Anastasia Review
by Scott Promish (scottjp AT REMOVEcris DOT com)November 24th, 1997
ANASTASIA (1997)
Film review by Scott Promish
(c)1997
Directed by Don Bluth & Gary Goldman.
ANASTASIA is based upon - or maybe "inspired by" is more accurate - the real life mystery surrounding the disappearance of Anastasia Romanov and the destruction of her family at the start of the Russian Revolution. After most of her family has perished as a result of a curse placed upon them by the monk Rasputin, young Anastasia (Kirsten Dunst, and later Meg Ryan) narrowly escapes but vanishes, turning up in an orphanage under the name of Anya, and with no memory of her past. The only clue she has is a necklace that indicates the answer lies in Paris.
Her ticket to France comes in the guise of two con men, Dmitri (John Cusack) and Vlad (Kelsey Grammer), who have been auditioning young women for the "part" of Anastasia in the hopes of convincing her surviving grandmother that it is her, and claiming a reward. Struck by Anya's remarkable resemblance to the real princess, they soon realise that she is Anastasia, but proving it will not be as easy as they think.
Also standing in their way is Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd), who is not as dead as he seemed (he got better.) After a visit from his earthly contact and news of the princess' survival, he plans to reach from beyond the grave to finally complete his curse and end the Romanov line once and for all.
Rasputin is one of the best Disneyesque villains I've seen in a long time. Lloyd is a better voice actor than "live" one, in my opinion. Here he's great, and he does a good accent, too. (Dmitri and Ana are curiously devoid of any such vocal inflections; I guess the producers thought kids wouldn't be able to understand them, or relate to them, or something.) I relished the time Rasputin was on screen; for a dead guy he brought an extraordinary amount of life to his scenes.
The story boasts "the greatest mystery of the century" but although there may be one for the characters, there isn't for the viewers. We know who Anastasia is, and unless you really aren't paying attention during the opening scenes, the identity of one of the other major characters is obvious as well. But the story is still exciting despite some stock elements. Rasputin has a familiar, a white fruit bat named Bartok (Hank Azaria) for comic relief, but fortunately the writers avoided going overboard with him, and I was glad to find the humor is not so trendy as to sound dated five or ten years down the line. The songs aren't bad. I generally hate songs popping up in the middle of a film (and I don't understand why it's such a requirement in American animated features) but I really didn't mind these. They also probably aren't ones you'll get sick to death of from the radio before you even see the film.
The animation quality is impressive. A lot of it - maybe not a majority, but perhaps about half of the content - is computer generated. Often it blends in well, though occasionally it sticks out like a sore thumb when placed on top of the cel animation (note the scenes with the music box - it practically floats around in the characters' hands.) But other things - the monk's reliquary, the spirits, the stone pegasus at the end - simply look fabulous. CG fans may want to see this film on this basis alone. Another thing I noticed was the fully painted backgrounds that were used. They look lovely, like Impressionist paintings. It went by rather fast, but I thought I spotted an homage to Van Gogh's "Starry Night" in Paris. There is also a runaway train sequence that rivals the one in THE FUGITIVE, and the ship in the storm sequence...I could go on...
I recommend the film especially in the midst of all the garbage - if the trailers they showed are any indication - that is on it's way in the guise of kids' films. ANASTASIA is a worthy and much needed competition to the throne of Disney. People *applauded* at the end.
P.S.: Try to see it at a digital presentation. Not only does it sound excellent; it will also drown out the noise from all the kids in the theatre.
[Review written 23 November 1997]
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
