Voices of Lisa DeSimone, Jere Shea, Earl Hammond, and Roger Raines
Directed by Lee Lan
Music by Megan Cavallari; Lyrics by David Goldsmith
The Disney movies weren't the only animated films that had imitations made of them in the late 90's and early 2000's. Any animated film that was even remotely popular at the box office had at least two or three cheaper versions of it released on home video by knock-off video companies. We've already seen one movie from UAV's "Secret" series two years ago, The Secret of Mulan. The year before, they put out their own version of the Don Bluth hit Anastasia. Does it match its predecessor, or should it be left behind at the Palace? Let's begin at the palace, as a narrator (Raines) explains what happened to the Romanov family and why Anastasia (DeSimone) now lives by herself along with four talking musical instruments, and find out...
The Story: Anastasia and her friends are finally forced to flee the Winter Palace when they're attacked by the Secret Police. They end up on a box car bound for Copenhagen, where they encounter former general Vladmir Ikonovich (Shea). He's taken by how much she resembles the lost princess. Ignoring her protests that she is the lost princess, he teaches her how to behave at court and presents her to the Dowager Duchess (Barbara Jean Kearney) at her home in Copenhagen. She doesn't impress the Duchess until she performs a song that only Anastasia knew.
Handsome Prince Paul (Robert Petkoff) is even more impressed. Vladimir is jealous of the attention he gives her, but Anastasia's musical instrument friends know something is wrong here. The little accordion Alexei (Raines) follows the seemingly charming royal and learns there's something a lot more sinister under the surface, something that could take down the last of the Romanovs for good.
The Animation: Like all UAV productions, this is about as cheap as you can get. The colors are lovely (and actually compliment each other, unlike Secret of Mulan), but the designs are a little weird, with their pale, wide eyes and immobile faces, and there's little detail in the backgrounds. The characters move well enough, but their expressions are either overdone, or they have no expression in scenes that would call on conveying some emotion. Anastasia should be freaking out during Paul's "Prince Charmless" number, not just blinking and looking mild.
The Song and Dance: This wound up being a bit of a surprise. Some of the plot lines here actually make more sense than the Don Bluth Anastasia did, like the Secret Police being the villains instead of Rasputin (who died well before the Romanovs did) and the Dowager Duchess living in her original hometown of Copenhagen. The walking, talking musical instruments are less goofy than they appear at first, especially if you were paying attention to the portraits in the beginning during Alexai's narration. Petkoff is having more fun than he should as Cheka, and DeSimone is a lovely and sweet Anastasia.
The Numbers: We open with Anastasia and her musical instrument friends in their rooms, singing about how they hope to be "In the Sun" again someday. It's also the song that finally puts her over with the Dowager Duchess when she hears her singing it after being rejected. "A Princess After All" is Vladmir teaching Anastasia how to be a princess, though it occasionally seems she knows more about that subject than him. Paul revels in being "Prince Charmless" when he reveals his real identity to the captive Anastasia. "You Will Be With Me In My Heart" is the finale, as Anastasia's instruments make the ultimate sacrifice to bring Vladmir back to her.
What I Don't Like: In addition to the lousy animation and so-so music, for every plot point they came up with that is honestly better than the movie its imitating, there's two that don't work. Vladimir had a point - why did Anastasia's friends have to be awkward instruments? They could have been anything. Anastasia herself comes off as more naive and less feisty than the Don Bluth version, but that could be because this Anastasia has lived in one room all her life, rather than an orphanage. Chaka himself is so wonderfully over the top, he didn't need the annoying skinny sidekick with the raven stumbling around him. Oh, and Anastasia has two more sisters who aren't mentioned or included here.
My biggest problem is, this does do so much that's right, I wish it could have expanded on it. It needs at least another 20 to 30 minutes to give us a better idea of the characters and maybe show us more of the Revolution and how Anastasia ended up in those rooms in the Winter Palace and her and Vladmir's romance.
The Big Finale: Not a bad way to spend an hour on a cold winter's day if you're a fan of Anastasia or are looking for something fun to watch with your older kids.
Home Media: Easily found anywhere. Many streaming companies have it for free.
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