Fantasia

Fantasia (1940)

Fantasia is the third animated film released by Walt Disney Productions. The movie featured eight animated segments set to classical music. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra performed the segments.

Fantasia achieved considerable critical enthusiasm when released in November 1940. Praised for it’s impressive synchronized animations, colorful backdrops, and captivating score, the film exceeded expectations for the young studio. That eagerness didn’t translate well over to audiences.

The film suffered primarily due to a high production cost, World War II impacting the European release, and theater difficulty showcasing the movie, which relied on multi-directional stereo sound (a pioneering film using the technology, dubbed “Fantasound”).

It released on home video VHS (and the LaserDisc format) in November 1991.

In the 1960s, the film’s bright colors and vivid animation appealed to a new generation interested in psychedelia. The increased interest led to the film finally making a profit from it’s initial budget roughly thirty years later.

One of Fantasia’s most notable sequences involved Disney’s loved creation, Mickey Mouse. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence was the first instance of Mickey Mouse having pupils. Fred Moore redesigned the character to allow for more emotive expressions.