Fantasia – Nothing else to say

Wish (2023)

Just as I was a few minutes away from the theater to see Wish (the 62nd animated feature from the company), I thought to myself: How many times has that word been used in their past films?

Songs that came to mind include “I’m Wishing” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), “A Dream is a Wish your Heart makes” from Cinderella (1950), and, of course, the king of all Disney songs, “When you wish upon a star” from Pinocchio (1940). If one were to make a word cloud of the dialogue (and songs) in Disney films, “Wish” would most likely turn up more than any other word (with the possible exception of “Dream”). With that logic, it seemed a movie like Wish would be inevitable to be released on the centennial of the most known movie studio in history.

Fantasia (1940)

In just over a year, Disney Plus has unsurprisingly joined the ranks of Netflix, Hulu, and others as one of the top tier streaming platforms. It helps when you have not only a vast well of nostalgia in both film and television, but also some original content as well (perhaps most notably The Mandalorian).

Of course, the service does have its fair share of flaws, yet there is one that I find personally irritating. They have catagorized Fantasia (as well as its rather underrated sequel, Fantasia/2000) as a musical. I can understand needing to organize films (anyone who has seen my DVD/Blu Ray collection would attest to that), but I refuse to think of Fantasia as a musical. It is far more than that.