"One step at a time, one hope and then another..."

ANASTASIA (G) 

Reviewed November 28, 1997 - Check out the Anastasia web site.

Proving once and for all that Disney is not the only studio capable of creating a good animated musical feature, Twentieth Century Fox now brings us Anastasia.  Re-inventing the story of the Romanov family's overthrow during the Russian Revolution (1917), Anastasia follows the adventures of the Romanov's youngest daughter Anastasia (Meg Ryan).  Surviving the execution of her family at the hands of the evil Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd), Anastasia grows up an orphan, unaware of her royal beginnings.  After ten years in a Russian orphanage, however, she sets off to find her family.  Her only clue: a locket with an inscription leading her to Paris. 

Anastasia's search begins in St. Petersburg, where she runs across Dmitri (John Cusack) and Vlad (Kelsey Grammer), two conmen in search of a girl to 'play' Anastasia for the Dowager Empress (Angela Lansbury).  The Empress, aware of the possibility that her granddaughter Anastasia may be alive, is offering a handsome reward for her return, and Dmitri and Vlad are determined to deliver.

And so the scene is set.  A young girl looking for her past, and two conmen looking for a girl without a past.  Throw in some beautifully drawn characters, finely detailed setpieces, great 'Broadway-style' musical numbers and entertaining voice-over performances, and you've got yourself a wonderful piece of animated entertainment. 

Bottom line: Anastasia is appealling, engaging, and fun.  It does (as you'd expect) take a lot of liberties with Russian history, and the Rasputin character sometimes seems out of place, but this film also has a grace and style that manages to be quite refreshing.  If Twentieth Century Fox continues to produce animated films of this caliber, Disney had better take note...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

david_wells@sunshine.net gives this movie  stars: "I borroed this movie from a friend and in the last four and a half weeks I've watched at least 10 times. This is one of the best movies of all time." (5/10/01)

douglas@mag-net.com gives this movie  stars: "I have watched Anastasia over and over again, trying to figure out where the part of Dimetre, the bat, Rasputin and the palace dance come in. I have studied Anastasia and she is my favorite princess, if they want to make a movie on someone famous at least have alot more truth in it . Read this book : My Anastasia by Sharon Stewart, then you will understand what i mean.- Crystal" (1/22/01)

pwrpuff@flashmail.com gives this movie  stars: "Definately one of my very favorite movies! A stunning example of computer animation with a gorgeous musical score and captivating story to accompany it. Bravo, Fox, bravo!" (12/21/00)

mr.kastelein@lycosmail.com gives this movie  stars: "The greatest movie ever!" (11/2/00)

boobookittym@aol.com gives this movie  stars: "This is my favorite movie of all times! It had a great plot, and I can never get enough of it!" (7/19/00)

mandym366@sgi27.netservers.net gives this movie  stars: "i love mysteries and anastasia is one of the greatest mysteries in the world i would really like to find out more about her and what happened to her!!!!!" (7/11/00)

jenny@cma.com gives this movie  stars: "brriliant graphics for a animation film voieses suited the carectors it was showen as a well planed film. the songs were well writen it gives a history lesson to younge age groups ,of the story if the alaksandra family. it's baset on the real charectors and story it's got good voiety of emotions wilste watching the film. its done well on aiming the film for ALL age groups all in all thins film was brilliant. P.S thease are only a quater of my comments.(jolly good show fox)" (6/26/00)

Me gives this movie  stars: "It is an awsome movie, full of colorful, and enjoyable characters. the storyline was changed compared to what really happened, but it was a good movie." (2/24/00)

shotgunshells@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "The film in gererall was ok, but it has NOTHING WHAT SO EVER to do with the REAL Anastaisia. the real anastaisia was thought to be executed by Lenin when he destroyed the Czar in Russia. there was no Demetre, no bad guy with a scary bottle, no little bat, nothing at all like that. ONE thing that was historicailly acurate was that Anastaisia claimed to have had abneisia for years. I like a movie, but if the story is NOT fiction, I like it to be acurate. That's why all the disney movies are SO terrible" (7/27/99)

angelica@aol.com gives this movie  stars: "Anastasia is my favorite movie, and I loved every minute it." (8/24/98)

booms@telusplanet.net gives this movie  stars: "Anastasia is the most mature animated movie I've ever seen. Although the premise could sound corny (after all, the princess thing got old long ago) the story has very adult, well written character that you can relate to. I hate the whole Rasputin thing, the movie would have been much better without it, but the beautiful animation and wonderful story are good enough to forgive that little problem and then some." (7/19/98)

Bartok gives this movie  stars: "Anastasia is the best movie I've ever seen. I have the video and it's still good nomatter how many times you watch it. I do hope that they make a sequel. My brother watched it and he's like 16 and he still liked it." (7/7/98)

SilverEmpress gives this movie  stars: "It was sweet but I thought that the Rasputin thing was SOOO beyond Cheese. My friend and I saw it and decided they should have focused more on her deciding who she was and drop the whole Rasputin curse thing cuz it wasn't done right and just seemed cheesy and uh stoopid... the musical numbers were so not az good as the one's in Disney." (6/22/98)

ouda@my.home.net gives this movie  stars: "i think anastasia is the best movie ever made" (4/29/98)

Jane Staar gives this movie  stars: "I thuoght this was one of the best animated features I have ever seen!" (4/29/98)

anyaweb840@aol.com gives this movie  stars: "I EASILY give Anastasia 5 stars. Although it is good for small children, it's also a good adult movie as well. I mean, I'm a teenager and this is my favorite movie...any of you out there who have teenage children KNOW how picky we can be. In conclusion, I would recommend this movie to anybody, it comes out on video in 8 days from today (the 19th). Hey, I saw it 14 times in theaters...give it a chance!" (4/19/98)

thegreat@emirates.net.ae gives this movie  stars: "great work by fox i hope they keep up the good work i mean im in my and i havent enjoyed a cartoon like i did while seeing anastasia really romantic it almost looked real i wouldent mind seeing a part 2 of it anyway thats all thanks alot." (4/14/98)