Film

Fantasia 2000

Name: Fantasia 2000
Genre: Animation, Family, Music
Released: 2000
Cast: Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones

A candy-colored, big-swing sequel that trades the original Fantasia's slow classical solemnity for shorter, punchier segments—flying whales, a jazz-age New York, Donald Duck on Noah's Ark—introduced by celebrity hosts like Steve Martin and Bette Midler. It's less a single vision than a cheerful greatest-hits reel of animation studios flexing to a live-orchestra soundtrack. Best watched as a big-screen event, ideally with kids, ideally loud.

TMDb rating

7.0

If you liked this

Fantasia1940

The original blueprint—darker, stranger, slower, with Mickey Mouse's sorcery and the apocalyptic Night on Bald Mountain. Essential viewing for context and for how strange Disney was willing to get before it became "family safe."

But The pacing is glacial by modern standards, and some segments (looking at you, centaurs) haven't aged well.

Allegro non troppo1976no page yet

Italy's cheeky, cynical answer to Fantasia—animated segments set to classical music but filtered through satire, evolution jokes, and a genuinely weird framing device with an exhausted orchestra.

But The live-action wraparound is dated and slow; patience required between the animated highlights.

Yellow Submarine1968

Psychedelic, gorgeously unhinged animation set entirely to Beatles songs—proof that pairing music with unrestrained visual imagination doesn't need an orchestra pit, just great tunes and nerve.

But The plot is threadbare and the humor very 1968; charming rather than gripping if you're not already a Beatles fan.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ballet Mécanique1924no page yet

Fantasia 2000 sells itself as bold and experimental, but this 1924 film got there first—music dictating abstract image, no story required—decades before Disney dared try it on a family budget.

A silent, avant-garde French short pairing abstract, mechanical imagery—spinning shapes, close-ups, relentless repetition—with an experimental score, decades before Disney thought to marry "serious" music to animation at all.

But It's twenty minutes of deliberately disorienting, plotless abstraction with no dialogue and a jarring score; a real patience test.

Loving Vincent2017

Every frame hand-painted in oils in the style of Van Gogh—the most extreme example of animation as fine art, a spiritual cousin to Fantasia's "let's see what animation can actually do" ambition.

But It's a murder-mystery drama, not a family romp, and the constant painterly motion can feel visually exhausting over 90 minutes.

Song of the Sea2014

Irish folklore rendered in flat, storybook-gorgeous 2D animation with a hypnotic score—proof that hand-drawn animation paired with music can still feel utterly modern and moving.

But Slower and sadder than typical family fare; younger kids might find the melancholy mood a little much.

The Red Turtle2016

A wordless, Studio Ghibli-produced fable about survival and nature, told purely through image and sound—minimalist where Fantasia is maximalist, but with the same trust in music over dialogue.

But Nothing is explained and almost nothing is said; if you want story momentum, this will frustrate you.

The Illusionist2010

Sylvain Chomet's gentle, nearly silent animated elegy for a fading magician—gorgeous hand-drawn Edinburgh, a wistful score, and barely a line of dialogue needed.

But It's melancholy and slow-moving, more art film than kids' entertainment despite the animated form.

Coco2017

Pixar at its most visually extravagant, built entirely around music and Mexico's Day of the Dead—vivid proof that mainstream animation still swings for spectacle the way Fantasia did.

But It's a full, conventional narrative with jokes and a plot; less abstract experiment, more polished blockbuster.

Waking Life2001

Rotoscoped animation used to chase big philosophical ideas about dreams and consciousness—the same impulse to let animation carry abstraction rather than plot, just aimed at late-night talk instead of Beethoven.

But It's essentially ninety minutes of people talking; if you want music-driven spectacle, this will feel like a lecture.

Heavy Metal1981

Same anthology-of-shorts-set-to-music DNA as Fantasia 2000, just aimed at teenage boys instead of families—the format's trashy, R-rated twin.

An anthology of animated segments set to rock music, structurally identical to Fantasia's format—separate stories, wall-to-wall soundtrack, wildly different visual styles—except soaked in sex, violence, and denim-jacket sincerity.

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Itzhak2017no page yet

Perlman appears in Fantasia 2000 as a genial, twinkly host—this documentary shows you who that man actually is, off the soundstage and behind the violin.

A warm, intimate documentary following violinist Itzhak Perlman—one of Fantasia 2000's own on-screen hosts—offstage, at home, joking with students and family instead of introducing cartoon whales.

But It's a gentle character study with no spectacle or animation whatsoever; nothing here for anyone hoping for more visual fireworks.