8 Overlooked Animated Disney Films That Are Better Than You Think
7. Fantasia 2000
Lets get the bad out of the way first: Fantasia 2000 goes out of its way to date itself. The title, a millenium-hype-fueled decision to make the film feel cutting edge upon its 1999 release, is bad enough, but thats nothing compared to the cameos. Mistaking itself for Anchorman, we get a run-down of semi-relevant celebs - Steve Martin, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones - who introduce the classical music-scored animation showcases. Its annoying and only gets worse as time passes.
But when Fantasia 2000 does get to the main sequences, things get a lot better. The approach is much more varied than the original, with the majestic sky whales (scored to Pines Of Rome) juxtaposed with a yo-yo obsessed flamingo (scored to The Carnival Of The Animals), but for the most part theres more hits than misses. Taking over twenty-five years to make it to the screen after Walts nephew Roy E. Disney first had the idea to sequelize the studio's most distinct classic, the film ultimately does everything it set out to do (show some then-groundbreaking animation scored to classic music), yet failed to match the high expectations of generations reared on the original.
The Sorcerers Apprentice, Fantasia 1940s most famous segment, also gets a full retread. Purely there to push the run time up to make this a full feature, its inclusion is justified when you consider it previously had only been seen to modern audiences on a limited VHS release.
In short, there's little to hate and a lot to love.