Fantasia 2006: What Could Have Been

“Little Match Girl”

The final of the four shorts released that would have been included in Fantasia 2006. Only watch this if you want your heart devastated. 

Based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale, a little orphan girl tries to make money to survive by selling matches, unfortunately, no one wants to buy matches and the little girl has no food or shelter. So in the night, to pass the time and keep a little warm, she lights the matches that she is trying to sell and fantasizes about a better life, filled with Christmas and grandmothers and food and happiness. 

But… as she burns all the matches, she is left in the cold… and freezes to death. The last scene being her grandmother coming to take her soul to Heaven. Yep, Disney didn’t hold any punches this time. And it creates a heartbreaking segment…

And its such a shame that Fantasia 2006 never saw the light of day, because the four released planned segments for the movie were all more interesting individually than the entire Fantasia 2000 put together. Maybe its the inclusion of vocal music of the world flavor, but each story had much more heart for this cancelled production. It’s a shame we’ll never know what else could have been.