MovieChat Forums > Fantasia (1941) Discussion > Main problem with this movie: It's too l...

Main problem with this movie: It's too long

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
2 replies | jump to latest

I think Disney was really ambitious for doing this movie. I've read books about the making of this movie and how the animators all consider it a great achievement. It was an attempt to do something more 'high-brow' than what Disney was known for, and that's not necessarily bad.
I like classical music and I like animation so I really like the concept of this movie.

But I think the biggest miscalculation Disney made was the length of the movie.
I know some of the best classical music pieces can be longer than 30 minutes. They made cuts to the Rites of Spring so that it is closer to 20 minutes but it still feels too long.

Walt was always telling his brother they needed to do more work on these movies while his brother warned him about the costs. I'm sure that after Snow White paid off he felt more empowered to follow his creative instincts. Expanding a Mickey Mouse short (the Sorcerer's Apprentice) into a concert feature was a bold idea and I'm glad the movie was made.

It's just that I think popular audiences weren't ready for a 2 hour cartoon like this. And as a modern viewer, I actually find it fatiguing too even though all the segments on their own are worth watching.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 5 years ago

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is 72 minutes long, depending on how it’s conducted, and not one second of it is boring. The “modern” audience that you posit just does not understand classical music.

But they’ll spend four hours watching Avengers: Endgame.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Well, not only animated films but live action films have made this assumption that the audience must not get "bored," even if the movie would be benefit from a slow moment here and there. They constantly push against this idea that audiences could stand to watch the characters talk about something important for a few seconds to make things clear later in the story.

But on the other hand, Disney animators themselves acknowledged that animation is a special case.
Making a feature length animated film is tricky and until Snow White there was some doubt that feature cartoons could compete with regular films.

I can only speak to my own feelings as an adult and an animation fan.
I do think this particular film is a little too long. I love Beethoven and Bach and a lot of the musical selections here but when you present it as a combination of animation and music, I expect the sight and sound to be an experience unlike just listening to good music.
I can listen to the soundtrack to Fantasia and enjoy it anytime. I watch a movie (and particularly an animated movie) to see something kind of wonderful.