Anastasia (1997)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Powerful

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

A really nice wholesome movie. The music is beautiful, story-line is pretty predictable though. Nevertheless, really enjoyed it. This is the sort of movie that and group of people can enjoy together; whether it's a bunch of friends, a family or a couple. Be warned, the songs will be stuck in your head for a long time and you'll end up playing them on repeat for a long time after the movie.

Considered by many to be the only good Don Bluth film not made in the 80s. And yeah, there's some truth to that. The 90s were not kind to this master of his craft. I could be wrong, but from what I've gathered, it seemed that he struggled with financiers and producers, who all wanted the films made their way instead of trusting his vision. Which caused the movies to suffer big time.And I'm not even so sure that that doesn't apply here as well, but at least in this case the meddlers knew what they were doing. Because let's face it. Anastasia is one big colossal Disney rip-off. It's clearly trying to cash in on the Disney Renaissance and the huge bloom in animated musical popularity it caused. And who better to help in this cashing in than Don Bluth, who used to work for Disney and during the 90s was pretty much the only Western animator alive who could even theoretically compete with the Mouse.Yet the thing is, it's a damn good rip-off. I don't mind them utilizing the Disney formula at all if it's done this well. This is an excellent film, from top to bottom. The story about a Russian princess lost during the rebellions of the 1910s and then found years later, is a good one. Sure it's based on real events only in the loosest terms possible, but that's the formula. The music is also fantastic. Bluth's films have always suffered from lackluster scores, but this has some really good music numbers. In the Dark of the Night might very well be one of my all-time favourite villain songs.And it looks fantastic! This is Don Bluth competing on the level of Disney and in some brief instances even eclipsing the studio that gave him his beginning. The backgrounds especially are gorgeous beyond belief and you find yourself lost in them, staring at the amount of detail and artwork.Now, the only real nitpick I have is the ending. It falls short. There's really no other way to say it. Rasputin, the villain of the movie, has been built up big time, but when he finally meets Anastasia... It's really disappointing. I can't spoil anything here, but come on.But, aside from that, it's a great film. Definitely worth a watch for all those that grew up with the Disney Renaissance and love the art form.

In the late 1990s, we had two animated movies that were based on a certain event in a country's history. In 1995, Disney gave us an American "history lesson" (and I use that term loosely) with Pocahontas, but in 1997, 20th Century Fox did exactly what Disney did, except give us a look at a bit of Russian history (again, using the term "history" loosely) about the daughter of Czar Nicholas II, Anastasia Romanov, simply called...well...Anastasia. However, one thing to consider when going into this film is that this is a family picture ("kids movie" for short), so if you're looking for a true-to-life history lesson a la a PBS or History Channel documentary, you might as well throw that out the nearest airlock.In this film, Anastasia, voiced by Meg Ryan, is a princess that went missing for several years after the attack on the Romanov family during a party, which was led by the Romanov's former confidant Rasputin, voiced by Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future fame, who is an undead, evil sorcerer in this movie. Anastasia, now with a case of amnesia and dubbed Anya, eventually joins two con men, Dimitri (John Cusack) and Vladimir (Fraiser's Kelsey Grammar), who are convinced that she really is the missing Romanov princess, and travel to Paris, France, where her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, resides, to hopefully reunite them, all while Rasputin is seeking her unfortunate demise.I won't judge this movie on historical accuracy, as all (or most) of us can tell that the general audience for this film is younger children, though adult audiences will also be entertained, since there was a lot of effort put into the creation of this film. That, and I wouldn't dismiss it as a "Disney knockoff" right away, because the directors of the film, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, were former Disney animators, so it's easy to confuse this for a Disney picture like Beauty and the Beast. As a family film alone, it is pretty damn good. The artwork and animation is great, the songs are enjoyable, and the voice acting is pretty decent.The film was such a success that it became co-director Don Bluth's comeback after a slew of mediocre to bad animated films he directed throughout most of the decade, and his highest grossing film to date. Not only that, but it warranted a direct-to-video follow up film starring the villain's sidekick, Bartok the Bat (voiced by The Simpsons' Hank Azaria in both films).Overall, the film serves as a great choice to have playing during a family movie night, unless you're extremely picky on historical accuracy, in which case, go do something else for 97 minutes.

If you HONESTLY think that this movie's going to be historically accurate, think again. Aside from the points in the title of this review, in real life Anastasia died with the rest of the Romanov family on July 17, 1918 in Ekaterinburg, Russia when they were all shot by order of Vladimir Lenin himself. So any and all criticisms about the historical inaccuracy of the film are ultimately superfluous.Harsh reality aside, this animated adaptation of the 1956 film of the same name holds up pretty well after all these years. The story of a young girl being picked up by con men who want to pass her off as the Duchess and claim the Tsar's fortune is nothing new. But Don Bluth and crew manage to make it surprisingly refreshing with some bright colors, fun characters, mild but tense action scenes, and one of the most perfect love stories I've seen. Heck, the romantic leads don't even say "I love you" once; they leave it entirely up to the animation, the music, and the superb voice acting. THAT is what film is supposed to be: showing instead of telling.The characters are great, better than some in the Disney movies this film borrows from. Anastasia herself is a wide-eyed but hopeful woman whose banter with Dmitri, a con man who's afraid of admitting he's not such a bad guy after all, is the best part of the movie. Vlad is a lovable yet hopeless romantic, thus the perfect best friend for Dmitri. Angela Lansbury as The Dowager Empress Marie is, well, Angela Lansbury. Nothing that new, but NEVER anything bad.And then we have Christopher Lloyd as Rasputin. He's... 50/50. Sometimes I buy him as this hate-filled, despicably evil sorcerer, other times my mind momentarily flashes to Christoper Lloyd in a recording booth. And most of his scenes are plagued by Bartok the Bat, voiced by Hank Azaria. Bartok's not annoying or anything, but given that he does all of ONE thing in the film, his presence is no doubt due to the producers feeling that Rasputin and his awesome villain song were too scary. Gee, a villain that scares people? UNACCEPTABLE!Aside from "In the Dark of the Night," the rest of the songs in the movie aren't that memorable. They're not BAD songs by any stretch, they just don't go as far with the lyrics or the tune as Rasputin's villain song. The only one I remember distinctly was Once Upon a December, and only by name. But, seriously, why isn't David Newman getting more work these days? His score in this film was spectacular, enough to give Alan Menken a run for his money.Overall, while it may not my favorite movie or the the BEST movie I've seen, there's nothing really to hate about this film. It was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, and that's really all a movie needs to be.