“What you’re going to see are the designs and pictures and stories that music inspired in the minds and imaginations of a group of artists.”
Once upon a time, long before Walt Disney Studios became the commercial behemoth it is today, churning out safe projects in hopes of protecting the bottom line, its namesake was pushing the boundaries of animation in ways that made the company as beloved as it is today. Fantasia is the ultimate representation of the true artistry of Walt Disney beyond the business acumen that took front and center as he built his empire.
History
Fantasia was only the third feature film released by Disney, following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. But work on the film had actually already begun even before Snow White‘s release, with the classic segment The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. It turns out that famous segment was the artistic engine of the whole project, as Walt Disney was looking for a short to ensure Mickey remained the staple character of the studio given that Donald Duck and Goofy had recently surpassed him in popularity. With the short segment running over budget, Disney pivoted to make it part of an anthology feature he could put in theaters, and Fantasia was born.
Importance
While Snow White proved that Disney could move from silly short films to a serious feature-length production, Fantasia took the artist’s core passion for animation as an art form and married music and movement together in a way that transcends any other film in the Disney canon. Only Bambi brings the same sensibility in such a serious manner, before switching to more comedic musical anthologies like Fun and Fancy Free and Three Caballeros. The studio wit hit artistic highs again in later years, but never again as high-brow as this experimental adventure.
Legacy
It took two decades for Fantasia to pay off financially for the studio, but nearly a century later, Fantasia remains one of the most critically acclaimed gems in the Disney pantheon, even among other more easily rewatchable classics. And Sorcerer Mickey himself has become one of the most iconic iterations of the main man Mickey Mouse ever, second only to the classic standard of Mickey in his red pants.
Are you a fan of Fantasia? Do you have a fun fact, piece of trivia, or analysis about the 1940 classic? Please share it in the comments!
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