Now here is something Quinn and I were both more familiar with. Fantasia (1940) isn't much like a traditional animated movie in the vein of the two preceding Disney films. Rather, it's more like a concert set to visuals and a showcase for the medium of animation as a means of expressing color, feeling, and atmosphere. To everyone who's ever imagined a story of their own making to the tune of some classical orchestral overture (here I raise my hand, guilty) it's somewhat gratifying to see that type of thought process writ large, and made professionally.
I have a long history with Fantasia. The "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment terrified me as a kid, and with the benefit of hindsight it is easily the best segment in the movie. "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" is, however, a close second, and is stunningly animated and very evocative.
I must give "Rite of Spring" a shout as well, given the prevalence of my beloved dinosaurs, as painfully dated as they now are.
It's hard to imagine a movie like Fantasia being made today (though stay tuned for one of the later reviews in this series). It very much feels like it belongs to an earlier era where animation as a medium was thought about differently by both studios and the public, allowing this sort of experimental, almost eerie attempt at bridging it with more classical art forms.
Little else in this marathon will capture my imagination like this did. But I assure you that many wonderful things are yet to come.
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