Fantasia/Fantasia 2000

Walt Disney had produced scores of theatrical short cartoons but only two feature films when he embarked on what was arguably the most ambitious project of his career—1940's Fantasia, an anthology of eight original animated pieces paired to some of the world's most renowned classical music works. Ranging from the comic to the serious, from narrative to abstract, the shorts include one of Disney's most famous: “The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” with Mickey Mouse. Narrated by Deems Taylor, Fantasia was Disney's attempt to make high art using animation, but it turned out to be a financial failure, and it took 60 years for the studio to produce a second film with new sequences, as per Disney's wishes. While the fluid art and rich colors of Fantasia still impress 70 years later, Fantasia 2000—somewhat ironically—already feels dated, due to its reliance on CGI animation, which has evolved rapidly in the past decade. In fact, the best of the new batch is a stylized hand-drawn sequence set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The sequel also brings in multiple hosts, including Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, and Angela Lansbury. While the original classic remains a beloved landmark of animated cinema, its tribute successor doesn't quite reach the same heights. The two-disc DVD set features lecture-style commentary on Fantasia by historian Brian Sibley, along with two new featurettes, while the four-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo special edition adds audio commentary tracks from the previous “Legacy Collection” release, plus the 2003 short “Destino” (based on designs that Salvador Dalí created for an unrealized Disney film) and a feature-length documentary on the origins and history of “Destino,” among other supplements. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)