3. Fantasia (1940)

I love movies. I love everything about them. Most importantly, I usually know exactly what it is that makes me love one movie more than another. Many times, it is a film’s soundtrack that can be the one thing that escalates a movie from good to great. I think the soundtrack is an aspect of film that is too often overlooked. What a joy it is then, to have a film like Fantasia.

Fantasia is a truly remarkable film to experience. 75 years later, there is still almost nothing else like it. Even music videos, while functioning as a showcase for music, still retain a narrative form or at least a concept that is often unrelated to the music. Fantasia is unique in the sense that the animation itself is derived from how the music influenced the animators’ imaginations. Do sounds have colors? What does a crescendo look like? Can an orchestra tell a story? Fantasia not only answers these questions but also challenges you to think about the relationship between sight and sound in ways that no other film ever has.

That being said, the film demands a bit of patience from the viewer. This is not fairy tales and dancing puppets. This is high art. Sure there are a few segments that have a clear narrative but even those require your full attention if you want to know what’s going on. This is not a bad thing by any means, quite the contrary; I appreciate a film that makes me work a little bit. However, within the larger context of Disney’s film library, Fantasia is an outlier. When compared to the likes of Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh, this is a pretty challenging film.

It is precisely the film’s unorthodox structure that makes it rather difficult to critique in the same way that I would with any of the other Disney films. Essentially, this is a collection of 7 animated shorts with no dialogue, viewed in a particular sequence as an anthology. It’s not exactly symphony but it’s not exactly a movie either. I think the best way to go about discussing Fantasia is to examine the                                                                                                           different segments individually                                                                                                                     rather than as a whole.

Alone, pretty much of all of these sequences are fascinating. The one segment that I do find a bit dull is the dinosaur thing. But we’ll get there. First up is Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. This is a pretty awesome way to open the film and does a great job of easing us into the format of what’s to come. The first few minutes are spent just showing us the conductor, Leopold Stokowski, and the 

musicians playing silhouetted against a backdrop that slowly changes colors as they play. This instantly establishes the relationship between the music and animation. We then gradually transition into the animated portion. This is the most abstract segment in the film consisting of nothing but colorful shapes moving in time to the music. It’s quite hypnotic and clocks in at a modest 3 and a half minutes so it’s not too drawn out. Nice strong opening. 

The second piece, and maybe my favorite, is the Nutcracker Suite. Here, we see the animators interpreting the music as a journey through each of the four seasons, starting with spring and ending in winter. I think what makes this sequence so good is how clearly the theme is conveyed through the animators' choices in imagery. It's obvious we are seeing the seasons changing over time but it's still creative enough to remain interesting and surprising. 

Once again, we see a pretty remarkable leap in the quality of animation from their previous film, Pinocchio. It seems that with each feature film released, the animators hone their craft more and more. The fidelity of motion becomes more pronounced, especially in this piece, all of those flowers, the way the petals and leaves move like fabric, and the reflections in the water, simply marvelous! Without a doubt, this is the most visually                                                                                    impressive segment in Fantasia.

Okay! Let’s talk about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice! Who doesn’t love the Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Really, this piece is just so damn good! It might be the presence of Mickey Mouse or that this segment has a more traditional narrative structure than the others, but whatever the reason this is certainly the most popular segment in the film, the “face” of Fantasia. It’s also just the right length, a solid 9 minutes; not too long, not too short. I think what makes this segment so impressive is how clearly the story is told with no words at all. The other segments are more interpretive or abstract so they can afford to be more ambiguous. Sorcerer’s Apprentice is tasked with telling us a story about a young wizard who bites off more than he can chew; it has characters, it has a beginning, middle, and end, it has conflict, and this all has to be conveyed without dialogue. And it succeeds masterfully. 

Not only does it tell us this story but it also manages to give us so much great characterization in Mickey Mouse.I love the way Mickey’s robe is just a little bit too big and he has to keep pulling his sleeves up. Just this subtle touch is a great visual way of reinforcing his apprentice status and makes him look younger or that he hasn’t quite grown into the position that his master currently holds. And the way Mickey’s actions are perfectly synchronized with the music! Every gesture he makes that’s accompanied by a “BOOM” from the music is just so satisfying. And the way the broom comes back to life after it’s been chopped to bits! That slow “dooodooodoodoo…….dooodooodoodoo….” SO COOL. I could go on and on!

The next piece, The Rite of Spring (cue the crashing chimes); this is apparently a reference to the riot that happened at the first performance of Rite of Spring which would have been common knowledge in the 40’s. Anyway, I’m really not a fan of this segment; it’s way too long and it’s just not very interesting visually or thematically. 

Speaking of not very interesting, I think this is a good spot to mention Deems Taylor, the guy that talks in between every segment. I admit, I’m not a frequenter of the symphony but I do understand that the conductor usually introduces each piece before they begin playing to give the audience a little background on the piece or an insight into the composer’s thought process. In the symphony, this is necessary because you have nothing visual to convey this information, only the musicians and your imagination. This does not work the same way in Fantasia. The whole point of the film is that we do have a visual to match what we are hearing. Therefore, is it really necessary to have a guy telling us what we’re about to see? It’s redundant and it kind of spoils the experience of seeing where the music is going to take us, like giving away the ending. If it weren’t so frequent it may not have bothered me much but I tallied up his total screen time: he uses up a full 12 minutes. That’s longer than Sorcerer’s Apprentice. And his voice is terribly droll.

The second half of the film presents four more timeless pieces of music: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Dance of the Hours, and Night on Bald Mountain paired with Ave Maria as the finale. Pastoral Symphony is pretty light fare, unicorns and centaurs. The animation is impeccably suited to the piece and I really like Greek mythology so this one holds my interest quite easily. It’s also surprisingly sultry. The centaurs and (centaurettes?) flirting, while totally innocent, makes me blush every time I watch it. 

This is followed by the fantastic, and hilarious, Dance of the Hours. Talk about perfect casting, every animal is SPOT ON in their roles and their personalities. The graceful ostriches, the majestic hippos, the lecherous gators, are all an absolute pleasure to watch and consistently get a laugh out of me. And the climax of this piece is beautifully organized chaos. BRILLIANT. Apparently this has                                                                                                             something to do with the hours                                                                                                                 of the day? I don’t see it lol. 

Fantasia ends with a pretty awesome visual of the dichotomy between “the profane and the sacred” as depicted by the nightmarish demons and spirits in Bald Mountain, followed by the angelic choirs and sunlight of Ave Maria. This piece carries a seriousness not present in the rest of the film. This is life and death, heaven and hell. One truly feels a sense of despair when the great Demon Chernabog awakens and begins a 
reaping of souls on the little village sitting in the shadow of the mountain. The houses and towers themselves are physically moved by his will. His power seems irresistible as armies of ghosts, goblins, and wraiths flock to his perch. As the creatures dance among the flames, Chernabog casually plays god, dropping handfuls of his minions into the abyss. It’s chilling to say the least. 

But damn when that church bell rings for the first time. It’s so uplifting. And as each chime gets louder and the light of day gets brighter, the forces of darkness retreat. Then the music gradually shifts from the blaring horns and shrill strings of Bald Mountain into the warm embrace of Ave Maria’s choirs and harps. It’s a beautiful finale and a great way to end the musical journey of Fantasia.

MUSIC: It doesn’t quite seem fair for me to assign a score to the music of Fantasia. In this particular instance, the music was not written explicitly for this film so I don’t think it can be judged within the context of the film itself. How do you compare Hakuna Matata to the Nutcracker Suite? Obviously all of this music is wonderful. I’m pretty sure there is nothing I can say about Ave Maria that hasn’t been said a million times already and for that matter I don’t consider myself to even be remotely qualified to discuss this music in any capacity, academically or casually. Let’s just say all of these compositions are absolute masterpieces and leave it at that.

VILLAIN: By now I’ve already mentioned way too many times how different this movie is compared to anything else, this category is no different. There really is no plot to speak of so how can there be a villain? However, I would be remiss if I didn’t draw your attention to the mighty Chernabog of Bald Mountain. If there is a force of darkness in Fantasia, it would be this guy. In terms of sheer power, he would probably blow away every other villain in the Disney universe (except Maleficent). Just for fairness, I’m not going to score Chernabog as a villain; indeed he is the villain of his own story but not of Fantasia as a whole.

STANDOUT MOMENTS: As irritating as I find Deems Taylor’s interruptions, I really do enjoy watching the conductor, Leopold Stokowski, and the musicians themselves playing. The opening chords of the first segment where Stokowski is silhouetted against the backdrop with the colors changing in time with his gestures is pretty damn epic. And when Mickey comes out after Sorcerer’s Apprentice to congratulate him, so adorable! Speaking of Mickey, a couple of legendary moments in Sorcerer’s Apprentice include the marching of the brooms and Mickey’s dream, where he is commanding the forces of nature and the cosmos. The image of Sorcerer Mickey controlling the elements is practically synonymous with Disney Animation. The climax of Dance of the Hours is a joy to behold. Finally, Chernabog awakening to the opening chords of Bald Mountain is one that will surely leave a lasting impression.

CLOSING THOUGHTS/SCORES: At last, we come to it. I’ve had a lot of great things to say about Fantasia. However, there is one major caveat that is hard to ignore: I’ve been critiquing each of these segments individually, not the film as a whole and there’s the rub. Having watched the whole movie several times in my life, I can say this with conviction. Watching Fantasia all the way through is kind of a chore. The stop and go pace of the film combined with a 2 hour running time, the longest in the Disney library, makes for a viewing experience that as whole (this is important) AS A WHOLE, is uneven. That being said, the segments by themselves range from average to superb. This is why I often find myself frequently revisiting the Nutcracker segment but not Rite of Spring. Due to the bite sized nature and clear beginnings and endings of segments, it’s very easy to just skip to your favorite parts, more so than any other Disney film. Sometimes I’ll even put the movie on as background entertainment while I do chores around the house but actually sitting down and watching from beginning to end? Can we watch Tangled instead?


OVERALL: 8.5/10
VILLAIN: N/A
MUSIC: N/A

Today's Shorts:

The Skeleton Dance (1929)
Flowers and Trees (1932)
Music Land (1935)

As revolutionary as Fantasia is, it's not the first time Disney married music and animation in this way. Throughout the 30's and 40's, Disney produced a series of shorts called "Silly Symphonies". These cartoons were different from the Mickey or Donald shorts in that they were usually based on fairy tales or nursery rhymes, they often portrayed nature, and they rarely had main characters, much like the segments in Fantasia. Walt clearly had a passion for music and this is why I have paired the the Silly Symphonies with Fantasia.

Skeleton Dance is a pretty well known cartoon that I think a lot of people would recognize without even realizing that it's Disney. This is considered to be the very first Silly Symphony. Flowers and Trees is the very first color cartoon produced by Disney Animation and it won the Oscar that year for best animated short. Last is Music Land which is a very creative little piece about a land of musical instruments who speak in toots and whistles. Enjoy!