So this is an interesting one. Unlike the other animated Disney films, this one was all about the music and I think it paid off pretty well. Unfortunately, because of WWII restricting a number of things, the first film wasn't very successful, but regardless, received critical acclaim and helped make Mickey Mouse popular again who at the time, was in a decline of popularity. Then after the Disney Renaissance came to a close following the release of Tarzan, a sequel was made to make use of other classical music as well as to take advantage of the current technology that Disney had at the time to make the animated sequences better than ever before and invited a few celebrities to take part. It isn't really a children's film as such, but it is something that I guess Disney wanted to show off and do something a little bit differently and it paid off. So that said, let's look at both films:
Fantasia
So after giving us 2 films with a story, dialogue, musical numbers and also teaching young kids about the world, Walt Disney then decided to do something a little bit different for a change and gave us one of the earliest of the Anthology films which are films that combine several stories together with each one having different stuff in them, but all would have a connection, this case being that they are all made by Disney animators. But I might be wrong with that as a whole, but that's how I see it. So we have 7 segments that are all animated, are introduced to us by the musicians themselves and are all set to certain pieces of music. Some of them are great, some of them not so much and there can be a few that are confusing and other things. There's no dialogue nor sound effects, its just music and animation all the way and if I'm being honest, its actually very good. Its unfortunate that this film came out at a time where a very limited number of people could go and see it due to WWII, but for what it is, I like it a lot. I feel its one of Walt Disney's best works and its just a shame that this never got itself into an established franchise. That is until almost 60 years later. 9/10
2000
So before the death of Walt Disney, the guy wanted to make a sequel to Fantasia, but it never happened. So his nephew Roy E. Disney who was the last member of the Disney family before his death, decided to fulfil his uncle's wishes and eventually pitched the idea to the then chief executive officer for Disney, Michael Eisner 10 years after he thought of the idea in 1974. Then after much development, the film released into theatres in 1999 just after the end of the Disney Renascence which ended with Tarzan and well let's have a look at it. So we have 8 segments in this film which much like with the predecessor, each one has animation with no dialogue nor sound effects that are set to different pieces of classical music. Unlike the first film however, each segment is introduced by a celebrity which if I'm honest, did feel unnecessary and kind of cheesy too, especially as some of their jokes aren't funny and they can be hard to sit through so you're better off skipping those bits. Even though the majority of it is new material, only the Sorcerer's Apprentice bit from the original returns and rightly so because its the most popular of the original film so it was nice to have that return. But as well as Mickey, Donald now gets a bit dedicated to him which I felt was one of the best bits of the film even if it was a bit bizarre. Aside from the celebrity appearances and some of the animated parts, this film does what any sequel should do which is that it has to surpass the predecessor and this film does that really well. The animation in some segments are great and absolutely breath taking and the music fits in well for them all. Its also great that we get to see the best segment of the first film return and in some versions of this film, you can get an introduction from this guy who describes how animation has evolved which I thought was a nice touch. Many people think that The Rescuers Down Under was the only sequel of the Walt Disney Animation Studios to be considered as one of the classics and this is the second one to do just that and I like it a lot, even if parts of it are a bit cheesy and not necessary. 9/10
So interestingly, the first film led to Walt Disney making a series of films that would contain a few stories in each one and would try and mimic the greatness that is Fantasia, but alas, they didn't live up (and we will look at those films on a later date). Both films are great in their own way with regards to the animation and music and it may not be for children as such, but I think they will enjoy it regardless of the adult themes that some of the animation has and other things too. 9/10
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