ONE SMALL SEED MAGAZINE Issue #27 Digital 02 | Page 59

As a beautiful, nimble dancer flits through
a barren desert land, she locks eyes with
a strong, sculpturesque man, and as
they motion to embrace each other the
sands of time quickly begin to slip away
to reveal a great wall between the two
lovers.
Not only does a hummingbird peck
at a watch to awaken time, but so do
figures dive into mysterious shadows and
emerge only to morph into dandelionssumptuously supported by a Mexican
operatic musical score.
This could only happen in an animated
film, and only by Salvador Dali. However,
you will be surprised to know that Walt
Disney was the instigator for this pioneering
and bizarre collaboration resulting in a
6-minute animation film titled Destino.
The project started in 1946 when the
two creative virtuosos embarked on
their journey towards the completion of
Destino; little did they know that it would
only come to fruition about half a century
later.
The project was shelved a few months
into it’s inception due to financial
problems caused by World War 2, only
to be revived in 1999 by Walt Disney’s
nephew, Roy Disney. He happened upon
the unfinished sketches, storyboards and
17 seconds of animation whilst creating
Fantasia 2000. He worked alongside
John Hench who carefully completed
the project maintaining the integrity and
focusing on finding continuity. The revival
of Destino was met with success in 2003
when it was nominated for an Academy
Award for the Best Animated Short Film.

DESTINO

EXQUISITE
METAPHORS
AND IMAGERY
MAKE THIS
ANIMATION
RELATABLE AND
TIMELESS.
Perhaps the mismatch in ideologies
between
the
two
collaborators
contributed to the project being swiftly
curtailed. Some saw Disney’s sudden
move into surrealism as a statement
that Disney movies are not only about
marketability, but also about artistry. Dali
saw the animation as a ‘magical display
of the problem of life in the labyrinth
of time’, as opposed to Disney’s more
traditional take as a ‘simple story about
a young girl in search of true love’.
Before watching Destino, one may
think the animation is outdated and
inaccessible, but just like the timeless
appeal of Dali’s paintings, the exquisite
metaphors and imagery make this
animation relatable and timeless. The
viewer is shown simple yet meaningful
imagery and clever shape-shifting which
can deceive the eye. Dali and Disney
certainly did create a masterpiece,
whether it was wholeheartedly their
creation, or not, remains a mystery deep
in a puddle of one of Dali’s shadows.