Walt Disney Studios released Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 on Blu-ray this week and it seemed to have all the perks you would want with it. You get the classic original and the newer film released in 2000. Disney’s opuses are not for everyone, but shouldn’t be ignored by anyone. Pairing classical music with creative animated stories, both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 add more depth to already magical music pieces. One of the more popular pieces, which is featured in both films, is “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” starring Mickey Mouse. Most people who know the films probably associate this particular number with them. The story revolves around an apprentice that gets into mischief when he dons his master’s magical hat. It’s one of the more beautiful pieces from each film. That type of storytelling with music is how the films go from beginning to end.
The movies are simply about animators putting their creative minds in motion with music that’s been around for ages. It’s not a standard ‘cartoon’, which makes it a lot more attractive to watch.
What’s strange about this release is that the older one doesn’t look as good, or as refined as the newer release. Obviously there are some years between the two releases with the original being released in 1940, but still I’ve seen better animation on Blu-ray from Disney on older films. The majority of the 1940 film is incredibly cleaned up, but you can still see some artifacts in the animation. There are some grainy moments and some places where there are dark spots.I know what you’re thinking, “Nathan, this fil is older than your parents and you should take that into account.” Believe me, I do take that into account, but hear me out. For example, during the ballet between the hippo and the alligator (could be a crocodile), during the opening curtain scene you can see some worn spots. These spots, while not initially noticeable, still look like the film was worn a bit. Again, they have been cleaned tremendously, but the animation isn’t as bright and vivid as Pinocchio was when it arrived on the HD format. Pinocchio‘s animation was spectacular and that was done in the same year. Pinocchio on Blu-ray looked like it was animated in 1990s, especially after comparing it to Beauty and the Beast (release this past October on Blu-ray). Both releases were bright, perfect and clean. Fantasia is close to that, but not quite as perfect.
Anyway, the 1940 version does look really good, above DVD quality, but it can’t touch Fantasia 2000 when it comes to picture quality. If you want a good example of sharp, clean and crisp HD then you should start with Donald and Daisy Duck’s Noah’s Ark story. Vividly bright and colorful, you will be hard pressed to find anything wrong with the picture. It looks spectacular in 1080p, and that’s pretty much the case for the entire Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray.
Both movies are equal when it comes to audio, as they’re both remastered in DTS-HD 7.1 (did you catch that? 7.1!), which makes the audio experience phenomenal. Since both are driven by music and accompanied by visuals, having the music right seemed to be a top priority. Disney can certainly check off that priority on their list of things they did perfectly. If you have the 7.1 setup then you’ll be thrilled with the results, as the music sounds simply gorgeous. Again, Walt Disney did this right.
As for the features side of things, here’s what you get:
Fantasia DVD Bonus Features:
• New Audio Commentary with Disney historian Brian Sibley
• Disney Family Museum
Fantasia Blu-ray Bonus Features: Everything on the DVD plus:
• Disney View
• The Shultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure
• Interactive Art Gallery and Screensavers
• Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection
o With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, animation historian
John Canemaker, and Scott McQueen, manager of film restoration.
• Audio commentary with interviews and story note recreations by Walt Disney, hosted by John Canemaker.
Fantasia 2000 DVD Bonus Features:
• Musicana
Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray Bonus Features: Everything on the DVD plus:
• Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino
• Destino
• Disney’s Virtual Vault — BD-Live Feature Original DVD Bonus Features from Legacy Collection
• Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection with executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and producer Don Ernst. Audio commentary with the directors and art directors for each segment.
So you get a large amount of features with this Blu-ray release. You get some fascinating information on the inspiration of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. You get great audio commentary from Roy E. Disney, James Levine and Don Ernst, as well as audio commentary from John Canemaker. Anything you want you probably get in this collection, including a wonderful piece on Dali & Disney (yes, the Salvador Dali) that was created in 2003. Walt Disney did a real good job with providing some of the best features to accompany this release, so that it doesn’t feel like a ‘re-release’ as much as a well thought out idea.