Fantasia 2000 (1999)

Naturally, today will also feature the follow-up to Fantasia, Fantasia 2000.

The Movie:

Fantasia 2000 is the 38th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  The movie first premiered in December 1999 before beginning its IMAX run in January 2000 and its wide-release in June 2000.  Walt Disney had envisioned the original Fantasia as a film that would constantly be changing, with new segments constantly being subbed in for the old.  This movie was intended to honor that vision, featuring seven new segments with one old.  Another follow-up was planned for 2006 but was later scrapped.

Like its predecessor, Fantasia 2000 is a series of different segments set to classical music.  Unlike the first, each segment is introduced by different people, including Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn and Teller, and Angela Lansbury.  The eight segments are:
1. Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven, featuring various shapes representing the conflict between light and dark
2. The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi, featuring a pod of flying humpback whales
3. Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, telling the story of different citizens of 1930s New York, drawn in the style of Al Hirschfeld
4. Piano Concert No. 2, Allegro by Dmitri Shostakovich, telling the story of Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier, in which a one-legged tin soldier falls in love with a ballerina toy and protects her from a jack-in-the-box
5. Carnival of the Animals, Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns, featuring a flamingo with a yo-yo
6. The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas, from the original Fantasia
7. Pomp and Circumstance Marches 1-4 by Edward Elgar, starting Donald and Daisy Duck in the story of Noah's Ark
8. The Firebird Suite, 1919 version by Igor Stravinsky, telling the story of a forest sprite that brings life to the forest and faces the destructive power of a volcano

I got to see this movie in the theaters the summer I graduated from high school.  In fact, I drove 20 miles across town to the only theater in the area showing it just to see it.  I loved it then, and I love it now.  As befitting a movie called Fantasia, the animation is very well done and contains an interesting mix of hand-drawn animation and CGI.

The music is also very well done.  This movie was recorded by James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  While still featuring classical standards, Fantasia 2000 notably skews much more to the 20th century in its selections.

Other than the recycled Sorcerer's Apprentice, nothing from this movie has become incredibly iconic.  To me, the standout segment is The Firebird, as the sprite character is very engaging, the story a wonderful nature tale, and the grandeur of the music causing the end of the movie to soar.  My other personal favorites are Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto No. 2, though I enjoy all the musical selections.

Notably, this movie is much shorter than the first.  The original Fantasia clocked in at over 2 hours, easily making it the longest film in the Disney Animated Canon.  It even has an intermission!  Fantasia 2000, on the other hand, lasts only an hour and 15 minutes.  Since it contains the same number of pieces, you know that some have to be significantly shorter.  There's no half-hour Rite of Spring segments here - the Carnival of the Animals lasts for less than two minutes.  Some people say that because it is much shorter, Fantasia 2000 lacks the spectacle of the original, but to me the shorter run time does make the movie much more approachable.  The downside is that some of the pieces of music are severely edited from the original versions, and the Pomp and Circumstance segment is basically a highlight reel of four different marches.

Presence in the Parks:

Fantasia 2000 didn't really bring anything new to the parks.  The only thing connecting it to the parks is Sorcerer Mickey, which this movie brought in from the first one.