Animation Celebration Extra - Anastasia

20th Century Fox, 1997
Voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, and Christopher Lloyd
Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
Music by Stephan Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Aherns

Since I'll be on vacation starting Friday, I'm doing the Saturday review today. (There will be no reviews next Tuesday and Thursday. Regular reviews resume next Saturday.) We head to St. Petersburg, Russia to meet a most extraordinary orphan girl who is about to embark on a great adventure with two con-men to discover her true family...and the last remnants of an insane monk's curse...

The Story: Anya (Ryan) is an orphan in 1920's Russia whose only clue to her identity is a pendant on a necklace that says "Together In Paris." She learns that two con-men in St. Petersburg, former Imperial Court member Vlad (Grammer) and former servant Dimintri (Cusack), can provide exit visas for a small fee. Turns out they're rehearsing women to pose as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, the missing daughter of the murdered czar. Her grandmother Dowager Empress Marie (Angela Landsbury) will pay a handsome reward to the person who finds the lost duchess. Not having many other options and desperately wanting to get to Paris, Anya and her puppy Pooka join them.

Meanwhile, Rasputin (Lloyd), the monk who cursed the Romanov family when they tried to have him arrested, is in the underworld with his sarcastic white hench-bat Bartok (Hank Azaria). Despite the fact that he's (literally) falling apart, he will stop at nothing to keep Anya from making her journey, then to see that the Romanov lines ends with the Grand Duchess.

The Song and Dance: Cusack and Ryan have a lot of chemistry as the spirited Anya and cunning Dimintri, especially when they're constantly sniping at each other early-on. Grammer's reactions to their quarrels are hilarious. Ryan's Anya is one of the strongest-willed of the many 90's take-charge animated heroines, ultimately dealing with the villain herself on her own terms. Landsbury is appropriately regal as the Dowager Empress; Bernadette Peters is fun as her bubbly lady-in-waiting and Vlad's love interest Sophie.

I also like how they handle the animal characters. Pooka is a normal, non-talking cute puppy. Bartok doesn't really have much to do other than wisecrack and keep an eye on Rasputin's magical reliquary in the first twenty minutes, but he has some of the best lines in the movie. Neither is as annoying as many animal sidekicks in other animated films from this time.

The Animation: Bluth's animators outdid themselves on this one. The animation is incredible, from the details on the derailing train trip to the rainbow colors on the streets of Paris. There's also the dark scene where Anya dreams of her family while nearly being forced off a boat during a storm, and the sequences with Rasputin and Bartok down below. The action-packed finale on the bridge is mostly well-done, although the horse Dimintri rides is very obvious CGI.

Favorite Number: "Journey to the Past" got the Oscar nomination and "At the Beginning," played over the credits, was the radio hit, but for my money, the best song from this movie is the absolutely gorgeous ballad "Once Upon a December." It gets a number worthy of it, too, with paintings of Imperial Court members swirling around Anya as she daydreams of what had once been in the ruined ballroom of the Catherine Palace. I also like the ensemble song "Paris Holds the Key" as Sophie takes the three weary travelers shopping in Paris and introduces them to the delights (and celebrities) of the City of Lights in the 1920's.

Trivia: Actress and author Carrie Fisher did uncredited work on the screenplay, apparently punching up Anya's exit from the orphanage, among other scenes.

A stage version of Anastasia debuted at Broadway's Broadhurst Theater in 2016 and is still running at press time. It's apparently a far darker and more historically accurate story, with Bolsheviks as the villains instead of Rasputin.

What I Don't Like: Don't come here looking for a Russian history lesson. This is all pretty much pure 90's animated movie fairy tale, using Anastasia, the Dowager Empress, and Rasputin's names and not much else. (For one thing, in real life, Rasputin died well before the Romanov family was assassinated.) Despite the watering-down of most historical elements, this is still fairly dark for an animated film from the 90's, with a lot of violence and frightening imagery. Rasputin is...well, how can I put this delicately. He's disgusting. The running gag with his body parts falling off is more gross than funny, and it gets old after a while. Only Grammer makes any attempt to sound remotely Russian.

The Big Finale: It may be lousy history, but it's still my favorite non-Disney animated movie of the 90's, and my second favorite Don Bluth movie after The Secret of Nimh. I saw this when it came out in November 1997, and I loved it so much, I begged for the soundtrack for Christmas that year. I've owned the CD ever since. If you have older girls who love fantasy and fairy tales from around the world or have fond memories of it yourself, hop on a train to Paris and check it out.

Home Media: I currently own the Family Fun 2-disc set with the direct-to-video sequel Bartok the Magnificent (which I have yet to watch), but unlike some of the other movies I've reviewed, this one is very easy to find both on and offline, often for under five dollars.

Family Fun 2-Disc DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime