I first saw this as a middle schooler in a drive-in theater. It still was impressive.
Spoilers among what follows.
Fantasia was released with a "multichannel" technique called "Fantasound," where one was the orchestral track, and the other was a control track that switched activation between speaker groups.
The "Rite of Spring" episode was very colorful, but in its dinosaur sequence, even when it was made, the "dinosaurs" were mixed together anachronistically. Not that I don't like the visuals, but it's a bit like watching a World War I film with aerial battles with various ragwings, and suddenly a P-51 shows up.
Beethoven's Pastorale was probably the prettiest segment, with everything very classical. The centaurettes looked like Malibu Beach girls (well, at least from the waist up) and the males like football jocks. Zeus was very playful, and the thunderstorm sequence was, to me, the highpoint of the episode.
The "Sorcerer's Apprentice" was okay, but it was the only sequence to have a recognizable cartoon character in it. I think it would have been better with another, anonymous, character as the Apprentice.
"Night On Bald Mountain" was very impressive. However, I learned that the Tchernobog image was rotoscoped, and the person who did the original images was none other than Bela Lugosi. The use of color was especially effective. IMHO, that was the segment that should have been retained for Fantasia 2000.
I've seen this dozens of times, and plan to see it many times more.
Spoilers among what follows.
Fantasia was released with a "multichannel" technique called "Fantasound," where one was the orchestral track, and the other was a control track that switched activation between speaker groups.
The "Rite of Spring" episode was very colorful, but in its dinosaur sequence, even when it was made, the "dinosaurs" were mixed together anachronistically. Not that I don't like the visuals, but it's a bit like watching a World War I film with aerial battles with various ragwings, and suddenly a P-51 shows up.
Beethoven's Pastorale was probably the prettiest segment, with everything very classical. The centaurettes looked like Malibu Beach girls (well, at least from the waist up) and the males like football jocks. Zeus was very playful, and the thunderstorm sequence was, to me, the highpoint of the episode.
The "Sorcerer's Apprentice" was okay, but it was the only sequence to have a recognizable cartoon character in it. I think it would have been better with another, anonymous, character as the Apprentice.
"Night On Bald Mountain" was very impressive. However, I learned that the Tchernobog image was rotoscoped, and the person who did the original images was none other than Bela Lugosi. The use of color was especially effective. IMHO, that was the segment that should have been retained for Fantasia 2000.
I've seen this dozens of times, and plan to see it many times more.