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babyrodentPreviously on “Avengers: Age of Pinocchio”, we enter into the second review of Doug Walker’s Disneycember where the odds are not in Walker’s favor. Can he gain a second chance here? Are you ready for the truth? Will we ever get an answer for these questions?
Find out on “The Classical Child at the Symphony” featuring the music from “Mickey’s Philharmagic”!
Yes, that is right, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereof, we are indeed going to take a look at Fantasia. If you are interested in classical music, then now is the opportune time to play something.
To make a long and complicated story short, Fantasia is best described as an experiment by Walt Disney and the animation team. Originally designed to be just one Mickey Mouse short- this was back when the Mouse’s popularity was declining in the eyes of the public, so he needed a boost in popularity- before receiving an expansion pack in the form of a full-fledged feature-length film. And just like the previous film, it was both a success and a flop; while it did make money at the box office, even becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 1940 and considered as a masterpiece, the budget to make the film was still expensive to the point where it took decades to make up for the cost.
Now what do I think of this film myself? Well, I do like it- in fact, I’m currently listening to the soundtrack while I am typing this up! Personal favorite segment is currently a threeway tie between Sorcerer’s Apprentice (because of Mickey Mouse), The Pastoral Symphony (because of the Greek mythos), and the Dance of the Hours (because of… well, it’s ballet and animals, what more do you want?). As a kid, I enjoyed the animation, the characters, and the music, and the same can be said for when I became an adult and learning to appreciate them all of them with that added knowledge on art and the history behind the making of this film.
And as it turns out, Doug like this movie. In fact, he mentions that it’s not just one of his favorite Disney films, but also one of his favorite films overall (on his list of Top 20 Favorite Movies, it’s number 16). Unlike with Snow White or Pinocchio, where it sounded like he didn’t understand them a bunch and especially with Pinocchio, this is different where he gushes a bunch about this film and it shows in his voice as he speaks in this one.
Doug (vo): Remember what I was saying before about emotional simplicity? You could argue that this is the film that masters it. Whereas I describe both Snow White and Pinocchio as emotional stories, this is what I like to call an emotional experience.
Only reason for Snow White and Pinocchio being “emotional stories” is that, well… they’re fairy tales, so they’re going to emit different emotions out of the audience members watching the film. Fantasia is a little different in that it’s more of a showcase of “Show, Don’t Tell” and that the visuals and music are the ones to carry the story. The only dialogue that we do get comes from between the segments from our host, Deems Taylor (technically Corey Burton for the DVD releases as the audio for Taylor’s voice has been lost, but here is a comparison between the two). But even then, the dialogue is more of a side dish in comparison to the main course.
It’s not based on narrative as much as moments, and life is made up of very unique moments, so I don’t think there’s really any problem in putting them together in a movie, especially if they do get an emotional response.
This is… kind of true, but still needs to be pointed out on something. While Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and the Nutcracker Suite focuses on the abstract (in the first) and what the imagination thinks of with the music (in the latter), the other segments technically do have narratives.
- The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is actually based off of the German 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling" (which translates to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in English) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (link is a 2013 translation by Katrin Gygax);
- “The Rite of Spring” showcases the formation of life and Earth as well as the life and death of dinosaurs;
- “The Pastoral Symphony” showcases Greco-Roman creatures such as centaurs and specifically created centaurettes as well as the festival of Bacchus and Zeus being a total D-bag as per usual;
- “Dance of the Hours” corresponds to the four sections of the day with ostriches (morning), hippos (afternoon), elephants (evening), and alligators (night);
- Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria showcases a perfect parallel between darkness and light. In fact, Ave Maria is specifically set after Night on Bald Mountain to provide a sense of relief to the audience after quite the nightmarish imagery that Chernabog had to offer. Consider it as a trip to a spa after attending a Halloween event.
Of course, there is a bit of a slip-up with what Doug mentions here:
Sometimes, it creates a confusing response, like the one with the dinosaurs.
[Clips from "The Rite of Spring" segment are shown]
[Doug (vo), continued:] I never know how to feel watching that. Sometimes, they’re threatening, sometimes, they’re cute, and then, through the course of the piece, they’re just gone. I remember as a kid, I had no idea what to think of that. It’s just sort of something that happened and you draw your own conclusions.
If I may be Captain Actually here, the “Rite of Spring” segment isn’t meant to create some response but is instead meant to show not only the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, but also the formation of Earth and of life. And had it not been for creationists, we would have gotten an ending showing the arrival of the first humans and the discovery of fire. Even then, this was still groundbreaking at the time of the film’s release in regards to what had been known and theorized back then. Regardless, this is still a unique segment of the film because of what we now know about dinosaurs and the history of Earth.
[Clips from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment are shown]
Doug (vo): Some definitely do have a flowing narrative, like the most famous one, "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice". This is actually how the film came about. Disney just wanted to make this short with Mickey Mouse as a magician. But as the expenses for it got bigger and bigger, they finally just shrugged and said, “Hey, why don’t we do a couple of these and just turn it into a flick?”
Actually, this is 99.9% accurate. In fact, this is pretty much how the film itself came to be like how I already mentioned above. So yes, Doug is correct on that detail.
Doug (vo): Disney wanted to do a lot more of these and have this be a continuing film series, but sadly, the film didn’t make the money that it needed. Oh, it made a lot of money. It was, like, the second or third highest-grossing film that year, but it didn’t matter.
That is also correct as well since I did mention that one already. Let’s see… is there anything that I haven’t mentioned that Doug brings up?
Actually, there is something that Doug hadn’t brought up… which is his assessment of the segments individually. Think about it: for all his gushing about the film, not once did he ever talk about the segments by themselves. True, he has stated that this film is one of his favorite films, but it seems kind of weird that he doesn’t go over the segments one by one (other than Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria and briefly Rite of Spring and Sorcerer’s Apprentice). I don’t know if this was due to time restraints or something, I just find it odd.
Moving on, we got this:
The film cost a fortune to make, and, financially, it just didn’t make sense to make any more. [The poster of Fantasia 2000 is shown] They did make one sequel years later, though we’ll get to that when we come around to it.
And yes, we will get to the sequel when we do. Then after that, he wraps it all up in his final thoughts, commenting that ”Fantasia is a powerhouse of art. In fact, it’s actually like going to an art museum, except with motion and music.” While he does add that ”it’s not as geared for kids as the other Disney flicks” and that ”[there’s] nothing really troubling or bad about it that kids can’t watch”, he does mention that it was made more for adults than anything else. I can agree and disagree- yes, while it’s not the typical Disney animated film that kids would want to watch, I can argue that it’s geared towards both kids and adults.
Overall, what do I think of this Disneycember review? Well, it’s actually a step-up from the previous two ones. Okay, so Doug didn’t go over the individual segments and instead talked about the music and animation, but I can let that live. This is the one review where it’s made apparent that he genuinely loves this film and it’s definitely shown. Honestly, it’s probably going to be the one time where his statement that he loves Disney rings true and I really wish that he showed this amount of love and care with the previous ones.
Next time, we’re off to the circus to see if Doug can keep this good grace up when we test the belief that an elephant can fly. That might be a job for Mythbusters!
Rating: 9.5/10
Part 1.2 | Table of Contents | Part 2.1
Find out on “The Classical Child at the Symphony” featuring the music from “Mickey’s Philharmagic”!
Yes, that is right, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereof, we are indeed going to take a look at Fantasia. If you are interested in classical music, then now is the opportune time to play something.
To make a long and complicated story short, Fantasia is best described as an experiment by Walt Disney and the animation team. Originally designed to be just one Mickey Mouse short- this was back when the Mouse’s popularity was declining in the eyes of the public, so he needed a boost in popularity- before receiving an expansion pack in the form of a full-fledged feature-length film. And just like the previous film, it was both a success and a flop; while it did make money at the box office, even becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 1940 and considered as a masterpiece, the budget to make the film was still expensive to the point where it took decades to make up for the cost.
Now what do I think of this film myself? Well, I do like it- in fact, I’m currently listening to the soundtrack while I am typing this up! Personal favorite segment is currently a threeway tie between Sorcerer’s Apprentice (because of Mickey Mouse), The Pastoral Symphony (because of the Greek mythos), and the Dance of the Hours (because of… well, it’s ballet and animals, what more do you want?). As a kid, I enjoyed the animation, the characters, and the music, and the same can be said for when I became an adult and learning to appreciate them all of them with that added knowledge on art and the history behind the making of this film.
And as it turns out, Doug like this movie. In fact, he mentions that it’s not just one of his favorite Disney films, but also one of his favorite films overall (on his list of Top 20 Favorite Movies, it’s number 16). Unlike with Snow White or Pinocchio, where it sounded like he didn’t understand them a bunch and especially with Pinocchio, this is different where he gushes a bunch about this film and it shows in his voice as he speaks in this one.
Doug (vo): Remember what I was saying before about emotional simplicity? You could argue that this is the film that masters it. Whereas I describe both Snow White and Pinocchio as emotional stories, this is what I like to call an emotional experience.
Only reason for Snow White and Pinocchio being “emotional stories” is that, well… they’re fairy tales, so they’re going to emit different emotions out of the audience members watching the film. Fantasia is a little different in that it’s more of a showcase of “Show, Don’t Tell” and that the visuals and music are the ones to carry the story. The only dialogue that we do get comes from between the segments from our host, Deems Taylor (technically Corey Burton for the DVD releases as the audio for Taylor’s voice has been lost, but here is a comparison between the two). But even then, the dialogue is more of a side dish in comparison to the main course.
It’s not based on narrative as much as moments, and life is made up of very unique moments, so I don’t think there’s really any problem in putting them together in a movie, especially if they do get an emotional response.
This is… kind of true, but still needs to be pointed out on something. While Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and the Nutcracker Suite focuses on the abstract (in the first) and what the imagination thinks of with the music (in the latter), the other segments technically do have narratives.
- The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is actually based off of the German 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling" (which translates to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in English) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (link is a 2013 translation by Katrin Gygax);
- “The Rite of Spring” showcases the formation of life and Earth as well as the life and death of dinosaurs;
- “The Pastoral Symphony” showcases Greco-Roman creatures such as centaurs and specifically created centaurettes as well as the festival of Bacchus and Zeus being a total D-bag as per usual;
- “Dance of the Hours” corresponds to the four sections of the day with ostriches (morning), hippos (afternoon), elephants (evening), and alligators (night);
- Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria showcases a perfect parallel between darkness and light. In fact, Ave Maria is specifically set after Night on Bald Mountain to provide a sense of relief to the audience after quite the nightmarish imagery that Chernabog had to offer. Consider it as a trip to a spa after attending a Halloween event.
Of course, there is a bit of a slip-up with what Doug mentions here:
Sometimes, it creates a confusing response, like the one with the dinosaurs.
[Clips from "The Rite of Spring" segment are shown]
[Doug (vo), continued:] I never know how to feel watching that. Sometimes, they’re threatening, sometimes, they’re cute, and then, through the course of the piece, they’re just gone. I remember as a kid, I had no idea what to think of that. It’s just sort of something that happened and you draw your own conclusions.
If I may be Captain Actually here, the “Rite of Spring” segment isn’t meant to create some response but is instead meant to show not only the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, but also the formation of Earth and of life. And had it not been for creationists, we would have gotten an ending showing the arrival of the first humans and the discovery of fire. Even then, this was still groundbreaking at the time of the film’s release in regards to what had been known and theorized back then. Regardless, this is still a unique segment of the film because of what we now know about dinosaurs and the history of Earth.
[Clips from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment are shown]
Doug (vo): Some definitely do have a flowing narrative, like the most famous one, "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice". This is actually how the film came about. Disney just wanted to make this short with Mickey Mouse as a magician. But as the expenses for it got bigger and bigger, they finally just shrugged and said, “Hey, why don’t we do a couple of these and just turn it into a flick?”
Actually, this is 99.9% accurate. In fact, this is pretty much how the film itself came to be like how I already mentioned above. So yes, Doug is correct on that detail.
Doug (vo): Disney wanted to do a lot more of these and have this be a continuing film series, but sadly, the film didn’t make the money that it needed. Oh, it made a lot of money. It was, like, the second or third highest-grossing film that year, but it didn’t matter.
That is also correct as well since I did mention that one already. Let’s see… is there anything that I haven’t mentioned that Doug brings up?
Actually, there is something that Doug hadn’t brought up… which is his assessment of the segments individually. Think about it: for all his gushing about the film, not once did he ever talk about the segments by themselves. True, he has stated that this film is one of his favorite films, but it seems kind of weird that he doesn’t go over the segments one by one (other than Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria and briefly Rite of Spring and Sorcerer’s Apprentice). I don’t know if this was due to time restraints or something, I just find it odd.
Moving on, we got this:
The film cost a fortune to make, and, financially, it just didn’t make sense to make any more. [The poster of Fantasia 2000 is shown] They did make one sequel years later, though we’ll get to that when we come around to it.
And yes, we will get to the sequel when we do. Then after that, he wraps it all up in his final thoughts, commenting that ”Fantasia is a powerhouse of art. In fact, it’s actually like going to an art museum, except with motion and music.” While he does add that ”it’s not as geared for kids as the other Disney flicks” and that ”[there’s] nothing really troubling or bad about it that kids can’t watch”, he does mention that it was made more for adults than anything else. I can agree and disagree- yes, while it’s not the typical Disney animated film that kids would want to watch, I can argue that it’s geared towards both kids and adults.
Overall, what do I think of this Disneycember review? Well, it’s actually a step-up from the previous two ones. Okay, so Doug didn’t go over the individual segments and instead talked about the music and animation, but I can let that live. This is the one review where it’s made apparent that he genuinely loves this film and it’s definitely shown. Honestly, it’s probably going to be the one time where his statement that he loves Disney rings true and I really wish that he showed this amount of love and care with the previous ones.
Next time, we’re off to the circus to see if Doug can keep this good grace up when we test the belief that an elephant can fly. That might be a job for Mythbusters!
Rating: 9.5/10
Part 1.2 | Table of Contents | Part 2.1
