I get the knee jerk reaction to it not being a game that one-to-one tries to emulate the experience of the 1940s film (or the follow-up, Fantasia 2000, which did attempt to emulate and continue exactly what was happening in 1940). It’s fair that fans and lovers of the original work might have certain expectations.
Take or leave what I’m about to say in response to these concerns/reactions – it’s not in any way intended to sway your thoughts on the merits of the game, but should frame where we are coming from. (Full disclosure for those who don’t know, I’m PR and Communications Lead at Harmonix and have worked on Fantasia for 12,000 years by this point.)
First, at no point did Disney Interactive want us to re-create the experience of Fantasia (1940) as a game. That exists, it still holds up as one of the most innovative, beautiful pieces of animation ever created to this date. You can’t touch THAT, and I don’t think you should. (See the 1991 Genesis/Mega Drive game for the results of that.) What Disney did want us to do – and this was an open ended assignment, honestly – was for us to capture the spirit of the film and bring it into a modern context using motion control and the interactive medium. I wasn’t there for the meeting, but there’s a legend that someone in the first Disney/Harmonix meeting said “Players should move their arms around and cool music and stuff should happen.” That’s… really broad!
Still, we wanted to be very respectful of what Walt Disney’s original vision for the film was. So beyond just taking a wild guess, we were given access to the Disney archives that contained transcribed notes of literally hundreds of hours of production meetings, meetings where that original team solidified their intent for the project. TL;DR – marry this new medium of film/animation with music to allow audiences to experience music a completely new and unique way. To connect them with musical pieces in a way that a recording or a live performance couldn’t.
At the time, the idea of a concert film started with these classical pieces people associate with the film. But the idea of building on that concept was to release additional shorts with new music, year over year. That never happened. From 1940 to now, so much has changed about music – evolving genres, new ways to create, new ways to share, new ways to consume, etc. So for us, there’s how we looked at the soundtrack, and that included classical music (we have a handful of classical tracks – including pieces from the 1940s film – as well as orchestral remixes of songs original written for other genres), rock music, pop music, electronic music, and more. All told, when you take a hard look at what genres and sounds you’ll hear in the game in terms of various remixes, it’s bonkers: big band jazz, country, heavy metal, punk, chip tunes, dubstep, pop, easy listening, hip-hop, and all matter of genre variations you could think of. [FWIW, there’s evidence based on archives I’ve read that suggested music that featured electronic drums was being considered for future Fantasia pieces… this was in 1939!]
I don’t expect everyone to agree with all of the music on the soundtrack; musical taste is highly personal and subjective. And you either enjoy the experience or you don’t; that’s also personal and subjective. But please don’t for a moment think that Harmonix or anyone at Disney Interactive has any motives outside of creating a truly unique, innovative experience that remains true to the spirit and core of what Fantasia is. (SomewhatGroovy: I do take issue with you saying “this game offers nothing innovative in any sense of the word.” Show me another game that allows players to not only create their own music in the context of existing works, but to take those existing works and alter them dramatically in real time. There really isn’t, as far as I know. The team worked hard to create a new gameplay experience, and I give them crazy props for actually delivering.)
Another thing to note is that the demo showcases performance gameplay, and there's a whole secondary interactive Discovery element that features gorgeous, musical and magical worlds that players can interact with. (That's hinted at in the visuals behind the Performance gameplay, as well as the "upsell video" that plays after you complete the demo.)
Also, CloudWolf’s icon is Mike Patton, so bonus points to him… talk about a musician who wrecklessly tears down genre barriers like woah. I used to sneak out in the middle of the night in high school to see him play improv shows at the Knitting Factory in NYC with a bunch of experimental musicians, which basically exploded my teenage brain.
UPDATE: Just saw SomewhatGroovy came to the same conclusion about the use of music beyond classical. Again, don't expect that to change your thoughts on the experience, but I hope you at least understand that we're being genuine here and not trying to cash in on a license. (FWIW, most of the market doesn't even know what Fantasia is... kids these days!)
BONUS: Also, if you think WE got Fantasia wrong, check
THIS out.
