Destino

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.

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.

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.

I had the privilege to see Destino at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

It's the only place in the world where it plays on a regular basis.

It six minutes I believe.

I thought it was beautiful.

Enchanting.

If you can, see it.

I absolutely loved it.

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.