The Disney Discussion - Fantasia

Over the course of the year, we'll be spending our Wednesdays with Walt, having a discussion about each of Disney's animated films...

Movie #3 of The Disney Discussion

Fantasia (1940)

Starring Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra; narrated interstitials by Deems Taylor

Individual Segments directed by:

 Samuel Armstrong (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, The Nutcracker Suite)

James Algar (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

Bill Roberts and Paul Satterfield (The Rite of Spring)

Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, and Ford Beebe (The Pastoral Symphony)

T. Hee and Norm Ferguson (Dance of the Hours)

Wilfred Jackson (Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria)

Summary (in 150 words or less):

In a one-of-a-kind merging of audio and visual, Walt Disney takes some of the "greatest" pieces of classical music and creates animation to go along with them.  Some segments tell coherent stories while others are much more abstract in their design.

Let the Discussion Begin...

Fantasia is the Walt Disney Company's third full-length animated feature and it was released on November 13, 1940 -- the second animated film released by the company in 1940 following Pinocchio.  In part due to WWII, but also due to the fact that the film received mixed reviews and audiences felt Disney was aiming too highbrow, Fantasia was unable to make a profit in its original release.  It was released multiple times in subsequent years with various footage and audio being deleted (then sometimes added back in) for certain releases and ultimately turned a profit.  In fact, when adjusted for inflation, Fantasia's $76.4 million in domestic grosses makes it the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time.

Part of the reason the film ended up costing the company so much was the invention of Fantasound -- a pioneering sound system that made Fantasia the first film to be released in surround sound.  Roadshow theaters across the country were retrofitted with the necessary speakers which increased the underlying cost of the film.

Fantasia was ranked #5 on the American Film Institute's Top Animated Films of all time (a placement with which I strongly disagree).  The film was also ranked #58 on its 1998 list of the Top Films of All Time before falling off that chart on the AFI's revisit in 2007.

Fantasia was not nominated for any Oscars, but it was selected in 1990 to be preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

Typically, this is where I'd begin to separate out into separate sections based on the film's characters, music, scenes, and random thoughts, but Fantasia is such a unique piece that we'll be foregoing that rubric for this discussion, instead looking at each individual section with a bit of detail.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach

After seeing the members of the Philadelphia Orchestra file in and take their seats with their instruments, the film begins with narrator and music historian Deems Taylor walking onstage .  (It should be noted that these narration segments with Mr. Taylor were edited out of many of Fantasia's re-releases and although the visuals remained intact, the audio was lost.  Therefore, in the dvd version [and for certain re-releases], Mr. Taylor's vocals were dubbed.)  Mr. Taylor tells us that some music tells a story, some pieces paint a picture, and some are simply "music for music's sake."  "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" falls into the latter category and the Disney animators decided to take things very abstract for the opening piece of Fantasia.  After we see colored live-action silhouettes of the orchestra pop up on the screen, abstract animation kicks in and we see what appear to be violin bows mixing with circles, beams of light, and various other patterns.  There's certainly an avant garde nature to the piece, but I couldn't help but feel that the animation wasn't equalling the grandness and scope of this fantastic piece by Bach.  Not exactly a fantastic start for the film.

The Nutcracker Suite by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky

For some reason, I had in my mind that this was the famously animated scene in which hippos pranced around, but having not seen Fantasia in decades, my mind was playing tricks on me and that scene was to come later.  Instead, "The Nutcracker Suite" gives us fireflies, mushrooms, fish, and flowers dancing to the now well-known classical piece.  More successful than the first segment, the animation is quite good (particularly with the mushrooms and dancing flowers), but there's a "blandness" here that perhaps comes from the lack of exquisite background design that unfortunately permeates the piece.  Although certainly not as abstract as "Toccata," the lack of a story in the first two segments kicks the film off on a odd start -- one that it doesn't particularly recover from until more than halfway through.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas

Undoubtedly the most famous of the segments in Fantasia, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" tells the tale of a young apprentice (played by Mickey Mouse) who, after his magician boss leaves room, decides to cast some spells of his own leading to chaos.  This segment was originally created to be released as one of Walt's Silly Symphony cartoons (a series of animated shorts set to music), but it was later decided to build upon this piece and create a whole film revolving around classical music.  The popularity of Mickey Mouse was already beginning to wane and Walt Disney thought including this piece in a major motion picture was the perfect way of giving his leading man a boost.

Modern-day critics may look at "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment with disdain simply because it contains a key character in Disney's pantheon and isn't as abstract as some of the other pieces presented within Fantasia, but that's a huge failure on their part.  This piece of animation is incredibly well designed and set near perfectly to Paul Dukas' classical music.  The appeal here to both kids and adults cannot be overlooked and it's deservedly the most well-known piece in the film.

The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

Here we see the progression of the Earth from nothingness in the cosmos to volcanic chaos to single-celled organisms to fish and finally to dinosaurs.  After the dinosaurs battle it out (including a fight between a Stegosaurus and a T-Rex that doesn't end positively for one party), we see their extinction take place which provides perhaps one of the most depressing endings for an animated piece ever.

With the exception of the previously described "Toccata" piece, "The Rite of Spring" is the least successful number in Fantasia and there are two reasons for this.  First, the animation simply isn't that great.  While I appreciated the restrained beauty at the beginning of the segment in which volcanic magma gets spewed all over leading to the "quietness"of single-celled creatures being formed, once the dinos come onto the scene, the animators left a bit to be desired.  Things seemed a little blocky and not overly fluid.  Second, Stravinsky's piece just isn't all that impressive in scope.  I feel like the animators wanted to make something grand (hell, they're dealing with the creation of the world so that's about as grand as it gets), but were let down by the music itself.

The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven

After what would've been a fifteen-minute intermission (where we first see the title card for the film), we return to the second half of Fantasia which proves to be a bit more successful than the first.  "The Pastoral Symphony" takes us into the world of classical mythology where we see unicorns, centaurs, fauns, cupids, and fairies prancing about trying to find love.  While it runs a little long, the animation is a nice mix of "cartoon-style" and a more realistic look.  One note:  We see an abundance of naked buttocks on some baby cherubs and many sets of nipple-less breasts on the "centaur-ettes" (as our narrator calls them) making Fantasia the animated film in the Disney pantheon with the most nudity.

Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli

And here's where those famous aforementioned shots of hippos dancing in tutus come into play.  "Dance of the Hours" is a piece of music describing "a day," so here we get ostriches "waking up" and starting to dance (Morning), hippos prancing about (Afternoon), elephants blowing bubbles and floating upon them (Evening), and menacing alligators coming onto the scene and trying to capture all of the other animals (Night).  There's humor here, but an odd amount of elegance as well with the animators trying to capture (in albeit comedic form) the beauty of ballet.  These animals all have their own sense of character and the animators gave each of them a personality that is surprisingly strong given the brevity of the piece.  Some may call this segment cheesy or too kid-centric, but I think it's the best animated segment in Fantasia.

Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria by Modest Mussorgsky and Franz Schubert

In what is perhaps the ultimate battle, narrator Deems Taylor tells us that the final segment of Fantasia will begin "Night on Bald Mountain" in which the devil himself (whom after the narration was eliminated in subsequent reissues became known not as "The Devil" but as a beast named "Chernabog") summons all his minions only for them to be dashed back below by the tolling of church bells as "Ave Maria" begins to play and abstract images of candles and church spires come into view.  While "Night on Bald Mountain" is incredibly strong and particularly harrowing (and absolutely one of the darkest pieces Disney animation has ever created), ending Fantasia with "Ave Maria" seems a bit of a letdown.  Don't get me wrong.  "Ave Maria" is a beautiful piece of music, but the animators have bookended Fantasia with images that are so abstract (after beginning the piece with "Toccata" as detailed above) that I find both the start and finish to be disappointments.  ("Ave Maria" is certainly less abstract than "Toccata," but the tone and effect of the animation styles were similar to me.)

Final Analysis

(Does It Belong in the Revered Disney Pantheon and How Does It Stack Up to Past Films?)

I remember watching Fantasia in its 1990 re-release in theaters and thinking it wasn't all that spectacular.  I also remember my uncle falling asleep during the film.  Twenty-three years later, I was the one that easily could've fallen asleep.  There's just something about the classical music playing that could easily knock me out here.  Admittedly, while I'm attempting to watch these Disney films in the best possible manner, I couldn't get my hands on a Blu-Ray of this one so the colors and images may have been a bit muted, but I'm not sure that would've made a huge difference.

You might say that I don't have the culture and sophistication to appreciate this, but that wouldn't be the reason I find Fantasia unsuccessful.  The problem with an anthology work such as this is that you're bound to have some pieces that don't quite work and Fantasia has a few that disappoint.  In fact, the whole first half proves to be a bit of a letdown.  With the exception of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment, I found myself twiddling my thumbs.  While the second half succeeds much better, I found that even those pieces ran on a bit too long.  While I understand the concept of capturing the entirety of the composer's work, I found myself wishing things were trimmed at times. 

It also doesn't help matters that the animation isn't up to the caliber we've seen presented in Disney's previous effort Pinocchio.  While certain pieces are great, when the animators tried to get a little more obscure and abstract, I found their efforts lacking.

I certainly give Walt Disney credit for trying something unique, but, as he soon discovered, Fantasia wasn't exactly what the public desired.  His intent of making Fantasia an ever-changing piece of film with re-releases in subsequent years with new animated pieces interspersed with originals failed to come to fruition during his lifetime (although, as we'll see several months down the line, Fantasia 2000 helped carry on Disney's desire).  Unfortunately, I'm with the general public on this one, finding it a bit of a misstep in Disney's still-burgeoning career.  While it's uniqueness makes a valid argument for its placement in the Disney Pantheon, I cannot place it there.

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Join us next Wednesday for Dumbo, the fourth film in The Disney Discussion.