You know, orchestras are actually so cool. I don't know what it is, but for my whole life, the sight and the sound of the orchestra sitting down and tuning their instruments has always stirred something inside of me. It's that "Oh! It's about to start!" feeling that you get. Most of my experience listening to orchestras live comes from going to see the Nutcracker with my family every year for Christmas. The first few notes of the overture always give me the excitement of knowing that a grand story is about to begin.
I have no idea what all these shapes and colors are, but it's clearly a beautiful illustration of music, whether one enjoys this or not. So far, I can understand why I wouldn't have enjoyed this as a kid... there's no action, no plot, nothing to keep you on the edge of your seat, but I still believe that this is a genius work of art, at least in it's own way.
By the Nutcracker Suite and throughout the rest of the movie, there is actually something to pay attention to. Everything is obviously and naturally better when there is something to look at. It's actually really interesting seeing the interpretations of Tchaikovsky's music through illustrations of nature (and fairies) and Beethoven's music through Greek mythology. The movie gets a lot more interesting later on when there are stories to follow, like the extinction of the dinosaurs and The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice scene is so legendary in the Disney universe. The reason it's so legendary and the reason there's a giant replica of the hat in Hollywood Studios at Disney World is probably because it was Mickey Mouse's big comeback. The popularity of Mickey Mouse was fading out at this time and was being replaced by Donald Duck. The whole thing is actually pretty interesting. Here is some more information on the history and production of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.This film was a wonderful chance for Walt Disney and his company to experiment with shapes, colors, movement, etc. because this was one of their first ever movies. I think Walt Disney felt that he still needed to prove his skills in animation and movie-making to the world, even after creating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. It did prove to be a wonderful showcase of Disney's work, almost like an artist's portfolio, and it helped him and his company stand out in the animation industry.
I bet this was a dream come true to classical music lovers-- to see this music interpreted through beautiful imagery because perhaps that is how they saw the music in their minds. Again, this is why I love Disney. They took stories and images out of people's minds and put it onto the silver screen, making it "come to life".
Despite all the nice things I had to say about this movie, I was almost struggling to get through it. I kinda felt like it was a waste of time watching it because there was no overall story to get engrossed in. This kind of movie would be better off being played in the background; it's not a sit-down-with-your-family-and-watch-a-movie kind of movie. However, it is still a work of art, as are all of Walt Disney's productions.
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