Very disappointing, compared to the original

The original Fantasia is, IMO, the finest film Disney ever produced -- greater even than Sleeping Beauty -- and the pinnacle of animated art. Yes, the finest animated film ever made. Indeed, I consider it one of the five greatest films of any kind ever made in movie history, period.

That's a pretty high bar. Unsurprisingly -- but as I expected -- Fantasia 2000 falls terribly short.

There is overall a far lesser degree of imaginative genius in this film compared to the original, as well as poorer musical selections, and an unappealing approach to the narration.

Only one segment -- the "Steadfast Tin Soldier" sequence -- can be considered in the same breath as any material from the original Fantasia. It's an excellent story, weakened only by the Shostakovish composition itself, which is not among the greatest works of classical music.

The only other strong segment is "The Firebird" sequence. Far inferior when compared to either the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria segment or the Rite of Spring segment from the original Fantasia, though it does have some power in the figure of the Firebird itself. The overall narrative is a bit thin, and the earth spirit isn't quite as appealing as it could have been, but the woodland-deer figure is an interesting presence.

Beethoven's 5th is a terrible disappointment. Truncated unforgivably and needlessly (when it's only a 7 min movement to begin with), after a reasonable beginning it descends into poor and unattractive abstractions that look like modern art, and seems a bit of a jumble, lacking stylistic unity.

More significantly, though -- and this is true of most of the segment of the film -- it lacks sympathy with the music. The genius of the original Fantasia was that it wasn't just animation with a soundtrack; the animation genuinely arose out of the emotions that the music attempts to convey. In the original Fantasia, the animation seems to be an organic outgrowth of the music; here, it just seems tacked on.

The same is true of the Pines of Rome sequence. How disappointing. Such a powerful piece, and it's reduced to some politically correct depiction of wales. The original composition, of course, intended to depict the marching of the ghostly Roman legions on the Appian Way. It should have been something more martial -- perhaps literally marching pine trees. But vaguely military, evoking an imperial spirit. The animation here actually undermines and diminishes the composition.

Rhapsody in Blue is properly not even classical music at all, but jazz; but even so, this was the most pedestrian animation in the entire movie, barely worthy of a TV short, let alone a sequence in a feature film. Uninteresting characters doing uninteresting things. Gershwin deserved much better than this.

Carnival of the Animals -- truncated severely, to just the finale! -- attempts to be the "silly" portion of the program, but oh, how unfunny and un-entertaining it is, compared to, say, the Dance of the Hours segment in the original. Once again, a lack of wit and imagination, and completely unremarkable animation.

Pomp and Circumstance has very much a Lion King look, which is fine as far as it goes (although it's worth pointing out that in the case of the original Fantasia, Fantasia was the originator that later films copied, not the other way around). Some dramatic shots here, but the silliness with Donald Duck undercuts it. There's a real disjunct of tone here; the silliness diminishes the epic animation, and the epic animation overpowers the modest little story between the Ducks. Some of the animation is beautiful, but the music seems like just a soundtrack, not something that determines what the animation will be like.

And the celebrity cameos were basically useless, not particularly funny and not performed very well. What a contrast to the stately, dignified, erudite narrator of the original.

Everything about this film feels like it relates to the original Fantasia the way those cheap, direct-to-DVD Disney sequels relate to the original Disney theatrical films.

All in all, very disappointing. There's no way it could have been as good as the original, but it could have come much closer.