Fantasia 2000
More ambitious in scope than any of its other animated films (before or  to come), Disney's 1940Fantasiawas a dizzying, magical, and highly enjoyable marriage of classical music and animated images.Fantasia 2000features some breathtaking animation and storytelling, and in a few spots soars to wonderful high points, but it still more often than not has the feel of walking in its predecessor's footsteps as opposed to creating its own path. A family of whales swimming and soaring to Respighi'sThe Pines of Romeis magical to watch, but ends all too soon; a forest sprite's dance of life, death, and rebirth to Stravinsky'sThe Rite of Springtoo clearly echoes the originalFantasia'sNight on Bald Mountain/Ave Mariasequence. But when it's on target,Fantasia 2000is glorious enough to make you giddy. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a perfect narrative set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Donald Duck's guest appearance as the assistant to Noah (of ark fame) set to Elgar'sPomp and Circumstancemarches is a welcome companion piece (though not an equal) toThe Sorcerer's Apprentice, the one originalFantasiapiece included here. The high  point ofFantasia 2000, though, is a fantastic day-in-the-life sequence of 1930s New York City set to Gershwin'sRhapsody in Blueand animated in the style of cartoonist Al Hirschfeld; it's a perfect melding of music, story, and animation. Let's hope futureFantasias (reportedly in the works) take a cue from the best of this compilation. Themusicis provided by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, interspersed with negligible intros by Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Itzhak Perlman, James Earl Jones, and others.--Mark Englehart