Anastasia (1997)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The phenomena that a Romanov princess survived the October Revolution has captured the public imagination through out the 20th Century that a member survived and lived in secrecy. Despite this being doubtful the story does have potential as a film but one not done in Disney style but in a serious manner without songs or a frivolous story line. The only advantage of this film was that it had potential the rest of the film is just plain silly for an audience. The film in my view should of used the 1956 Yul Brynner film as a guide and adapted it to animation. The characters are too stereotypical and wooden with clichés but at least they got one thing right the ethnic representations. Despite the history this should be only side show and concentrated on an adventure story without Rasputin as an antagonist going to much in to fantasy. Another flaw with this film is that it follows a judgemental pattern when discussing the Tsar who is always viewed as a Martyr in the Western media and the Anastasia myth is one that compels people to say that the Communists criminals lost and the innocent Tsar did not die in vain. In reality the Tsar was a weak ruler with an arrogant wife who lived in luxury whilst his people starved and kept his people back with medieval practices. Defenders of his will always point to the Duma however this was only a representative the Tsar still had absolute power no matter how many able rulers came before Nicholas II - absolute responsibility who paid the absolute price. Because the order that replaced him was Socialist that the Tsar is revered in cinema as the October revolution gave the Capitalist system a run for its money through out the 20th century but then I must be a hypocrite to deny American Cold war aggression and policy which is what its all about.

I've seen this movie, very literally, dozens of times. It is one of my favourite and most watched (and most listened to) musicals! Anastasia must journey from St. Petersburg to Paris to discover whether or not she is the missing princess but more importantly, she must sing songs along the way. Aided by con-men she takes a journey to the past to help her find her future. This movie has beautiful animation and a brilliant soundtrack! One time my brothers girlfriend borrowed this DVD without telling me and I spent weeks trying to find it. I made a post about it on Facebook, she saw it and felt bad that she had taken it. Luckily I own more than one copy of this DVD and I was still able to watch it.

The first time i watched this movie, i was 10. Now, i am 22 and i still love this movie. I don't know why people don't give good enough rating for this movie ( maybe because it's different from it real story or because the story it's not quite deep? i don't know since, i don't read the history. Even though it is different from the real story, we should keep in mind that this movie is a fantasy movie not a biographical one. It is targeted for younger audiences, so you can't blame the writer to imbued the story with magical things ).As a kid, i watched this movie as a love story when a lost princess who tried to get what has been lost and found much more precious things along the way.The story line is quite simple ( and i do not know that this movie is based on true story, up until now ). It's a story about Anna, how was growing as an orphan, not knowing or remember who she is. Then someday, she went on a journey with 2 man, Dimitri and Vladimir ( and a dog ) to find her real identity. Fantasy, Love, Adventure, History,you can find thus mix of feelings in this movie. The song is beautiful, i listen it a lot when i was a kid.Overall, i think it's worthwhile spending your time to watch this movie.

This movie by Don Bluth is very similar in style to Disney films of the period. It is a very fanciful take on the Russian Revolution, which happened not because of discontented people and bad rulers but because swell rulers were magically undone by a villain who without explanation hates them passionately. This magic follows the amnesiac Anastasia as she teams up with a couple of likable grifters.At times the movie is quite enjoyable, although I always felt like it was falling a little short. The comparisons with Disney are hard to avoid, and while it does some things a bit better than Disney did in this period, Disney still tends to do more things better. One strength of Anastasia is its princess, who has more personality than Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. In her spunky determination she is more akin to the princesses Disney has pumped out in more recent years, making her ahead of her time. But while she has some personality, I would say she has a lot. The love interest is also likable but fails to be memorable.Still, the likability of the leads makes the plight of the protagonists more affecting than many Disney films of that period, and there are moments when the movie is downright touching.On the other hand, Bluth is not nearly as good at villains. Rasputin is evil, and his first appearance beyond the grave is amusingly perverse, but he's not remotely scary, never come close to someone like Malificent.The animation is quite good, and there are moments when it is really quite lovely, but again, it lacks the memorable scenes that distinguish Disney's better (and sometimes even lesser) films. There is something off about the basic structure of the film. Rasputin's pet bat seems shoe-horned into the film just because they wanted him, and he's never essential nor particularly amusing.