Not a Sci-Fi movie

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2003)

Generally, a review is best started by giving an indication of the main theme of the story and genre of a movie, followed by a more detailled analysis of its assets.
In this case, however, there is no story to review. The genre is supposedly Science Fiction, yet while Science is on display in the movie (display as in: you can see it if you know it, not you are explained and taught science), and while it is undoubtedly fictitious, it is not, in my personal opinion, Science Fiction.
So let's turn this review around and start from the bottom up. The assets. There are some stunning visuals in this movie, way ahead of their time, and the score is great. So if it's visually nice, got nice music, and is a movie, what else is left? Perhaps a plot - none detectable in this movie. Perhaps characters - none noticeable in this movie. Perhaps ideas - none communicated in this movie.
In short, this is the longest music video ever filmed, and the music it visualizes is classic. Disney did a better job of Fantasia, though.
So why do I not see this as science fiction - after all, the visuals do involve spaceship and astronauts? And one of the "characters" is a computer (though it is just as bland a frame to hang the little dialogue there is from as its human counterparts). Perhaps because of a definition of Science Fiction I once heard. Science Fiction, I was told, is a story which could not be told if you moved it to any other known, real realm. Which disqualifies Star Wars on account of it being just a typical story with stars thrown in the mix, and 2001 on account of it having no story to tell.
2001 is the ultimate modern art movie. It is abstract. It is stylized. It is psychedelic in parts. It does not tell a story in any traditional way. It is open to interpretation. Then again, all these qualities are shared by pickled cows. In the end, you cannot analyze this as a movie - it has to be seen as work of art. However, I do not mean this as compliment - if something is marketed as movie, as story, as odyssey, then perhaps it should exhibit such qualities. Instead, this product is nothing but a colourful bubble of visuals and Waltzes. Except, of course, the dancing hippos in Fantasia were more entertaining to watch.