Fantasia Reimagined: Disney’s Live Action Remake Announced

Today I read that Disney are working on a live action adaptation of the Night on Bald Mountain sequence from Fantasia (1940). The original sequence, scored by Modest Mussorgsky and arranged for the production by Leopold Stokowski, sees a giant, menacing, winged devil figure (Chernabog) resurrect the dead, in one of the darkest pieces of animation ever produced by the studio. Upon hearing the sonorous peal of church bells, and a choral rendition of Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria, the evil souls retire to their graves as the devil solemnly recoils, and the darkness is overcome by heavenly light. The sequence is perceived by many casual viewers and animation fanatics alike to bear artistic merit in its visual conveyance of the power of solidarity in worship, and the triumph of good over evil. Now, initially I did not consider a live action adaptation to be a bad idea, especially considering its potential visual impact. But then I thought, perhaps it risks sacrificing the symbolism and succinctness of what is essentially a piece of art, and what is regarded as one of the most memorable, dramatic and impressive animated sequences of the 20^th Century.

Now, let’s not jump to conclusions. There’s no knowing precisely what they plan to do, creatively, in order to extend its narrative to that of a full-length feature. What’s more, Disney’s animated canon is no stranger to live action regeneration, and they’ve previously succeeded in terms of box office revenue. In 2010, Tim Burton’s re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland hit the big screen and, while it attributed its primary source basis as the Lewis Carroll novel and bore no specific ties to the animated original from 1951, it nonetheless conveyed itself as something of a darker, 21^st Century modification, despite representing something of a sequel to the original story. In 2014, Angelina Jolie starred as Sleeping Beauty’s (1959) iconic villain, the nefarious Maleficent, and just this year, Cinderella (1950) has been retold in the form of a live action movie. In light of these successes at the box office, Disney have also given the green light to a number of other productions with animated predecessors – Beauty and the Beast (1991), Mulan (1998), and even Winnie the Pooh (1977, 2011). However, while I’m certainly not going to doubt the production value of these features, I do question the overall quality, for it does seem rather lazy to keep regurgitating old ideas.

Yet I have to admit this concept is an interesting one, and certainly not something I saw coming. Night on Bald Mountain is one of the closest representations of animated ‘horror’ that I’ve seen – the imagery is just sublime. If they were to produce a live action version, it could be, visually, incredible. But let’s not forget it’s Disney we’re talking about here. This potential might only be realised should Disney not make the mistake of turning this sequence into a vocal performance, let alone (God forbid) a musical. Should they spoil this nightmarish, harrowing portrayal of the contrasting entities of good and evil with a saccharine, wise-cracking, show tune-singing Chernabog, then I might just give up on Disney once and for all.