User reviews

There is no other way to visually match the haunting and lyrical piece, Destino. Utilizing a stunning array of Dali's most iconic pieces, this short tells a very emotional tale. It has left me without words to describe it. Simply, it is beautiful, breath-taking, stunning, and almost lyrical in the fluid change of the figures and icons.

The melody will haunt you for days as you struggle to fully grasp this masterpiece.

However, it is at times too Fantasia-like, too Disney, and not enough Dali. It can be taken as a superficial composition, but I like to think of it as more, as though Dali knew something that we do not and this short serves to inform us of his secret.

At one time Disney and Dali wanted to collaborate for one of the former's compilation animated films (one could image this with Donald Duck, right?) and it kind of fell apart for reasons unknown. Thankfully Roy Disney picked up the mantle in the 21st century - after Fantasia 2000 the spark was reignited - and the results are rather extraordinary: it's like going into Dali's art gallery and seeing characters walk around.

One might almost be taken aback, if one knows Dali's art, how close a lot of this is to paintings he made. He is co-writer on the script, however, so I have to think this was how he intended it (a script was written for the short, it's hard to dismiss that at least). Par for the course for the co-creator of Un chien Andalou, the film has only the closest thing to a 'story' insofar as as there's a man, and a woman, and they want to be together, and passion ignites... except they're in a world full of uninhibited things, like ants which turn into men, eye-balls in tuxedo suits, and, at one (very clever) point in the background, a moon walking on spider legs.

It's not very long, only about seven minutes long, but the film never stops to amaze with how it presents its unique creature-creations and sights down long, distorted hallways with squared designs, and the distortions that can be provided by modern-day technology. The only thing holding it back from top-10-OMG-masterpiece terrain is that some, not all though, of the CGI animation isn't convincing. The characters themselves look great, as do several of the amalgamation-beings (eyeballs, insects, 'things', statues), but here and there a touch of the smooth look of CGI doesn't totally flow with the rest of the film. But this is a nitpick only for me.

What also carries this, and I have to think this was one of those elements in place when the film had its inception, is the song: Destino is passionately sung and performed, and it carries the viewer along with the images, just as the tango did in 'Andalou' - you can't really have what's on the screen without the melody, only here it's not as ironic or whimsical. It's a gorgeous experience, and I'm glad Disney decided to finish what it started, especially for a creator like Dali who had so few film projects realized in his time.

What a delightful combination- a hauntingly sweet song paired with Dali inspired animation. I found the animation to be more old-style Disney, not like the cookie-cutter cartoons more recently produced. It was flowing and lyric, a perfect accompaniment to the music.

The Dali fan will find countless images from his paintings, brought to life and presented in a graceful, dreamlike world. Images meld one into another in a way that Dali was not able to utilize in still art. He might give the *impression* of transformation, but in Destino, you see it come to pass.

It is an airy cruise through melancholy, romance, and longing. For me it was most thought-provoking, but not heavy or depressing. Definitely recommended!

I spent the day yesterday in Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of the reasons I went there was to try to see the Salvador Dali's exhibitions but the tickets have been sold until the end of April. While in the museum, I was able to see two films that Dali was a big part of. In the video Gallery of the museum, two intriguing projects have been running together in the continuous loop, the early "Un Chien Andalou" (17 minutes) and the recently released, animated Destino (6 minutes). This was the first viewing for me. I kept coming back to the gallery for few more times and I never was tired of both short films.

What would've happened if Salvador Dali and Walt Disney had decided to work together on a project? The answer is "Destino" , the 6 minutes, 40 seconds long animated film based on a Mexican love ballad entitled "Destino". Dali and Disney admired each other's work and their meeting at a dinner party in 1945, inspired the idea for collaboration. Although, the film was abandoned in 1946 due to the economic problems created by WWII, Dali's storyboards, sketches, and paintings were saved. Work began on Destino in May 2001 and in June 2003, "Destino" premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Set to the Mexican ballad, the idea behind the film was described by Disney as "just a simple love story - boy meets girl". Dali called it "a magical exposition on the problem of life in the labyrinth of time". The end result is a tender, beautiful, sad, and charming love story as only Dali could imagine it, complete with the images as only he could create by the power of his imagination - melting clocks, tuxedo-clad eyeballs without faces, ballerinas, ants that turn into bicycles, and surprising baseballs.

Although it wasn't completely made by the original collaborators (Dali & Walt Disney), it still has their vision taken from their storyboards. This is classic Dali mixed with a female protagonist who has the familiar Disney style face.

Great story, with a wonderful somewhat tragic ending.

I had a chance to view the Destino DVD and was highly impressed. I was impressed so much that I bought a suite (set of 6)from the time line done by Dali and Disney. The DVD captures the true surrealism that Disney (who would ever think of a talking mouse) and Dali is famous for. These two individuals that one would think we be as far apart in personalities would actually come up with one the best short films and some of the most treasured art work ever created. I am truly blessed to have seen such a work of art and truly honored to own a piece of history. If you have the chance to see the DVD or own some of the art work that has come out of this experience, jump on it. It is very rare that two famous individuals with such diverse backgrounds collaborate on such a unique piece.

From animation perspective this was VERY annoying to watch when some elements look like 30-60fps CG, while others are barely 3 fps hand drawn animation with fades between the frames at the same time.

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.

I discovered this wonderful film on a cruise this winter, it was shown by Park West Galleries as part of a seminar. For me it was love at first site and I quickly fell in love with not only the movie but the art work Salvador Dali produced as concepts for it.

In the end I purchased a set of seven lithographs that Dali created and to my joy the set came with a copy of the film Destino. I can say that am am undoubtedly a proud owner and love the great addition to my collection.

Some have called this film uninteresting, to this I am at a loss for words. to see the brain child of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali come to life is incredible. I admit, children and those who view Dali's work as 'weird' will probably not enjoy this short masterpiece.

If you ever get a chance to see the film do not hesitate to do so. Even if you do not like the premise the film is a tribute to the brilliant minds of both Walt and Salvador.

This was a fantastic example of the good that technology brings.I was delighted by it and I am thrilled that this dream was brought to fruition.

Who ever thought Dali and Disney would collaborate. A must see it is moving art, song, and poetry! And a huge credit to the art world. If you are an art enthusiast, Or if you are enthralled by Disney's darker side, find a way to see it. The imagery is classic Dali. I understand many could be turned off by some of the images brought to screen by Dali in the past i.e. the Andilusian Dog, but Disney's influence is clearly visible. The musical score is haunting and at times Very indicative of Classic Disney scores. If you like animated shorts, the art of Dali, and are open minded you will enjoy this one.

The idea of Disney and Dali working together seems as weird as one of Dali's paintings. A play off Broadway several seasons ago imagined Dali's effect on the Disney Studio and Alice in Wonderland which was in production at the same time and was quite funny.

The reality of situation was something else and ended after lots of sketches and paintings had been done (many later stolen) but for all the work only several seconds of film had actually been animated. For 50 years there was always a feeling of "what if it all had worked out" to the project. Now 50 Years later Roy Disney picks up where Uncle Walt left off and completed the project.

The result was better in the realm of "what if".

There is nothing really wrong with the film, except its not really interesting. I saw it as part of a children's film festival and most of the kids seemed puzzled. Most of the adults just took the odd images in stride. It was well animated but nothing special to look at, its really more a collection of paintings that move than an actual film. Yes there is a romance of sorts with a surrealist twist, but its nothing compelling.

The film was nominated for best animated short, but having actually watched the entire film I think it was more a favor to Roy Disney than to any Oscar quality of the film.

If you get the chance see it, but its not worth going out of your way to see. Nor do I think it will be worth the price of Disney's proposed DVD release featuring a documentary on the making of and the film itself. If they charge anything over ten bucks they truly will have be as mad as Dali himself.

Originally conceived as a joint project between Disney and Dalí back in the 1940's, this short animation never got to the stage of being completed for various reasons and instead existed as paintings and storyboards Dalí made with Disney animator John Hench. These were on display at the Tate Modern as part of the exhibition "Dalí & Film" and I did like the fact that I could see the creation of the film and then step next door to watch it and see how close it came to the original design from over fifty years before.

Watching it is a strange but enjoyable experience because it is at once Disney and Dalí and this is a combination that I didn't think sat all that well together thematically or visually. I did get used to it but it did jar with me to see a woman with a typical modern Disney face, suddenly becoming part of a Dalí's creation. Perhaps this was the intension but it did feel a bit like someone was flicking a switch somewhere to go Dalí then Disney then back again – not so much a combination of styles as the two being placed next to one another in one piece. This feeling aside though, it is a quiet engaging and enjoyable film that I enjoyed immensely visually. Dalí's vision is brought to life really well and the images from his storyboard and paintings generally are instantly recognisable.

Again I did wonder if the film would have been quite so "Disney" if it had been made in 1946 with the man himself directly involved – at times I did feel that I was watching Pocahontas and it did take away from the experience a little bit. Fortunately the storyboards prevent it going too far from the original images and as such it is interesting and imaginative; the CGI is a blessing and a curse though. On one hand it makes all this possible but on the other it seems significantly less real than Dalí's actual paintings – I'm not sure quite why but I think the colours are too simple and the imagery lacking in the detail that some of his work has.

Overall though, it is still an enjoyable and enchanting film and a chance to see Dalí's images flowing across the screen. Perhaps a little too Disneyified for my tastes, it is still well worth seeing for the chance to enter a Dalí painting and follow a story about loss and love.

OMG!!! I ran across this short film about 5 years ago and fell in love with it instantly!! I've loved Disney since I was a kid and Dali since I was a teenager learning about art. It's absolutely GORGEOUS and STRANGE!!

Dora Luz, has the voice of an angel and the song is just so heart-breakingly lovely. The love story is fantastic. The one thing I wonder is why did Disney continue to shelve this after the war??? Jealousy maybe??? You can see that the artwork is heavily Dali influenced. It obvious that they both held each other in very high esteem as artists when they agreed to start this project. I'm so glad it was found and completed and shared with the world finally.

For all you Dali fans, there is a wonderful 360 degree video called Dreams of Dali . You can literally enter Dali's artwork and immerse yourself in a surrealist dream of super weirdness that will leave your mouth agape. It can be found on Youtube. It actually allows you to enter Dali's famous paintings from different angles and is just really a fun trip for the whole family to enjoy from the comfort of your home without having to buy VR Goggles. Especially during this horrible Pandemic, but if you get the chance in the future, you can view it in person at a Dali Museum in Florida or Spain and they have the VR Goggles there. Check this short film out and then go play in Dali's breathing artwork, it's the closest you will get to being Alice through the Looking Glass! Cheers !! ;D

This is a woman's surreal journey. She dances her way through transitional scenes created by Salvador Dali. The images are magnificent and pull us along. The colors leap to the screen. The music is haunting, promising destiny and love. There is a kind of spark when images carom off one another. Excellent.

Destino is a beautiful Mexican old bolero song that speaks of destiny, timing and love, and the thread of this film. Although created in 2003, this was a joint project of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney, started in 1946 but never finished because of lack of funds. Disney, the company, decided to have it finished to include it in Fantasia 2000. The short fits perfectly with the original Fantasy, in spirit, style, themes and mood, something remarkable because the original creators are no longer with us.

Like other pieces in Fantasia and Fantasia 2000, Destino is a symbolic piece that links the music, the visuals and the narrative in very artistic ways. It has many levels of reading and it is up to you what in the story speaks to you, or what the story is about. It was never meant to mean only one thing because, although Dali certainly projected his main themes and visuals into the story and imagery (the world of the oneiric, the subconscious, the Psyche, the Freudian) Walt Disney saw it mostly as a romantic love story. Destino is a contemporary ballet with an exploration of the male and female psyche expressed in a mythic romantic drama.

The movie uses 2D animation and is wonderfully Disneyan (what Disney was before it became too commercial), with a beautifully lyric piece that stays true to the soul of the creators and feels as if they had carried it out to the end. Dominique Monfery has achieved something wonderful, magic and respectful to what the piece meant to be.

A short film like this might have been mind-blowing in the 1950s, as planned, because the format, language and themes were very hot and innovative at time. They are not as much nowadays, so the freshness is perhaps gone, it feels like a wonderful Disney vintage piece, and that is remarkable, but it didn't touch or move me.

But no. It has two problems, and in a short film where the only important thing it's the visual style and how it looks (the animation style), this film isn't good enough.

OK, the visual style it's really cool, because you know, Dali style. Whatever, it doesn't success in the same way in the animation, being sometimes fluid and smooth, and others just rear too look at, and not in a good way. It looks like a transition between a photo and one of those in which an image fades slowly to result in the other, and this doesn't match at all. Besides that, it look awful.

The other problem with the animation it's the use of CGI, when the movie will be far better only with a traditional style, or at least being just in 2D.

In the end, nothing really interesting, maybe if you're a fan of Salvador Dali.

Normally, when I review a film, like everyone else, I give it a rating. However, occasionally I have come upon experimental films so unusual and so non-commercial that doing so would be impossible...and this is definitely the case with "Destino". It's a very surreal film based on story boards designed by Salvador Dali and so it's NOT the sort of thing the average viewer would enjoy...and it coming from Disney must have come as a real surprise to those who have seen it. It seems that back in the 1940s, Walt Disney and Dali wanted to collaborate and a few seconds of film were actually animated. But the project was abandoned and only recently did Disney's nephew, Roy, discover the film and commissioned a team of artists to complete the animated short. It's well animated but odd in every possible way and a film best seen and heard instead of describing. Well worth seeing if you don't mind experimental artsy films...I sure did.

What a wonderful surprise to see such a delightful short! Beautiful graphics and very creative story development. The singing was emotional but unintelligible (to me).

Disney and Dali collaborated to create the brief surrealist trip known as "Destino", and it seems that this film had some long production history that I'm just not going to get into because it's somewhat irrelevant to my views on the film itself. Whatever the original intentions may have been, whatever technical issues may have occurred throughout the years before this film was finally released...they do not matter nearly as much as the fact that this film is absolutely fantastic!

The music, the visuals, the plot less odyssey of ecstasy and passion...it's all perfectly placed and constructed from beginning to end, and it makes for a beautifully experimental experience that has moments of love, moments of moving emotional power and wacky surrealist humor. It's short, sweet, and surreal...a real treat! If one of Dali's most brilliant paintings were to come to life, this is exactly what it'd look like, and was obviously probably somewhat of the film's original intention and, no matter how things may have played out over the years leading up to its eventual release, the final product of "Destino" is a blazing rocket ride round the peaks of imaginative, boundless, unbreakable madness, color, and creativity!

A very interesting short film. I got a little lost, but it was thoroughly entertaining! Wish we could have seen it if Disney and Dali had finished their version.

It's understood that cinema is art and art doesn't necessarily have a meaning.

Destino is collection of pictures drawn by Salvador Dali, in motion. They don't form a story when put together, or if they do, it's not easily interoperabile.

The dream like film looks good visually. It is very unlike Disney to say true.

Stunning piece of art.

I first time find out for Dali when I was 10,I was in gallery full of his paintings.I was pretty confused because I habituate on pictures I know what they mean.So,it was my first touch with abstract art. And today,I see animated film full of Dali imaginary.I was lost for words.

In the first hand i was confused,from first scene,but positive confused.Confused just like when I watched the pictures.

I can not tell for sure what is film about.It is like poetic song,everybody see it in another way.There is some nudity in film so,it is for adults.I can tell the film is dramatic and beautifully animated.I will never forgot it. It is worth to see. 10/10