Fantasia (1991, VHS)

Man, Thursday night television sucks. I was flipping through channels and my options were two seriously unfunny comedians hosting the 2001 Brit Awards, or one of those bad crime dramas that are going to be canceled in three weeks. I was pondering my options when I remembered that, with my birth in appreciating classical music being rather recent, I haven't seen good ol' Walt Disney's Fantasia for about eight years. So, doing the only logical thing while continuing to watch the tube, I put on the movie.

The aspect that most people don't understand about Fantasia is that the music is just as important as the animation. It is a collaboration between some of the finest pieces of music that mankind has ever produced and some of the most imaginative and ground-breaking animation to be seen at that time. It would be just as good a soundtrack as it is a movie.

So, if you've never heard of Fantasia before, I'll break it down for you. It's not actually a movie in the sense that it tells a story, but it's more a collection of animated impressions of pieces of classical music. For example, while listening to Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite", you see fairies and flowers, all taking turns dancing and prancing. The animation often is a story or series of events that match the music in pacing, texture, mood, and impression. It's done so well that whenever I hear Ponchielli's "Dance Of The Hours", all I can think of are those damn elephants, alligators, ostriches, and hippos. I have been eternally cursed this way. The same can be said for Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain", in which I always see that huge evil mountain gargoyle. With these songs, the animation that goes along with them are so good that often they are associated together, just like "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". This Paul Dukas piece has been eternally captured by Mickey Mouse's magical faux-paus' with brooms, water buckets, and axes. It has been spoofed upon multiple times, but my favourite is the Simpsons' "Scratchtasia".

The movie opener is Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", which was simply used to get the viewer in the mood of what he would be seeing for the next two hours. It's a series of abstract colours and shapes, that tries to look like a wandering mind. "The Rite Of Spring" by Stravinsky is served brilliantly in the movie by images that capture the way the world was made. It has lava and mountains and dinosaurs galore, as well as a jam session that immediately follows the piece. "The Rite Of Spring" is my favourite song in the collection, but my favourite piece of animation is Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony", or "Symphony No. 6", which captures unicorns, Pegasus', centaurs, cupids, and even Zeus himself in action. They frolic around while the female centaurs make themselves look pretty before the male centaurs get home from work or something. If released today, feminists would probably make a fuss, but Disney and Co. got away with it because it was released in the 1940s. Closing off the movie is Schubert's "Ave Maria", which is a great and happy way to end the movie.

In between pieces, we speak with the narrator (music critic Deems Taylor) who often informs us about the music and the pictures we see. The music is supplied (and quite wonderfully I might add) by the Philadelphia Symphony with conductor Leopold Stokowski. Fantasia set a standard for animation, and it can be seen that only now has Disney changed their style in animation and ideas, so this trademark Disney style has dominated animation for at least fifty years. This can simply be called classic Disney, because it's lovey-dovey (most of the time - little kids may be scared to death of "Night On Bald Mountain") and family fun. Although sometimes the animation doesn't live up to the music, but that's not because of lack of effort by the Disney crew. The music sometimes is simply too good to be captured by animation.

Fantasia has seen re-release after re-release since it's conception during the 1940s. Some versions were cut to 88 minutes, some featured different narrators and orchestras, and in 1963 they released it under the new title "Fantasia Will Amaze-Ya", which is so stupid that it is beyond insult. It's the worst title I've ever heard in my life, and that s including some reprehensible titles ( Dude, Where s My Car? ). Thank God that they didn't keep that for long.

See Fantasia. If not for the music, then the animation, and if not for the animation, then the music. It is a triumph of creativity as well as ability, and amazes me every time I watch it. It's probably my favourite Disney film, even though it has no plot or theme or consistent characters for that matter. It's a great experience, and right now I'm kind of glad that nothing good is on T.V. on Thursday nights, because Fantasia was there on my shelf waiting for such an event. Not only was it better than watching T.V., it was one of the best ways that I could have spent my night tonight.