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Sunday, October 25, 2009

A Dream Of Mine Came True Today

When 'Fantasia 2000' was released on January 1, 2000, I was excited to see it. Honestly, it was an average movie. By Disney standards, it was mediocre. It featured a number of classic pieces, including 'Pomp and Circumstance' and 'Rhapsody in Blue'. By far my favorite piece though, was the last one.

It was their interpretation of 'The Firebird Suite' by Igor Stravinsky. It featured an animation style so similar to Miyazaki, that many people thought he actually animated the segment. Needless to say, Miyazaki was not happy. In fact, he called the movie, "Disney's worst animated film: A technical prowess devoid of any feeling". The piece focuses on only two characters, a sprite and an elk, the sprite is completing her duty of awaking the springtime flowers and plants along the hillside and accidentally awakens a Firebird(volcano), which destroys all the life on the life on the hill and seemingly kills the sprite....you'll have to watch the rest to find out what happens next:



I remember seeing this in the theater and being so sad that I would never have a child to share this with, unaware that technology would eventually catch up and allow us to be able to see this in digital quality on big screen televisions. Today, my little girl saw it for the first time. She sat on my lap as I narrated the story to her. At the end of the video, she was headed out the back door to go play. She jumped out of my lap, ran to the TV, touched the screen and smiled, as if to say goodbye. Then she ran outside. It made me get choked up. She liked it. A dream of mine came true. That doesn't happen too often anymore.

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