A film that
Anime master (and winner of the 2002
Berlinale film festival)
Hayao Miyazaki called "Disney's worst animated film: A technical prowess devoid of any feeling."*
I totally agree with Miyazaki on this one. Too many people in America seem to think that the greater the technology used to create the animation, the greator the film is.
The original Fantasia IMO was not only a technical masterpiece but an artistic one to. It was IMOone of the only artistic innovations Disney ever did (most of the others were technical). The film had (for the most part) a real emotional drive behind it. From the brillant abstact opening, to my favorate segment, where the T-Rex kills its prey, to the holy procession at the end, their was something to identify with in the original.
2000 on the other hand, was slick and cold. No real effort went into doing a good job. Most of the segments are forgetable and dumbed down from the quality of its predicessor. Their were only two slightly memorable segments, the Firebird Suite (which many call a rip off of Princess Mononoke) for its vague attempt to be like the original, and Raposody in Blue, for its excellent styling (although the story was distracting, and poorly planned).
After the original Fantasia, I felt like I'd watched an innovative animated film from a master of the art. After Fantasia 2000 I felt like I watched the biggest bunch of nothing, nothing but ultra smooth emotionless things, it was worthless, and a waste of time.
What really galled me about 2000 was the intro that they put on the DVD. It had good ol' nephew Roy. Talking about the Disney commitment to stealing ideas (at least in recient years) from Hayao Miyazaki (or in the case of The Lion King Tezuka). He talked specifically of the first CGI scene in an animated film (not the Black Cauldron, which was were the first CGI was really used, but that is Disney's bastard son) from The Great Mouse Detective. Those who have seen Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro will find it oddly familar.
Its okay to pay homage to a great filmmaker once and a while, but Disney has been doing it so much that nothing they have done is really original anymore (look at Atlantis and Mulan (among others) and you can see this point.
In other words if your looking for artistically expanding animation look for Studio Ghibli's works. If your looking for a follow up to Fantasia, try to track down Osamu Tezuka's Legend of the Forest. That film in 26 minutes, was more substantive than the 1:30 I spent watching Fantasia 2000, it truly is a worthy sequel, done in homage to the spirit of the original.
End of long rant, Hope you enjoyed!
*from Julio Gea-Banacloche, a nausicaa Mailing list member, translating a french article found at: http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3398--270261-,00.html