Mickey's Baton

Comments (0) By Dianna Wray Thursday, Jul 1 2010

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Fantasia has been described as Walt Disney's acid trip, and with all of those dancing fish, cavorting Greek gods and stressed-out dinosaurs, we've got to agree. Not that we think Disney did acid, but in the face of the sheer dizzying, imaginative brilliance of Fantasia, you can't deny it's a work of art. People call Snow White Disney's masterpiece, but people say lots of untrue things. Fantasia premiered in 1940 and was made because Walt himself had absolute faith in a project pairing the heights of animation with works by the likes of Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Beethoven. The film's orchestra was conducted by Leopold Stokowski, one of the greatest conductors of the era, and the film premiered with lots of fanfare and trumpets in New York. Unfortunately, the expensive project flopped at the time, and Disney almost lost everything. If they ever unfreeze his cryogenically frozen head, somebody should go thank him for having taken the risk necessary to create a pure work of art. In the meantime, Grapevine is showing the now classic film 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Palace Theater, 300 S. Main St., for only $7.50. Call 817-410-3541 or visit grapevinetexasusa.com for more info.
Fri., July 2, 7:30 p.m., 2010