Walt Disney's experimental classic still plays well 75 years after its premiere and is better than Roy Disney's follow up in 2000. It is a novel idea to compile a series of unrelated short films into one much-needed introduction to classical music, excellent for young children and adults alike. The only things connecting short films are the orchestra and the animation. Fantasia 2000 tried to update the look with computer animation, such as the strange looking whales in Respighi's Pines of Rome. But not veering too far from the original, 2000 brings back Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice, perhaps the most iconic sequence from the original and perhaps from the entire Disney canon. The movie reinforces the idea that good storytelling does not require words or even actors. It displays the power of music to convey a story and showcases some of the greatest pieces humanity has produced. My personal favorites are Stravinsky's Firebird and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, both from the 2000 version. I greatly appreciate the look of hand drawn animation. Both show complete storytelling, even with complex intertwining stories in a Depression era New York, really embodying Gershwin. There are some weaker shorts, in which the animation is made up mostly of dancing lines and shapes, which compared to the other shorts comes off as a little lazy.
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