MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Allegro Non Troppo’ Returns With Expansion of Live Action

Initially, the prospect of an expanded version of “Allegro Non Troppo” (at the Nuart through Oct. 27) sounds like a rare treat: Bruno Bozzetto’s often outrageous parody of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia,” ranks as one of the most popular foreign animated features of all time, rivaling “Yellow Submarine.” But the luster of the prospect dims when the viewer discovers it’s the film’s live action sequences that have been expanded.

Bozzetto and his collaborators have added 10 minutes of previously excised footage to capitalize on the presence of Maurizio Nichetti, the star-director of the critically acclaimed “The Icicle Thief.” Nichetti makes an agreeably sly cartoonist, but the labored gags involving a tyrannical conductor (Nestor Garay), his orchestra of little old ladies and an aggressive, showbiz Emcee (Maurizio Micheli) weren’t funny when the film debuted in 1976, and age has added nothing to their charms.

People watch “Allegro” in spite of the live action, not because of it, and the addition of these 10 minutes is no cause for rejoicing.

The intervening 14 years have also brought out the strengths and weaknesses in the animation. A little man’s revolt against his imitative neighbors, set to Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance 7,” makes a very funny parable of the dangers of conformity. Although it skirts perilously close to bathos, the “Valse Triste” sequence, in which an alley cat searches the ruins of a apartment building for his former owners, delights many viewers. Ravel’s “Bolero” remains Bozzetto’s masterpiece: The lines of spiky, squishy pseudo-dinosaurs that march to Ravel’s repetitive score are as hilarious today as they were when the film premiered.

On the down side, the antics of the aging satyr in “The Afternoon of a Faun” seem neither poignant nor comic, and the sequence fails to capture lush sensuality of the music. The attempt at social satire involving the snake from the Garden of Eden, set to Stravinsky’s “Firebird” suite lacks subtlety, and film still fumbles to a close, without a real ending.

But “Bolero” alone is worth the price of admission, especially while “Fantasia” is in re-release, reminding viewers just how deftly Bozzetto spoofed “The Rite of Spring.”