Review of "Fantasia 2000" by Roy E. Disney, John Culhane

The first thing you should think about is, "Have I seen this film yet?" If you have, you know how wonderful and magical this reincarnation of Walt Disney's 1940 classic film is. Did you see it on an IMAX screen? It is by far the best way to experience the majesty of the music and the spectacular animation.

Now we have this beautiful book to enjoy and remember the film and all of the artwork that fit into the marvelous rendition of some of the greatest music of all time. Each section of the book features one section of the film. The artists and the musicians cover the written pages with commentary. Also there are many color pictures of the animation. What you get is a priceless art book to enjoy.

Two of my favorite animators are Eric Goldberg (the artist who brought us a wonderful Genie in Aladdin) and his wife Susan (who co-authored a children's book with Eric). In Fantasia 2000, Eric produced the "Rhapsody In Blue" segment with a perfection you have to see to believe. The famous artist, Al Hershfield, who does all of those great characitures of Broadway stars inspired the artwork here. Every corner of this section is filled with detail and combines with Gershwin's classic music to form a new kind of rhapsody for this new millenium. Now you can read about how it all was done.

Eric was also lead animator for the section filled with the most whimsical fantasy of playful flamingoes and the delightful one little devil that finds a yo-yo and bedevils the rest of the chorus line. The music for this section was "The Carnival of the Animals". The artwork is as amusing as any Disney cartoon that every exhausted.

It's the details of the work and imagination that went into each of the sections that make this book a gem. The film was filled with serious music and the artwork will be a classic treasure to own. This book can start you on your way.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, check out the DVD version that comes with the original Fantasia (well... arguments abound about how that film has been edited over the year, so its not really the same film that Walt made) and a special "Making Of..." program. It is excellent!