Hello and welcome to a Classic Shorts Showcase Special. Now I know what some of you may be thinking. It's odd that I'm only looking at one segment from Fantasia 2000 and not the entire film. Well, there are two reasons for this. First, I feel that with both of the Fantasia's, you can take any segment out of the film and still enjoy them. And more importantly, I have been covering Disney's take on the tale of Noah and this is perhaps the most famous one out there and it only feels right that when looking at all of the different ways Disney has told this tale, to go over this segment from Fantasia 2000. With this out of the way, I present to you Pomp and Circumstance.
The Plot
Okay, first things first forget what I said back in my review of Father Noah's Ark of this tale being a good retelling of Noah's Ark. As it really isn't telling that story. Oh, don't get me wrong, the basic story elements such as Noah and the ark do appear but Noah is in so little of this segment that I don't think we ever see his face. Also other characters such as Noah's three sons have been taken out and replaced with Donald and Daisy serving as asstiants. Rather this segment uses the timeless tale of Noah as a backdrop to tell a new story about Donald and Daisy and love lost as the biggest element of this story is that both Donald and Daisy believe that they have lost their loved one. Now this is an area that some may take issue with and rightly so. Because even though, it is never stated how long, Noah, Donald and Daisy are on the ark, if we go by the actual story. It was 40 days and 40 nights and that does have to make one wonder if Donald and Daisy never crossed paths. Sure, the ark is ridiculously big but even still, it does seem hard to buy into this. Or one would think. Rather, it is easy to buy into this because of how well this story is told. Now as for the elements of Noah's Ark in this segment, we see Noah already building the ark and for obvious reasons here, God is cut out. Now one touch that I'd like in this version of the tale was that it showed why mythical creatures such as dragons and unicorns no longer exist as they scoffed at the ark and thought it was silly.
Is this segment faithful to Noah's Ark? No but it doesn't need to be as this story isn't about Noah. Rather, it's set during the time of the ark's time on sea. Because in reality, we don't see all that much of Noah in here. At first, I wanted to compare him to Yen Sid but that's not apt because unlike Yen Sid, who we actually learn a little about in his segment, we never learn anything about this Noah. Again though, we don't need to because this story isn't about him.
Ark
Now as I said up above when talking about the ark, it is ridiculously big but I like that because unlike the previous two entries that tackled Noah, the arks almost seemed too small to fit all of the animals that Noah was supposed to gather. Looking at it again, it is a bit easy to see how Donald and Daisy may have never have crossed paths on the ark. I also I have to say that I really love the opening of this segment when see all of the animals coming together to the ark. It very much reminds of the opening of The Lion King, when we see all of the animals gathering at Pride Rock. That was a very nice moment in my opinion and it let me know that we were in for a good time.
Characters
Now there are only two characters that need to be talked about. Being Donald and Daisy. So those are the only two that I'll be taking a gander at.
Donald
For those of you curious, Donald's personality does come across well even without his iconic voice. The classic elements of Donald being short tempered are shown very well especially when dealing with the animals on the ark as we see him lose his cool when the animals are taking too long to enter the ark. Also I love it in the beginning when Noah discovers him in a hammock and Donald just laughs off the idea until it starts raining. All in all, Donald was a blast in this segment. I also felt that the idea of Donald missing Daisy was shown well but I think it was handled better with Daisy.
Daisy
I honestly believe that Daisy is the more sympathetic character in this segment. Now I'm not sure if we spend an equal amount of time with Donald and Daisy in this segment. Even though it does seem that Donald gets more screen time but I find that Daisy's moments on screen are better as there seems to be more resonance with how much she misses Donald. It almost seems that her emotions come in a more honest manner than Donald. I have to say though that I love the moment at the end when Daisy thinks that she has lost her locket and Donald is there sweeping and go to reach it and our two lovers are reunited.
Music
Pomp and Circumstance
Now this is the part that most of you were probably waiting for. Because if one is going to review a Fantasia segment, you must talk about the music. I have to say I love the music here. True, it may seem odd and yes even listening to it now, I can't help but think of graduations but I do think that this was an inspired choice to set this piece of music to Noah's Ark and for the story that was told, I find that it worked rather well. Admittedly, some areas do drag but those moments do not last for very long. I've heard some people say this is the weakest segment in Fantasia 2000. I'm not sure if I agree with that because I do believe that for the most part, a lot of the elements come together to tell an entertaining story. I find that the music was used well here in telling this story.
My Final Thoughts
This is an entertaining segment to be sure. As I said up top, this really isn't the story of Noah being told. It is instead using the backdrop and element of Noah's Ark to tell a brand new story. One that I find quite enjoyable. I think the best way to look at these three shorts is by saying this if you want to see a Disney short that tells the story of Noah's Ark, check out the stop motion short from 1959. If you wish to see something that tells a new story that uses the elements of Noah's ark, watch this segment from Fantasia 2000 and as for Father Noah's ark. While I didn't like it, I wouldn't deter anyone from checking it out as I feel it is important to take a look at the early Disney shorts as well. As I said in my review of that short, my biggest problem is that I feel as if nothing happened. With this and last week's short, that is not the case whatsoever. This segment is very enjoyable so long as you go in knowing that this is not the story of Noah but rather it just uses it as a backdrop for a story featuring Donald and Daisy.
The Plot
Okay, first things first forget what I said back in my review of Father Noah's Ark of this tale being a good retelling of Noah's Ark. As it really isn't telling that story. Oh, don't get me wrong, the basic story elements such as Noah and the ark do appear but Noah is in so little of this segment that I don't think we ever see his face. Also other characters such as Noah's three sons have been taken out and replaced with Donald and Daisy serving as asstiants. Rather this segment uses the timeless tale of Noah as a backdrop to tell a new story about Donald and Daisy and love lost as the biggest element of this story is that both Donald and Daisy believe that they have lost their loved one. Now this is an area that some may take issue with and rightly so. Because even though, it is never stated how long, Noah, Donald and Daisy are on the ark, if we go by the actual story. It was 40 days and 40 nights and that does have to make one wonder if Donald and Daisy never crossed paths. Sure, the ark is ridiculously big but even still, it does seem hard to buy into this. Or one would think. Rather, it is easy to buy into this because of how well this story is told. Now as for the elements of Noah's Ark in this segment, we see Noah already building the ark and for obvious reasons here, God is cut out. Now one touch that I'd like in this version of the tale was that it showed why mythical creatures such as dragons and unicorns no longer exist as they scoffed at the ark and thought it was silly.
Is this segment faithful to Noah's Ark? No but it doesn't need to be as this story isn't about Noah. Rather, it's set during the time of the ark's time on sea. Because in reality, we don't see all that much of Noah in here. At first, I wanted to compare him to Yen Sid but that's not apt because unlike Yen Sid, who we actually learn a little about in his segment, we never learn anything about this Noah. Again though, we don't need to because this story isn't about him.
Ark
Now as I said up above when talking about the ark, it is ridiculously big but I like that because unlike the previous two entries that tackled Noah, the arks almost seemed too small to fit all of the animals that Noah was supposed to gather. Looking at it again, it is a bit easy to see how Donald and Daisy may have never have crossed paths on the ark. I also I have to say that I really love the opening of this segment when see all of the animals coming together to the ark. It very much reminds of the opening of The Lion King, when we see all of the animals gathering at Pride Rock. That was a very nice moment in my opinion and it let me know that we were in for a good time.
Characters
Now there are only two characters that need to be talked about. Being Donald and Daisy. So those are the only two that I'll be taking a gander at.
Donald
For those of you curious, Donald's personality does come across well even without his iconic voice. The classic elements of Donald being short tempered are shown very well especially when dealing with the animals on the ark as we see him lose his cool when the animals are taking too long to enter the ark. Also I love it in the beginning when Noah discovers him in a hammock and Donald just laughs off the idea until it starts raining. All in all, Donald was a blast in this segment. I also felt that the idea of Donald missing Daisy was shown well but I think it was handled better with Daisy.
Daisy
I honestly believe that Daisy is the more sympathetic character in this segment. Now I'm not sure if we spend an equal amount of time with Donald and Daisy in this segment. Even though it does seem that Donald gets more screen time but I find that Daisy's moments on screen are better as there seems to be more resonance with how much she misses Donald. It almost seems that her emotions come in a more honest manner than Donald. I have to say though that I love the moment at the end when Daisy thinks that she has lost her locket and Donald is there sweeping and go to reach it and our two lovers are reunited.
Music
Pomp and Circumstance
Now this is the part that most of you were probably waiting for. Because if one is going to review a Fantasia segment, you must talk about the music. I have to say I love the music here. True, it may seem odd and yes even listening to it now, I can't help but think of graduations but I do think that this was an inspired choice to set this piece of music to Noah's Ark and for the story that was told, I find that it worked rather well. Admittedly, some areas do drag but those moments do not last for very long. I've heard some people say this is the weakest segment in Fantasia 2000. I'm not sure if I agree with that because I do believe that for the most part, a lot of the elements come together to tell an entertaining story. I find that the music was used well here in telling this story.
My Final Thoughts
This is an entertaining segment to be sure. As I said up top, this really isn't the story of Noah being told. It is instead using the backdrop and element of Noah's Ark to tell a brand new story. One that I find quite enjoyable. I think the best way to look at these three shorts is by saying this if you want to see a Disney short that tells the story of Noah's Ark, check out the stop motion short from 1959. If you wish to see something that tells a new story that uses the elements of Noah's ark, watch this segment from Fantasia 2000 and as for Father Noah's ark. While I didn't like it, I wouldn't deter anyone from checking it out as I feel it is important to take a look at the early Disney shorts as well. As I said in my review of that short, my biggest problem is that I feel as if nothing happened. With this and last week's short, that is not the case whatsoever. This segment is very enjoyable so long as you go in knowing that this is not the story of Noah but rather it just uses it as a backdrop for a story featuring Donald and Daisy.
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