Best movie of this year hands down!

Lack of good storyline.

How sad is this?

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

First, I should note that I'm not a Disney fan. I always preferred the irreverent cartoons from Warner Bros to the "cute" stuff from the Mouse House. That said, "Music Land" is fairly interesting. Had it been up to me, though, I would have made the Isle of Jazz the Isle of Blues. I guess that one of those either/or pop culture debates ("Star Wars" or "Star Trek", Ginger or Mary Ann, etc) could be jazz or blues. I've always preferred the blues (as well as "Star Trek" and Ginger).So, "Music Land" is an OK cartoon. I interpreted the content as a look at the burgeoning generation gap of the 1930s (I understand that the older generation of white people DID NOT like that the young people were into a type of music created by African-Americans). Tex Avery's "I Love to Singa" dealt with this. Of course, I can't hear "Ride of the Valkyries" without picturing Elmer Fudd wearing a horned helmet to hunt Bugs Bunny.I bet that within a few years, no children will understand the metronome reference. When was the last time that anyone in the 21st century saw a metronome?

Now here is a premise that is tailor-made for Silly Symphonies, so much so that it really could have been part of Fantasia.The Princess of the Isle of Symphony is tempted by the Isle of Jazz and wants to make her own "concert" with a happy saxophone. Her father does not approve (as do I, as saxophones do not belong in a classical orchestra) and locks him up in a metronome jail cell. The two island wage melodic war on each other but eventually "cease fire" when they witness the love of the princess and and the saxophone.The animation, by future Jungle Book director Wolfgang Reitherman, is bright and cheerful but stops short of showing the "beautiful music" the happy couple make on their wedding night.

Watching this short, I as struck by several points: first, that the "voices" of the various characters were the notes played by the instrument in question. Second, they actually "converse" in musical phrases with each other (surely by design, rather than by accident) throughout the cartoon. Third, Jazz and Classical music are more closely interrelated than many in either camp would feel comfortable acknowledging (at least publicly). There's a novelty to the use of music here through visual and audio cues, particularly in the latter third of the cartoon. One of the Silly Symphonies' shining moments, this belongs squarely at the top, along with Skeleton Dance and Flowers and Trees as among Disney's finest shorts.(Small spoiler) The "battle" sequence is absolutely marvelous and bears close scrutiny!Well worth watching. Most highly recommended.

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.All is not peaceful in MUSIC LAND. The Land of Symphony and the Isle of Jazz are separated by the Sea of Discord, with very little chance of their disharmonious disagreements ever being soothed. So, when Prince Sax & Princess Violin fall in love, they precipitate a culture clash of Wagnerian proportions...This is one of the greatest cartoons of all time. For nine minutes it dazzles the viewer (and listener) with seemingly countless musical motifs. The Romeo & Juliet story is quite simple, but the Disney animators embellish it with a lush treatment which abounds in hidden gags & symbolism. (For example, notice the tune the Prince pens in his rescue note.) If there was ever a cartoon that demanded repeated viewing, this is it.The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.