Destino (2003)

Director:

Dominique Monfery

Writers:

Salvador Dalí (story) &
John Hench (story)

Genre:

Animation | Short

Plot:

To a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off...

Plot Keywords:

Surreal | Allegory | Ant | Baseball | Bicycle

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild sensuality.

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG

Company:

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Trivia:

Disney vice-chairman Roy Edward Disney was inspired to re-start production on the film after producing Fantasia/2000 (1999), which mentioned the aborted project.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fantasia/2000 (1999)

Soundtrack:

Destino

Its brevity is only equaled by its brilliance

The best film of the year might not be Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. In fact, it might not even be 90 minutes long.

The best film of the year might just be Destino, the long awaited finalization of the original collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali.

Using a seamless combination of CGI and traditional hand drawn animation, the animators of Disney's Paris studio have created something of bewildering beauty and unrivaled maturity.

In a mere five minutes, in this surreal story of two characters, I saw more pure aesthetic beauty and truth of the human condition than in most of the films I have seen here. The film's subject is desire, imagination, images and struggle. In ballet like grace, a woman, who connects herself with the shadow of a bell, becomes enraptured with a man, who emerges from rock. In the dance, they struggle with both imagery.

Destino does more than simply dazzle with its images - it imbues them with real meaning. As if that wasn't enough, it goes a step further, and adds new to dimension to Dali's entire collected works. I will never look at a Dali painting in quite the same way after watching this short film.

The animated short is an old and prestigious form. From Winsor McKay's first sketchs (which are remarkably good) to modern revelations such as "The Man Who Planted Trees", the animated short has pressed animation further, and provided audiences with stories worthy of telling and retelling. Destino continues in this fine tradition admirably. Being lucky enough to watch this on the big screen is an experience I will treasure forever.