User reviews

If you are feeling at all depressed or bored with psychological thrillers, this is just the film to brighten up your dark moments. It's not hilarious, it won't have you rolling about in hysterical laughter, but it will put a smile on your face and you may even manage a chortle or two. It's pure fantasy, the stuff that dreams are made of....Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Sibelius whose music forms the basis of this film would probably be amused at how their music has been interpreted.

While the black and white scenes of the compere, the conductor, the orchestra and the cartoonist are amusing enough, they seem a bit forced in their attempt at humour (the cartoonist is no Charlie Chaplin) and the transition from black and white to colour is never very smooth. Even the sound level is not constant.

Wherever did they get the old ladies to represent the orchestra? They looked as if they stepped straight out of a Fellini film. In a couple of farcical scenes one old girl while blowing a fanfare on her trumpet ran out of breath and fell over backwards. Another was knocked off the stage when she was struck by a cork propelled from an exploding bottle of champagne.

While the film lacks the technical quality of Disney's Fantasia, it still has some amusing and original ideas. To the sound of Ravel's Bolero, we see some sludge at the bottom of a bottle give way to primitive life and then follows in rapid succession the origin of the various species of life on earth. Even Darwin would have been fascinated by this interpretation of his theory of evolution.

Allegro Non Troppo is far more sexual than any of Disney's work. The faun is depicted as a lecherous old man, an interpretation never seen before in any of the great ballets. There are heart-tugging moments too, particularly to the beautiful music of Sibelius, when we see a starved cat searching for food, warmth and company amongst the ruins of a home.

When one ponders over the number of hours the artists worked on this film, one can only admire their competence and artistry. See it at your first opportunity.

I stumbled upon this one by accident. This is a parody of the Disney film Fantasia, so much so that someone from Disney personally calls the narrator of the film to tell him it's been done before. The narrator then refers to a "Mr Gisney or Pisney or someone" calling. This film is not to be taken seriously. Plus, I've never seen Fantasia so I can't compare.

The strange story is as follows: An angry conductor wishes to put on a show that ties classical music with animation, and employs an orchestra of old women to play at his show. He also has a captive animator whom he uses to provide the cartoons for the film. This all acts as a bridging element between the animated segments, while our narrator tries to give a bit of background to each piece.

The first segment clues you in that the usual Italian obsession with naked women has not been forgotten in this film as we have an aging Satyr trying and failing to attract many of the nymphs frolicking about the landscape. Strangely beautiful, especially if you like trees made out of boobs, nipples everywhere, and a strangely poignant ending. I don't know what it means but it must mean something.

I'm not going through every segment but the linking segments and animated segments run into each other and you see life evolve from the bottom of a coke bottle, a monkey escape into the theatre from the same segment, a man turn himself into a cartoon, a very sad piece involving a cat having flashbacks, and the narrator having to call someone in to provide an ending to the film.

The whole thing is very tongue and cheek and, as a person who doesn't get Italian comedy, I found it actually funny too. The animation is great in certain bits too (especially the house the cat remembers recreating itself), and it's all rather moving and beautiful. Like a steak pie on a roller skate.

"Allegro Non Troppo" is truly a great movie. The storyline, although sample and maybe awkward, is very, very funny.

Animations are good, too. The second and third ones are my personal favorite, but the finales are good, too! The storyline can be offending and crude, but that's all the point of it : it's like "Fantasia", from Walt Disney, as it said in the beginning of the movie, but actions made by characters are more adult-oriented (i.e. : sexual connotation).

Everybody who loves bizarre movies, animations, and stuff like that should love this movie. It is also posing a critical eye over the modern society, one made of consummation and things like that.

Definitely, a must-have!

This very hard-to-find mix of animation, music and comedy is a real treat for those who can appreciate it. I recorded it from TV some years ago, and it's still one of the most valuable articles in my archive. Very clever use of in-between b/w passages, great classical music and animations of totally different styles, concepts and attitudes, but each so well-blended with the music and the whole picture that you hardly get distracted.

I don't agree with the comparisons to Fantasia, this is something different. It deals with things (and uses imagery) that a Disney product would never dare, let alone in the days Fantasia was made.

If you have the slightest admiration for art, and can stand movies without the standard hollywood cliches, grab this one (though that won't be easy) and you'll not be sorry. 10 / 10

Many many years ago, I saw this film and I was absolutely transfixed. This film cannot helped BUT be compared to Fantasia due to the fact that they mention this themselves. But what sets this film apart is its absolutely brilliant interpretations, in animated form, of these wonderful classical pieces that don't get as much attention as the ones Fantasia made popular amongst the general public. And there is one classical piece, above all, that was so brilliantly interpreted that it STILL stands out as one of the most moving pieces ever to be put on screen and that is the "Valse Triste" segment set to the music of Sibelius. Don't get me wrong, Disney's "clean" animation of Fantasia is a wonderful film, but none of its segment moved me as much as Valse Triste. And I think it's free form, scrubby, its understated color use and none heavy handed animation fits BRILLIANTLY here. You don't feel you are watching an animation, you feel as you are watching a painter, with each stroke, visualize the musical note of this wonderful classical piece. You get to see the abandon cat go from fantasy, reality, fantasy, that you wish you could adopt the poor cartoon kitty. If you are a teacher of music, especially classical, get this film and show it to your students, if they are not moved, then nothing will move them. This is the type of stuff that stays with you for YEARS and I guarantee you will be the better for it.

The live-action scenes are kitschy, yes, but still very good. I prefer it to Fantasia, if you must know the truth. I never ever ever need to hear the overplayed 'Bolero' again, but even my exhausted ears still enjoy the sight of evolution from a Coke bottle. The Sibelius still brings tears to my eyes. Make sure you find the subtitled version, as the dubbed one is pretty atrocious.

This is a satirical takedown of Disney. The Presenter claims to be doing something new and original while fighting off Prisney from Hollywood. He rounds up a group of old ladies to be the orchestra. He releases The Animator (Maurizio Nichetti) from the dungeon to draw tales set to classical music. The live-action scenes are black and white. The animation is 70's adult outsider drawings with stories of a lustful satyr, militarism, evolution of leftover coke, and an Adam & Eve take. Nichetti is doing his mostly silent character. It's a satire of Fantasia. It has its humor, its adult content, and it's quirky fun. Like Fantasia, the animation vignettes don't connect which is a shame. I would like to follow the satyr in his aimless erotic adventures. I do love half of the animated vignettes and the other half are pretty fine.

Surely not all of you know the Italian version of Coca Cola... it is called Chinotto, it has better (healthier) ingredients, got more flavour, a bitter-sweet taste, less sparkling effects... in a few words it is pretty good. (Un-)fortunately it cannot challenge the American giant, but for those who know... In a very similar way Allegro Non Troppo stands compared to Fantasia. Fantastic and funny animations, clever and never vulgar, made without a big budget, but with lot of thinking and skills, it creates something quite different from its original model. Obviously the music choice is also very good and both animations and movie (it is not only animation) work fantastically well with the musical selection...You may like it or not, but it surely is a very good and enjoyable effort. Try it once, and you might change your (mass-production) habits...

You probably already know that "Allegro non troppo" could be crudely described as an Italian version of "Fantasia". It even begins with a humourous sequence in which the filmmaker, in live action, is interrupted in his introduction of the movie by someone from Walt Disney studios is threatening litigation!

They are selling themselves short, though. "Allegro non troppo" is in fact a very different beast, closer to "Pink Floyd The Wall" than the earlier Disney pic. For one thing, it's much more adult in tone, and even gets a bit trippy at moments.

I was unimpressed by the first couple of animated sequences, where the animation is poor and doesn't seem to respond to the music in an interesting way. The next ones are much better, especially the one set to Ravel's Bolero, which made the movie for me.

Throughout there are live action sequences in black and white showing the zany antics going on behind the scenes. These bits aren't as interesting, or as successful. I wish they'd just let the animation speak for itself.

"Allegro non troppo" is the Italian answer to Disney's Fantasia. The movie is a parody of the well-known American counterpart, featuring a lousy orchestra (filmed in black and white), a slave animator (the Italian comedian Maurizio Nichetti) and an angry director. The live action part is filled with humor in the tradition of silent-movie comedy, relying mostly on visual gags and on the exceptional mimic of Nichetti. It is in stark contrast with Disney's pedantic and boring intermissions. But it's the animation that makes this movie a masterpiece. Every piece is animated with a different style, showing the best work of Italian animators.

Guido Manuli interprets Debussy's Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun, presenting us the sad story of an ageing satyr that desperately tries to attract some nymphs. The tragi-comic character is a perfect match for the music's mood.

Ravel's Bolero is used for a piece on the origin of life on earth. In this stunning and imaginative sequence, life is born from a Coke bottle! Strange creatures crawl, swim, fly and metamorphose in dinosaurs, finally succumbing to the meanest creature of them all: man. The story of evolution from lowest forms to complex ones is seen as a violent tale of survival, as obsessive as Ravel music. The visuals are superb, with expressionistic colors and weird creature design reminiscent of Bosch.

Another powerful metaphor is the Slavonic dance by Dvorak, a satire of the sheep mentality of modern masses. The cartoony style is appropriate for the fast paced and goofy music.

One of the best pieces is probably the incredibly sad Valtzer Triste, about a kitty remembering his better days. This is technically the most impressive piece, with a mix of techniques used at the best to tell this tale through the cat's wide and moving eyes. Again, the music is powerfully brought to life, with such a precise timing and great emotional impact that you won't be able to hear this Vatzer without recalling the image of the poor animal.

On a brighter note is the Concerto in C Minor by Vivaldi, starring a cute bee that has to survive two lovers rolling over her lawn. There is a subtle message here, when we see the supposedly romantic love play of the couple transformed in a deadly menace... is love not so innocent after all?

Finally, Stravinsky's Firebird is the soundtrack for another satirical piece about an ideal world where Adam and Eve resist the snake temptation, and the snake himself has to suffer all the consequences of the original sin.

Allegro non troppo is to Fantasia what Van Gogh is to Wyland. Ten times more imaginative and mature, it manages to be technically as impressive as Disney's masterpiece. There is more "fantasia" in each of the single pieces of this movie than in all Fantasia. Bozzetto shows how imagination can achieve results that no amount of money can buy. This is animation at its best.

If you liked Fantasia, you'll love this movie.

TROPPO is a corrective to Disney's FANTASIA, a dark satire from Italy that even cattily refers to the Disney classic. I am not sure what inspired the filmmakers to churn out a Disney spoof so many years after the fact (FANTASIA was first released in the 1940s, TROPPO in 1977), but TROPPO is great fun for adult audiences. Among other episodes, a horny faun lustily pursues naked young maidens to the strains of Debussy and sludge at the bottom of a liquor bottle evolves into some pretty nasty lifeforms to the strains of Stravinsky. The live action interludes are far less interesting, shot in black and white and badly dubbed and acted, although the actress playing the mute scrubwoman is breathtaking.

I first saw Allegro non Troppo around 1985 in a VHS copy. I truly loved the film, since it was so different from standard Disney fare. Even the B&W interludes seemed wacky and added to the overall viewing pleasure.

Specially great clips were the Sibelius Valse Triste and the Firebird Suite.

Well, I recently bought the DVD version from this movie (after joining a list in Amazon, so they would edit a DVD version of the film) and I must say that this version is GREAT. Not only is the original film complete and in an excellent version, but there's also 10 additional Bruno Bozzetto shorts plus a documentary about him and his filmmaking.

So I really got a wonderful deal and would truly reccommend this DVD to all animation fans.

9/10!

People expecting Fantasia II will be disappointed. The animation is more creative (though obviously cheaper) than Disney and the message is more adult and biting. The best sequence is last - the search for the finale. The live sequences between the animations are more silly than funny and can be skipped with little loss. Includes one short clay animation sequence.

I watched this on tv when I was a kid and had fond memories of it ever since. Now, decades later, I watched 'Allegro non troppo' again - and was quite disappointed: the frame story is beyond stupid; very rarely you see something THAT dumb, dull and unfunny. On the other hand, the animation sequences are good or even beautiful (it varies), and I guess what I've remembered most in all these years must have been THE COLORS: simply captivating! So make sure you watch this on the biggest screen possible and turn off all other lights!

Yet, after about an hour or so even the animation parts become somewhat tiring, and now I think: collecting a bunch of nice and sometimes beautiful "animated classical music clips" connected by the unfunniest frame story one can think of just doesn't work, just doesn't make a good movie.

All in all:

animated sequences: 8/10; live-action scenes: 2/10

• makes 5/10.

A satire of Fantasia, this is one of the great animated films. The humor and wry comedy are balanced by the music and animation. If you like classical music and animation, you cannot miss this one.

Why has this film not been released on DVD?! This is a film to appreciate over and over.

Allegro non troppo is one of my all time favorite movies. I am somewhat unique in that I saw this movie before Fantasia. Frankly, once I saw Fantasia, I was sadly disappointed. The spoof was more intelligent, better crafted, and more thought provoking. I never cry at movies - except for the Valtzer Trieste (sad waltz) section of this movie. I know if I saw it again, I would well up. Hey, I even liked the gorilla suit.

I was introduced to this obscure gem by my mom when I was 9 years old. I have not seen it since, but I have looked for it since then, and now found it on DVD from Netflix. Reading the reviews of some more recent viewers has brought back many memories. I never forgot the "Bolero" evolution, and the poor kitty DID make me cry so...I didn't understand everything, and our TV was too old and small to let us see the subtitles at all, so no wonder I couldn't get it all. My favorite part was the little man that outsmarted the evil dictator. That still makes me laugh, although it's been so long (17 years!) I eagerly await the little red envelope to bring back some memories and strange fun! Please give this one a chance..I'm proof that it will stay in your heart for a long time.

This is a rather splendid arrangement of experimental animated shorts, set to accompanyment by classical symphonic works and held together by a live action main story. Released in 1977 as a sort of Italian refutation of Disney's "Fantasia," the film reached moderate cult status amongst certain circles as a psychedelic tour de force. Included with the main film is a compendium of often bizarre animated works from the film's producer/director and braintrust (Bruno Bozzetto), as well as a documentary style short with the cast and crew. Watching the film now, without any, uh, "accompanyment," was still quite an enjoyable revisitation. However, this revisitation also brought about a realization of the unbalanced quality of the effort. Some of the shorts were just wonderfully constructed, showcasing the music perfectly, while others seemed to miss the mark a bit. Overall, though, this was a great cult film to revisit. Important last note: although the main film is appropriate for all ages, there is brief nudity and adult themes in the accompanying "Special Features" compendium of animated shorts.

An undisguised parody on 'Fantasia', the film is nowhere near on the same level but it has enough interesting elements of its own to be satisfying viewing. It is a mix of live action orchestra (filmed in washed out black and white) and vibrant colour animation. The live action sequences are fascinating at times, especially when animation is mixed in. However, the silly slapstick nature of the live action parts is a stark contrast against the animation, and this sometimes hurts the film's flow. As for the animated sequences, some of them are quite adult, with sexual allusions and animated nudity. The animation is, like in 'Fantasia', fitted around classical music, and while in some cases the drawings fit the tunes quite well, more often that not, the cartoons seem independent of the music. In this regard the film does not work as well as Disney's original, and overall it is more interesting as an experiment rather than anything else. It is worth a look - if not quite unique, it certainly is not mundane.

Though I loved Walt Disneys Fantasia as a young kid and will credit it with being original, it is Allegro Non Troppo which is the ultimate artful piece when it comes to animation on music. So much more feeling, humor and variation in artwork. The sad parts still nearly get me to tears just when I hear the music (Valse Triste by Jean Sibelius) while some of the funny parts are as hilarious as they are interesting because of the subtle (moral) messages. The art work ranges from simple cartoon-ish to flowing water color paintings. What impressed me most about almost all of the animations was how well they fitted the music. Not just the rhythm, but also the emotion. As a kid I was convinced that the music was created to fit with the animations only later to discover that some of the music was centuries old.

Some people describe it, as an Italian rip-off of Walt Disney classic: Fantasia. Okay, that might be true in. But what if, the "plagium" is WAY better, than the original???? Becuose that is true again. Disney released Fantasia in 1940, when it was a really big hit, and a revolutionary attempt to queue up these dialogue-less, and sometimes totally abstract flicks into a whole movie. A very good movie, and a surprisingly successful attempt it was indeed. Fantasia had a GREAT influence on the young Bozzetti back then, who decided, to make a film like that once, as a revelation of his crush on music and animation. 37 years later, "Allegro non Troppo" has been made. Again it was a great success, only this time the place was Italy, instead of the USA... But everyone should be aware for another all-time classic of animation masterwork's been born. The film starts with a pronouncer talking about that its not a Fantasia rip-off, he never even seen that Disney-stuff, and this is going to be much more fun anyway (yes, i agree). There's a live-action film that puts the animations in a frame, which is about a live production with orchestra (a bunch of old ladies, and their conductor), and a cartoonist, who designs the movie real-time onto the musical base. These parts are black and white, and since its an Italian film, its a series of hilarious jokes, and total chaos between them. The musical pieces running under animations, are Bozzettis personal favorites, and is a widely variated set, from Ravel's "Bolero", to Debussey's "The Fauns's afternoon". In this move you don't have to sit through several minutes of non-figurative mayhem (which is interesting for a limited period, but afterward...), which you had to do on fantasia, those tasteless, finicking centaurs been replaced by a sexy story of a faun, and the forever-marching dinos, with the famous "evolution from the coke-bottle" scene. This move is full of LIFE. Sometimes calm, other times teeming, but It is always funny and lyric, and things it has to say, it says them VERY loud. One of the greatest classics for you, who love animation and music.

I'd recommend this to an animation buff just to witness Debussy's "Ode to the Afternoon of a Faun" and the Valter Triste. The Faun is the 2nd most saddest thing I've ever seen on film, with an elderly satyr trying to find a young lover, and failing and finally giving up at the end. The MOST saddest thing I've seen is the Valtzer Triste, a vignette about a forsaken cat in a condemed building thinking back on the days with it's owners. To see this cat smile when thinking of the past, and then become saddened when he returns to reality, brought me to tears. And at the end when he fades away, I challenge you not to get choked up. I'll never forget that piece.

The live-action sequences linking the shorts are horrible, dated "comedy". Some of the other shorts are ok, notably Creation set to Ravel's Bolero. Mercifully short 75 minutes.

While I appreciate the idea behind it, and find some of the animation agreeable, I simply have to say that I disliked this movie. There's hardly any plot, it is not funny (not for the lack of trying), and apart from the first two animation shorts, it's very boring and non-engaging. And the animation itself is... well, ugly. Some of the segments are technically impressive, but overall it looks either esthetically unpleasing or cheap. The characters are OK, overly cartoonish, but in accord with the overall tone of the movie. "Allegro non troppo" is a well intended piece of oddity that may be interesting to art students, although I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.