Fantasia 2000 (1999)

Directed by James Algar, Paul & Gaëtan Brizzi, Hendel Butoy, Francis Glebas, Eric Goldberg, Don Hahn, Pixote Hunt. [G]

Updating of Disney’s magnificent musical fantasy anthology Fantasia was a long time coming, which doesn’t explain why so many segments feel rushed, truncated, or merely sketchy in their concepts. If you remove the unnecessary reprise of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, it’s only about half as long, and the new “novelty” appearance from one of Disney’s beloved characters (Donald Duck on Noah’s Ark) doesn’t work nearly as well—when the irritable duck is silent and earnest, he loses almost all of his humor. There are many moments to describe as lovely, playful, cute, stylish…but hardly anything can be described as truly magical, which the innovative original possessed at nearly every turn. Only the flying whales set to Ottorino Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” and the forest sprite facing her own destruction while backed by Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite” leave more than a brief, superficial impression. With all the star cameos and occasional jokiness, the TV-special-style host breaks do more to trivialize the experience than stimulate it. Said cameos include Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Angela Lansbury, a couple of Joneses (James Earl & Quincy)…even Penn and Teller!

60/100