Fantasia 2000
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Walt Disney Records, 2001
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/01/2000
Maybe the one good thing about movies like Fantasia is that they expose children to classical music --quite possibly, his is the first time they ever hear this type ofmusic, and it is an eye-opening experience. I know my firstexperience with classical music came thanks to A&P Food Storeand the Funk & Wagnalls Family Library Of Great Music.
With the recent release of the movie Fantasia/2000, a new generation of kids are getting theopportunity to learn the powers of classical music. It doesn'tmatter if they don't know who Beethoven is off the top of theirheads, but if the opening notes of his "Symphony No. 5" stick withthem, then a powerful lesson has been learned.
Of course, does the music from a film like Fantasia/2000 carry the same punch when separated into itssoundtrack album? I haven't had the chance to drop down to the IMAXtheater in Chicago to see the film -- let's be honest, I have yetto get through the original Fantasia -- so I can't speak accurately on the comparison.(Actually, the movie opens on New Year's Day 2000, and I'm writingthis a few days prior, so I have a good reason for not seeing themovie.) But I can imagine that some of the staying power is lost ifyou don't see the film.
One reason, of course, is that kids (and, for that matter,adults) will tend to tie a certain piece of music to a cartoon thatcatches their fancy. We'll all remember Dukas's "The Sorcerer'sApprentice" thanks to the image of the multiplying mops carryingbuckets of water, leaving Mickey helpless to do anything else butcreate more mayhem. It may seem silly, but it works - and that'swhy movies like Fantasia and Fantasia/2000 are so important. ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice"is featured on the soundtrack for Fantasia/2000, and is included in the movie as well.)
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