Fantasia!

I believe the real reason I got pregnant was so I could introduce my child to the wonder of "Fantasia." I will always remember Mom taking me and Daniella to a theater to watch it (that must have been around the time it was re-released in theaters in the 1960s/70s). I've seen it several times since and the scene that always scared the bejesus out of me was "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," when Mickey Mouse tries out a sorcerer's spell on some brooms to get them to do his work for him, and then ends up under an ocean (actually, a tsumani). Rachel dealt with that part just fine; it was the Pastorale Symphony and the scene with the lava spewing out of the mountains (before the dinosaurs) that made her leap into my lap and hide her eyes. I couldn't blame her, it's still kind of scary.

What got me was that even after all these years, Fantasia remains one of my favorite movies and, simply, one of the most amazing feats of animation ever brought to screen. You can see that Pixar was heavily influenced by it. "Every cell is HAND-DRAWN," Drew reminded me, and it is truly incredible how beautifully the music is imagined by Disney's artists.

Rachel was enchanted by it; she dropped her pizza on the floor three times because she totally lost concentration eating (Saturday is turning into family movie and pizza night, which is fine by me) and then she was inspired to change in to a fancy ruffled slip that goes with a dress she has and dance to the Nutracker portion of the movie.

But the best part was when she looked at me and squealed, "Now this is MY favorite movie, too!" and I could have died, happy, just at that moment.