uena Vista lists the actual running time of its three-DVD Fantasia
Anthology set at just over eight hours, but it seems like more. A
lot more. They clearly didn't include the time needed to navigate,
digest the material and just plain gape at all the supplementals crammed
into this bonus-packed set.
Disc One includes the restored version of the original Fantasia,
with two optional commentary tracks. On one, Roy Disney, conductor James
Levine, animation historian John Canemaker and Disney Film Restoration
Manager Scott MacQueen discuss the restored version. On the other,
Canemaker bookends Walt Disney's own commentary, taken from recorded
interviews or read from Walt's production-meeting transcripts. A 47-minute
"making-of" documentary gives a partial history of Disney's life and work
as well as a history of the movie, complete with footage of interviews with
both Walt and Roy.
Disc Two contains last year's Fantasia 2000, again with two optional
commentary tracks. One features Roy Disney, Levine and producer Don Ernst
reminiscing about making the film. The other lets the director and art
director of each individual segment explain their particular creative
challenges and decisions. A 48-minute documentary parallels the one from
the first disc. The less appealing bonuses include a redundant five-minute
"Showcase Program" that's simply made of clips strung together from the
full-length movie, and two annoying shorts (one, incomprehensibly, an
Oscar winner) that were made in the 1950s as part of an aborted series of
cartoons supposedly teaching the principles of music.
But the real treasure trove is Disc Three, The Fantasia Legacy,
which is simply a collection of bonus material. Neatly designed menus let
viewers choose which of the two Fantasias to examine, then choose any
segment of that film. Each animated segment opens up with its own menu of
related bonus material. Most contain special introductions and "about the
music" documentary sections. Each includes a "Character Design" and/or a
"Visual Development" section that expands into a gallery of sketches and
paintings. Unique bonus material varies from pencil tests to storyboards to
segments of old documentaries on how the effects were designed. Finally,
the disc includes a general bonus section, including trailers, publicity
material and short documentaries on rejected Fantasia segments.
Sixty years of surprising snippets
There are certainly some quibbles to be made about this set. Some of the
material is redundant; some clips and file footage can be seen several
times when watching the entire thing. Fantasia purists may be
disappointed to see there's (unsurprisingly) far more supplementary
material for the year-old Fantasia 2000 than its 60-year-old
predecessor. The "deleted animation" touted on the box is limited to a few
tiny fragments of rejected ideas. But these problems pale in comparison
with the material actually being offered. The segment-specific documentary
clips alone amount to hours of informative viewing, while the horde of
treats attached to the films' individual sections are often impressive and
surprising.
While there's not much actual deleted animation, there are storyboards
for entire deleted storylines, including a hysterical alternate edition of
the Noah's Ark "Pomp And Circumstance" piece, in which a crabby dove runs
the show as Noah's long-suffering flunky. Another rejected concept casts
Donald Duck as a flight-hungry Icarus showing off for Daisy Duck. The
"Steadfast Tin Soldier" segment from Fantasia 2000 contains some
fully painted animation of three clowning rats that were discarded as not
scary enough. A few of the pieces feature storyboards for alternate
endings, or storyboard-to-film comparisons. The "Fantasia That Never Was"
segments, like the book that spawned them, are particularly compelling and
informative looks at pieces Walt Disney had planned to animate and add to
Fantasia for later tours.
And the entire set takes advantage of DVD technology in some
particularly creative ways. Two pieces, the "Firebird Suite" and the
"Steadfast Tin Soldier" segments, offer "Production Progression
Demonstrations" that let viewers use the "angle" key on their remotes to
toggle between storyboards, rough animation, the clean-up reel and the
final result to see exactly how the animation progressed on selected
scenes. The overall design of the discs is clean, functional and
attractive, not to mention easy to navigate.
