As subjects for family entertainment spectaculars go, the legend of Anastasia is neither as odd a choice as Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" nor as conventional as "Cinderella," although the animated musical "Anastasia" somehow manages to incorporate elements of both into the curious tapestry it weaves.
It also ties in such old reliables as an adorable animal companion, a regal and loving grandmother and three different balls for our heroine to waltz through.
Opulence abounds in "Anastasia," thanks to the efforts of animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman ("An American Tail," "The Land Before Time"), but the visual elegance can't fully camouflage a clumsy story built around the conceit that the Russian Revolution was motivated not by the uprising of the proletariat, but by the conjuring of the sorcerer Rasputin.
In "Anastasia," Rasputin "The Mad Monk" is transformed into a decomposing resident of Hades, with a batch of winged green demons to do his dirty work. At the top of his list is placing a curse on Russia's ruling Romanov family, all of whom "disappear" - the movie's genteel explanation - except the Empress Dowager and her granddaughter Anastasia, who are separated in their flight fromthe palace.
Ten years later, rumors circulate that Anastasia has somehow survived and that the Empress Dowager will pay 10 million rubles to whoever can bring the missing heiress to Paris.
Enter Anya, a teen-age amnesiac who's en route from an orphanage to a job in a fish factory when she takes a detour to St. Petersburg instead and meets up with con artists Dimitri and Vlad, who see in the spunky young woman a potential fortune.But when word of Anastasia resurfacing hits the underworld, Rasputin vows to pull himself together - literally - and to do away with the last of the Romanovs.
If "Anastasia" offers little in the way of valid historical background or genuine charm, it does include some breathtakingly sophisticated animation, particularly a terrific train crash and a gorgeous moment in which Anya envisions the now-shuttered ballroom of the palace in its glory days, with phantom dancers encircling her.
"Anastasia" also stands, along with "Sleeping Beauty," as one of the few cartoons to be shot in cinemascope, which gives the animators a spacious canvas on which to work their magic - sometimes too spacious, as many of the backgrounds have a rushed, sketchy look.
The songs by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens ("Once On This Island") are generally pleasant, althoughdeleting the overlong tribute to the splendors of Paris (featuring Gertrude Stein, Josephine Baker and Maurice Chevalier caricatures that should baffle the matinee crowd) would have helped the film's pace.
As the speaking voices of Anastasia and Dimitri, Meg Ryan and John Cusack make no attempt to sound anything but American, leaving Angela Lansbury to steal the show with her splendid reading of the Empress Dowager.
There's much to admire in "Anastasia," although it's hard to embrace a film that seems more interested in beating Disney in the animated musical sweepstakes. Unfortunately, in the company of such cinematic royalty as "The Little Mermaid," "Pocahontas" and "The Lion King," "Anastasia," like the real-life woman who inspired it, seems like a pretender rather than a contender.
James Sanford
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