 "first exposure to classical music" | 2008-09-13 |
| - Reviewed By scoutcraftpiratess |
| I think I have loved this film since I can remember, from my parent's old video tape to my current DVD. I'm a little sad that it never became truly the evolving work Disney dreamed, but this is still a wondrous collection of music and artwork--all done without the aid of computers. I think this was also my first dive into fantasy, what with the fairies and centaurs and all. Therefore, this is certainly a favorite I cannot do without, whether I'm truly studying it or just slipping it in to play in the background. |
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| "One of My Favorite Films" | 2008-09-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: AX3CGM849AWQ1 |
Film buffs frequently create lists of their 10 favorite movies. My answer changes from day to day, but there are three films always on the list: Fantasia, Koyannisqatsi, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. A a cartoon, a new age documentary, and a science-fiction drama; three completely different films.
Walt Disney's Fantasia is a groundbreaking film creating a painted ballet to accompany several pieces of well-known music. The only dialogue is short introductions to each piece by renowned musicologist Deems Taylor. He briefly comments on the composer, if the music tells a specific story, and whether Disney's animation follows that story. Music can evoke strong emotions in the listener with or without a story. Fantasia frequently creates new stories for the music, but the power of the music to arouse the listener remains. The mouse king is gone from the Nutcracker Suite, but a circle of dancing mushrooms, and bouquet of waltzing flowers is no less charming and whimsical. The primitive dances of the Rite of Spring have been changed to the struggles of prehistoric life, but the music is still powerfully thrilling. The rage and fury of demons in Night on Bald Mountain end at dawn as the serene beauty of Ave Maria accompanies the glory of a sunrise. Image and music again stir the viewer's soul.
Koyannisqatsi is the newest and least known of these three films. It is a 1982 documentary with ads that said "Until now, you've never really seen the world you live in.". Director Godfrey Reggio combines stock footage (rocket launches, landscape vistas, building demolitions, munitions tests) with spectacular new footage by cinematographer Ron Fricke (cityscapes, commuter crowds, clouds and waves, traffic jams, assembly lines). He creates a mosaic of life in the modern industrial world and how it has become disconnected from the natural world and is now a `life out of balance', which is a translation of the title. Although the film has no characters, dialogue or narration, the dramatic editing and stirring score by Philip Glass create a great emotional, and even physical impact. I once talked my mother into seeing it with me. While she liked it very much and still comments on it, at the end of one particularly frenetic sequence she said, with a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness that's over".
2001 is an imaginative look at how man's evolution might have been affected by outside influences. Much of the film has no dialogue whatever. The rest has occasional patches of dialogue, with most having nothing to do with the plot. There is the TV interview, a father's phone call on his daughter's birthday, proud parents radio message on their distant son's birthday, a computer's seeming random questions while working up the crew psychology report, the rambling song of a computer having its memory erased. None of this has anything to do with the search for the source of the strange artifact first found by prehistoric apes, then later by explorers on the moon and how it may affect man's future. More important than dialogue are the amazing visuals and music. The spaceship ballets, technical hardware, and the ending star gate dance of lights, combined with magnificent music evoke the sense of wonder and awe that the vastness of space and the possibilities of the future should inspire.
A a cartoon, a new age documentary, and a science-fiction drama; three completely different films thematically that each show the power of image and music to reach the viewer emotionally. |
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 "magical" | 2008-08-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2OO7Z7FHK0JK0 |
| very satisfied with this purchase; I guess that if you pay a few extra $ you can probably get a better package (if you really want to), but apart from that everything is good in terms of quality of video/sound. |
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| "My fave" | 2008-05-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1L39KXXNYPRVE |
| Watched this movie after my parents got it for me on video for the 60th anniversary edition. It has always been my favorite Disney movie and now I share it with my nieces. I was probably 3 when I first saw it so ignore those people who say kids won't like it I loved it. Probably shouldn't let kids see the last one til they're older though as it is rather scary. My nieces love the fairies and unicorns. |
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 "good movie...bad copy" | 2008-05-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2CWCJMCV3NOLN |
| Love the movie but I belive the copy I got is not origional. The bonus stuff was not on the DVD, the case did not include any of the documentation. The last two pieces were not viewable due to defects in the DVD. I guess when they release it again I'll have to buy another, but then I'm going to the source, not through Amazon. |
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| "Wow! The First Music Videos and For Classical Music Too!" | 2008-03-15 |
| - Reviewed By fredster5 |
This movie was clearly way ahead of its time when it was released in the early 1940s and I'm not surprised that it was a box-office flop at that time as it struck me while watching this that this must be the "Sgt. Pepper's" of animation at that time. Another major reason for the lack of success was that the logistics of the times were not up to scratch as few theatres were equiped with stereophonic sound and probably fewer audiences still were able to stand what amounts to more than 2 hours of a collection of music videos and yet it's unmistakeable that this is simply a work of art and this movie alone convinced me that Walt Disney was a genius.
Some of the scenes were like Mickey on an acid trip and this movie was clearly targeted at an adult audience more so than say a "Snow White" was clearly targeted at kids. I thoroughly enjoyed these classical music MTVs except for Bach's "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor" which was arranged for orchestra by Stokowski instead of in the original solo pipe organ arrangement which would have been better and the "Meet the Soundtrack" segment both of which should have been left off and would not have been missed.
The rest of the videos though were excellent and I found myself better appreciating the original compositions when listened together with the brilliant animation that although is almost 70 years old now still looks very impressive to me although I'm sure the brilliant digital restoration had a large part to play in it as well. My favourite was the Beethoven 6th Symphony video with Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" coming in a close second. Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" video was charming too and Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours" was just hilarious! The "Night On Bald Mountain" video was chilling and would give any death metal video ala the band Death a good run for its money in terms of scare value too.
What I really liked the best about this DVD though is the brilliant sound quality with Dolby Digital, DTS Surround Sound in 5.0 channels with THX quality which makes it better for me to listen to the classical music tracks off the DVD than off my cds on my high end stereo! The picture quality has been restored very well too and so the minor imperfections were few and far between and you really had to look real hard to find them.
The special features were a real treat too with the featurette "The Making of Fantasia" the standout item there. Great picture and sound quality and brilliant content make this my best and favourite music video DVD and to think this was decades before MTV and much, much better too.
Highly recommended! |
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| "In the Beginning..." | 2008-01-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1KMPJH17TJJ4R |
This animated classic, a "concert feature," is the foundation of my film career. It is the basis for my love of animation, of classical music, of mythology and of dinosaurs. I must have been six or seven, maybe younger, when I saw it in the theatre. I screamed during the Night on Bare Mountain sequence; I remember trying to keep it together, trying not to scream, then one of the harpies (I know which one to this day) flew at the camera and I let out a high-pitched yelp, much like the YAP doled out by the small Who that saves the Whos in "Horton Hears a Who." Every head in the audience turned towards me in the dark. I've not screamed since.
I've seen the deleted, racist, scenes on YouTube, those awful stains on the otherwise lovely Pastorale sequence. I do think they should be restored so people can see what Disney was all about. I hate the idea of watching this movie in a happy dream without some reminder of the harsh social climates of the time. It is tantamount to the ignorance that included it in the film in the first place.
I'm sorry Deems Taylor had to be revoiced. And I seriously wish the Claire de Lune would have been included as a deleted scene on this disc. One can only get it by buying the other Fantasia discs and there is nothing worth anything on those. Fantasia 2000 runs like a series of CalArts student projects. Why not continue what Walt had planned? Ride of the Valkyries would have been a jaw-dropping short to open it with. The Swan of Tuonela, from the storyboards, would have been a haunting masterpiece.
Well, one can only hope for a proper, better disc. Until then, I will watch this edited, sanitized version - and try not to scream when the Harpy flies off the screen. |
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| "Brilliant" | 2008-01-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: ACYR6O588USK |
I have never seen the original version, so my point of view will probably differ.
It is a glorious combination of spectacular animation and music. The was flowers and water lilies dance and the underwater scenes with beautiful sometimes translucent fish tales is gorgeous.
I found it very entertaining and also very relaxing.
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| "Not perfect, but greatness nonetheless" | 2008-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By ctsamurai |
The other reviewers are right. The silly (and at this point futile) cropping of the "offensive" scene in "pastoral" is sill there, and Deems Taylor may as well be nonexistent without that sonorous voice (which you may recall if you watched the VHS of this film, or saw one of it's rereleases).
That being said, the audio and video remastering is quite good- though if Disney thought there was any money in it, they could do better. And the extras are actually interesting- unlike most of the tripe they package into Disney special editions. The "extended" (or roadshow cut) is also very intersting, but since I grew up with the shorter-running-time VHS version, this one seems a little on the long side. But I'm not going to complain about more of this spectacular film.
At it's heart this is a triumph of film and particularly of animation. It is a valuable addition to any collection. |
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 "Unfortunate editing" | 2008-01-23 |
| - Reviewed By ejewett |
This applies to
Fantasia (Special 60th Anniversary Edition)
I have loved Fantasia since seeing it as a kid in the late 1940s, and had hoped for a perhaps cleaner/remastered DVD copy of what I already have (the 1991 VHS 2-tape release, which is very good). Unfortunately, in excising an admittedly racist-appearing segment within the Beethoven "Pastorale", *this* version uses a glaringly-apparent close zoom into the artwork - which is downright ugly and pretty much ruins the viewing experience. While I'm inclined to agree with taking the scene out, I think it was done much better on the VHS tape (I never noticed the deletion, not recalling the scene all that well from my first exposure). |
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