Fantasia 2000

image for Fantasia 2000

Short takes

Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 6 (gloomy/scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Fantasia 2000
  • a review of Fantasia 2000 completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 19 October 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not suitable due to some gloomy/scary scenes.
Children aged 5–6 Parental guidance recommended due to some gloomy/scary scenes.
Children aged 7 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Fantasia 2000
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: The content is very mild in impact
Length: 75 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Like its 1940 prequel Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 consists of eight, separate, animated segments to the sound of a live orchestra performing pieces of classical music. Featured composers include Beethoven, George Gershwin, Paul Dukas, Edward Elgar, and Igor Stravinski. The viewer is taken on a spectacular sensory journey which ranges from dazzling explosions of abstract patterns and shapes; watching whales gracefully conquering the sky; rushing through the streets of 1930s New York City; empathising with a flamingo who does not want to succumb to its flock's rigid expectations; witnessing a fierce battle between a Sprite and a fire demon; watching Donald and Daisy Duck assist Noah bringing animals to safety on his Ark; and cheering for Hans Christian Anderson's Steadfast Tin Soldier in his fight, against an evil Jack-in-the-Box, to win a beautiful ballerina's heart. And, in honour of the element that inspired the Fantasia series to be made in the first place, Fantasia 2000 features the original ‘The Sorcerer's Apprentice’, with Mickey Mouse tampering with magic too powerful for him to handle. The animated segments are connected through live-action introductions, featuring stars including Steve Martin, Bette Midler, and Angela Lansbury.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Disney Classic; Classical music; Fantasy and imagination; Good versus Evil.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • In ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’, the evil Jack-in-the-Box is trying to kill the one-legged tin soldier by pushing him out of the window, attacking him with a sword, and trying to push him into the fire. Ultimately, he ends up falling into the fire pit and going up in flames himself.
  • In ‘The Sorcerer's Apprentice’, Mickey is trying to stop the come-to-life broom by hacking it to pieces with an axe.
  • In the ‘Firebird Suite’, a ferocious fire demon is going after the Sprite, and she becomes engulfed in flames.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • The very evil-looking Jack-in-the-Box in ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’ is likely to frighten young children. The tin soldier also encounters some vicious rats with glowing red eyes.
  • The fire demon in the ‘Firebird Suite’ takes the form a huge, demon-like firebird, with a sharp beak and glowing eyes, spitting balls of fire, transforming into a raging mass of lava, and swallowing and burning everything that crosses its path. The Sprite is seen terrified, desperately trying to escape from being swallowed by the firebird.
  • The scary imagery is intensified by loud, ominous and dramatic classical music.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • The above-mentioned scenes and images are likely to scare or disturb many children in this age group.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • The above-mentioned scenes and images might scare some sensitive children within this age group.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

Fantasia 2000 is an impressive successor of the 1940 Fantasia, dazzling the audience with its richness of fantasy, imagination, thrill, and humour. Shorter in length and aided with modern computer animation, Fantasia 2000 is possibly more fitted to modern viewers' expectations than the original. Like its predecessor, Fantasia 2000 contains some dark, scary, and violent scenes that are likely to scare young or sensitive viewers, which is why the film is best suited to families with children aged 7 and over, and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 5 to 6.

The main messages from this movie are about contrast and balance: light cannot exist without darkness; good versus evil; making mistakes, and making up; life, death, and renewal; and finding joy and one's place in this world.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Imagination
  • Fantasy
  • Reflecting on one's action
  • Not giving up.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of appreciating and preserving beautiful things from the past, rather than continuously discarding and replacing the old – demonstrated particularly in ‘The Sorcerer's Apprentice’, which was originally created over 80 years ago, long before computer animation was invented. Yet, it stands the test of time and still manages to impress decades later.