[...] Disneyesque. The character designs remind me most of the “Pastoral Symphony” section of Fantasia. It’s a cutesy realism. There are some breathtaking panels and splash pages. As with all his [...]

[...] old DVD Special Features onto their new Blu-ray releases (or relegating them to viewing through the Blu-ray internet connection, an unsatisfying situation leading to occasionally lengthy loading delays or being forced to watch [...]

[...] of painter Aaron Douglas and supervised by Eric Goldberg, who directed “Rhapsody in Blue” in Fantasia 2000, a similarly wonderful retro [...]

I’ve had vanishingly small success getting kids to watch Fantasia. Most of the people I know who like it are adults or teens who are either fans of classical music or interested in animation as an art form (or both). The original Fantasia was not intended specifically as kids’ stuff; witness the original plan for more extensive toplessness in the Pastorale (which ran afoul of the Hay’s code: some of the flower bras were added in to get the film passed), and the red and pink nipples on the harpies in Night on Bald Mountain – although I think they have been censored for the modern releases. This package admittedly includes Fantasia 2000, which was designed to be more kid-centric, but since there is no standalone edition of Fantasia available, it irritates me that it is an edited version.

I wasn’t old enough to ever see the uncensored version (up until the invention of YouTube, anyway), but I still don’t like the removal of the “pickaninny centaurettes”; it’s pretending that the errors of the past didn’t happen. That never helps. Denying the existence of racism perpetuates it more than leaving “Sunflower” in the film would.

[...] provides interactive trivia and art galleries. Given my poor experience with internet connectivity with Fantasia, this doesn’t [...]

I doubt there will be another film like this — it doesn’t lend itself to merchandising, without major characters.

I’m surprised you had nothing to say about the computer animation compared to the older cel animation. In some ways the later film surpasses the earlier as far as imagination and invention, and yet there are parts of 2000 that work less for me. As you point out the older film has some “precious” moments and characters that have not aged well either. When I watch 2000, btw, I have to skip over the various segues as they seem “precious” to me while I much prefer the single narrator of the older film. Will there ever be another Disney music anthology film?