Fantasia [G]

Discover the stories and adventures that can be told to you through classical music in Walt Disney’s most magical masterpiece. Relive the extravaganza of sight and sound that is Walt Disney’s Fantasia, newly released on DVD for a limited time only. 

You should have seen how excited I was when this film finally came through to work yesterday. As you all know by now, I am a complete sucker for Disney films and Fantasia is one the most celebrated and memorable masterpieces that Disney ever did. Needless to say, I just had to get myself a copy. 

As the orchestra plays various famous pieces of classical music from celebrated composers such as Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky, the audience is taken on a magical journey through music, seeing wonders such as the evolution of life, a ballet of animals, the conduct of the Gods on Mount Olympus, and the worshipping of the Devil on Halloween. Relive the magic and fancy that is Walt Disney’s Fantasia, a celebrated masterpiece that will have audiences captivated time and time again. 

Fantasia is something else. It’s particularly unique in that it’s a collection of different stories from different ballets and the whole film is set up like a night at the theatre. We see the orchestra seating themselves and warming up their instruments and then we have a host who tells us what we’re about to see before the music begins. 

It may not seem anything spectacular now because visually interpreting sounds has become commonplace, but back in the 40s (wow has it been that long?) Fantasia was a milestone in animation and almost revolutionary. 

For me personally, the most enjoyable story in this film is Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours. What Disney has done is reenact this ballet using animals as the dancers. But not just any animals: animals that you would never imagine to do ballet. It begins with a group of ostriches and then the hippopotamuses dominate the scene. As twilight sets in, the dancing elephants grace our screens and then the alligators bring us home. It’s all very clumsy and chaotic and absolutely memorable. 

Filled with grace, mythical creatures, romance, Gods, horror, wraths, wildlife, flora, and the changing of seasons, Fantasia is a timeless classic that is a must-have for any true lover of Disney.