On Dec. 18, my sister and brother-in-law, my friend Joel and his date Laura, my friend Bruce and I went to see the (public) World Premiere of Fantasia/2000. The film was shown with live orchestral accompaniment by the London Philharmonia Orchestra. Here's how it went!

First off, our seats...

I had never been to Carnegie Hall before, so I wasn't sure what to expect from our seats. From the pretty vague "Seating Chart" at Carnegie Hall's Web site, it looked like we were sitting about half way up -- but as it turned out, we were just one balcony below the highest balcony. (Our seats were in the "Dress Circle" level.)

How high is the Dress Circle level? Well, I don't often get vertigo, but I did the second I looked down the isle leading to our seats. With stomach only slightly queasy from the view, we found our way to our seats -- in the front row of the Dress Circle, which turned out to be really cool! (As long as I wasn't looking directly at the orchestra seats directly below, my stomach stayed firmly in place.)

In fact, our seats were at such an angle that we could see the conductor's special computer screen where he could watch the film without looking up -- and we could see the time bars that flashed across it, too. (If anyone has ever seen a film being scored, you know what I mean about that.)

Anyway... At just a few minutes past 8 p.m., the lights in Carnegie Hall went down, and the festivities began. From stage left, a man came out of a door -- it took me about 1 second to recognize, even from as high up as I was, that it was Roy Disney! (When I said excitedly, "Oh my god! That's Roy Disney!" my friend Bruce kindly reminded me that I was a real geek. Thanks!)

Roy gave a nice little speech about the history of his Uncle Walt's "Fantasia" concept, what went into continuing the idea with Fantasia/2000, and then he introduced James Levine, the conductor.

Now, unlike what I hear the IMAX version of the movie is like, during the live performances of Fantasia/2000, each piece was performed, with a break between them for applause, bringing special musicians on and off, and so forth.

(One general complaint I had about the whole thing: They could have made the theater darker for each number; as it was, the projected image could have been a little brighter for my taste -- there was a lot of light-bleed from the orchestra.)

The placard for the first piece appeared:

Symphony No. 5:
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven (Directed by Pixote Hunt)

The opening number, much like the opening number of the original Fantasia, was mostly made up of abstract images, but this piece was a little less abstract than "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" was. This new piece was certainly interesting, and I was amazed that the animators could get me to care so much for a "bunch of triangles." My only complaint? It felt way too short! One of the things I love so much about the "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" piece is that it really takes it's time to transition the audience from the live-action orchestra to complete animation, and by the time it's done, the audience has completely relaxed into the "idea" of Fantasia. Maybe that wasn't needed for Fantasia/2000. But I guess it's better that I wanted to see more of the piece than that I thought it went on for too long!

Pines of Rome:
Composed by Ottorino Respighi (Directed by Hendel Butoy)

This was the piece I was least looking forward to going into Fantasia/2000, at least story-wise. Frankly, the idea of a bunch of flying whales didn't excite me. But I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! The piece was very touching (made my sister cry), and really gave me the chills at the finale!

(There has been a lot of online complaining about the whales' eyes in this piece -- basically, the whales are computer-animated in a very realistic style, but their eyes are hand-drawn in a "cartoony" style. To be honest, the eyes didn't bother me at all -- in fact, they were necessary because they showed each whale's emotional state. What bothered me was the computer animation! In my opinion, they only got the whales animated 95-97% perfectly -- every once in a while a whale would make a movement that reminded me that they were computer-rendered. But this was only a minor problem, and it didn't detract from the piece very much at all!)

Rhapsody in Blue:
Composed by George Gershwin (Directed by Eric Goldberg)

Wow! Wow wow wow! This was, hands-down, everyone's overall favorite piece of the night. (At least, of the six of us!) This piece follows four characters through an average day in Depression-era New York City: A black boy with dreams of being a jazz drummer; a little girl being dragged from activity to activity by a nanny; a hen-pecked husband whose flights of fancy are constantly being squashed by his overbearing wife; and an out of work man who's down on his luck. (The hen-pecked husband, by the way, was modeled after John Culhane, the man who wrote the book on Fantasia, and the upcoming book on Fantasia/2000 -- he's also the man animators based Medusa's henchman on in The Rescuers, and you'll really see the resemblance!) Drawn in the style of a Hershfeld drawing, this piece was a complete joy to watch!

(Look for the George Gershwin "cameo" in this piece -- it's quick, but pretty easy to spot!)

Piano Conerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102:
Composed by Dmitri Shostakovich (Directed by Yefim Bronfman)

This was the piece I was most looking forward to going in, I think. The story this piece tells is "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" (originally written by Hans Christian Anderson), and this was what excited me so. (In the original story, a tin soldier with one leg steadfastly protects the ballerina he loves from the evil troll jack-in-the-box.) The animation here was very interesting -- the Tin Soldier and the Ballerina were computer animated (extremely well!), but almost everything else was hand-drawn and painted. (If the jack-in-the-box was computer-animated, I certainly couldn't tell!) Without going into much more detail and giving too much away, the piece followed the original story fairly closely -- which was a problem for some of the people I was with -- there is a rather large coincidence toward the end that didn't bother me because I had read the original story, but it bothered those who hadn't. Oh well...

Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale:
Composed by Camille Saint-Saens (Directed by Eric Goldberg)

One of the very best pieces of Fantasia/2000! The only possible complaint about this is that it's over so quickly! True, I'm not sure what else they could have done given the basic premise: A non-conformist flamingo causes havoc among his flock by... playing with his yo-yo! But believe me, you'll be sorry to see this piece end! (I know I'm thinking way ahead, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can watch this one on DVD and freeze-frame all over the place -- the yo-yo-flinging flamingo's facial expressions are priceless!)

The Sorcerer's Apprentice:
Composed by Paul Dukas (Directed by James Algar)

The only piece from the original Fantasia to make it into Fantasia/2000, this piece stands out for a few reasons -- some good, some bad. Well, most good, one bad. First the bad: Up until this point in the program, every piece of course took advantage of the full size of the modern-day movie screen. But because this piece was originally drawn in a different aspect ratio (i.e., for a different-sized, less-wide screen), it doesn't go to the full sides of the movie screen -- and the difference is a bit glaring. If I were Disney, I might have at least put a light gray border on each side of the screen, just to fill in all that black space.

But what made this piece really stand out is that, unlike everything we'd seen before, it was 100% hand drawn, and it shows! In my opinion, there's a warmth and subtlety that comes through in hand-drawn animation. (That's one of the reasons I love "The Little Mermaid" so much -- it still retains that hand-drawn feel -- well, most of it does!). Nothing in "Pines of Rome," for example, can match the subtlety of the expressions on Mickey Mouse's face at the end of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" as he tries to appease the wrath of his mentor! (That's my opinion, anyway...)

For what it's worth, this piece seemed to get the biggest audience reaction of the evening.

Pomp and Circumstance - Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4:
Composed by Sir Edward Elgar (Director Francis Glebas)

Definitely another high-point of the evening! What "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was for Mickey Mouse, "Pomp and Circumstance" is for Donald Duck -- his chance to shine! Working as Noah's assistant, we watch poor Donald as he tries to herd the animals onto the ark before the flood comes, keep things moving smoothly once they are afloat, and then get everyone off again once the waters have subsided. Unfortunately, he and Daisy get separated in the initial confusion, and each thinks the other has perished in God's wrath. With more jokes then you can ever hope to catch in one viewing, this piece is just a pleasure to watch. (My favorite gag? Donald and a pair of Mallard ducks eye each other, confused -- each wondering, "If we're both ducks, why does he look so different!?" At least, that's what I thought they were thinking -- my friend Joel had a different take on that moment!)

Amazingly, Donald's true personality completely comes through in the piece, despite the fact that he never really makes a sound. Another triumph for the animators!

A brief aside here -- confirmed original ideas for Pomp and Circumstance (from a personal conversation I once had with the aforementioned John Culhane) included a parade of every character from a Disney movie (a bad idea), and more interestingly, a story where all of the Disney princesses are pregnant and go into labor at the same time! (Picture a maternity ward waiting room full of nervous princes!) Although I sort of like this idea, apparently it came off horribly, and it was scrapped.

Firebird Suite - 1919 Version:
Composed by Igor Stravinsky (Directed by Gaetan Brizzi and Paul Brizzi)

I previously mentioned that I was least looking forward to "Pines of Rome" due to the story. Well, I was least looking forward to this one musically. Although Frank Zappa was a big Stravinsky fan, I've never really warmed up to what little of his compositions I've heard. (For example, his "Rites of Spring" is my least favorite piece in the original Fantasia.) And, having heard the soundtrack to Fantasia/2000 before seeing it, his Firebird Suite was my least favorite musical piece there, too.

But wow! What a difference the visuals make! I had seen the Japanese animated movie "Princess Mononoke" a few weeks before seeing Fantasia/2000, and the "Firebird Suite" reminded me of that film right away! (A compliment to both movies, I think.) Absolutely beautiful backgrounds, characters and story, and it melds with the music perfectly. Putting the story of the piece into words just wouldn't do the experience of seeing it justice, so I'll just say that it's a perfect ending piece to Fantasia/2000 -- in fact, the last shot is so beautiful, I'd kill for a poster of it. Again, wow!

And after the musical program was concluded, Roy Disney came back out with Mickey Mouse, who gave James Levine a large bouquet of roses. It was hugs and handshakes all around for the cameras before the house lights came up again...

Whew! So that's it. That was my take on Fantasia/2000. Really, I can't wait to see it again on the IMAX screen. Roy said it took nine years to make this latest Fantasia. The "Hollywood" buzz is that there's a great possibility it won't make any money at the box office. I say, "So what!? Do one every ten years and I'll be happy!"

See you all at Fantasia/2010! (I hope!)