantasia (which I own on video) is, but it sure SEEMED longer than 75 minutes, which is the length of this one. I know animation is a lot more time-consuming, and maybe the fact that it was designed for IMAX added to the production time, but the fact that it was the shortest movie I've ever seen, and also the most expensive ($12) says something. And then, to rub it in, there's Angela Lansbury telling me about all these great ideas they had that we aren't going to be seeing (They passed up an animation idea by Salvador Dali! The one frame they showed looked so cool!).
That brings me to the celebrities...huh? It was just standard shtick, right? Was any of it really worth putting in the movie? Aren't Mickey and Donald celebrities enough?
I found it the extent to which they used CG interesting. Some of it just looked wierd and out of place against the hand-animated backgrounds. Noah's Ark stuck out in an awkward way, and I wondered why they decided to render it in CG. Is an ark difficult to draw?
Maybe some of these things seem really nitpicky, but Disney had a couple decades to re-vamp Fantasia, which was already pretty damn good to begin with, so I left the theater feeling a bit disappointed.
In the great tradition of Usenet's "Who would you get to play X if they made a movie?" threads, here are some pieces I'd like to see in Fantasia 20xx, whenever they get around to making it:
1. Bach's suites for unaccompanied cello, either #1 or #2. If you happened to see PBS's "Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach" series, they already did some interesting CGI work for suite #2. #1 might make a good abstract piece, or else something to do with plants...
2. Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sheherazade", just as long as they don't revive the characters from the Aladdin franchise.
I can think of some others, but these are my top picks. What do you think?
I drove over 300 miles to Fantasia 2000 in IMAX. I was duped. Blowing up a 35mm to IMAX is just trashy. It reeks. And only 76 minutes! DO NOT go see this in IMAX, especially if they have the "Cyberworld" trailer. The crisp beauty of the "Cyberworld"'s visual will ruin it for you - it is a REAL IMAX picture, not a raggy fuzzy blowup doll. I wish Walt would crawl out of the grave and choke Michael Eisner. And this file is so unoriginal - it has been over 50 years since the original! Except for the last two pieces, it is lame, lame, lame. Do not pay for this piece of trash.
DREAM LOUD!
Impress your Disney-lovin' date/child/guest by pointing out, or attempting to point out anyway, the blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by the world's most beloved (corporate-sponsored) mascots in the Pomp and Circumstance (Noah's Ark) sequence.
After the storm passes, the animals start to come out from inside the ship and stand on the deck to admire the sunny sky. There is a quick long-shot of the ark surrounded by water. You can see various creatures' silhouettes against the sky, and Mickey and Minnie are on the right.
"There are some people who, if they don't know, you can't tell 'em." - Louie Armstrong