ANASTASIA (20th Century Fox) Voices: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Angela Lansbury, Hank Azaria. Screenplay: Susan Gauthier, Bruce Graham, Bob Tzudiker, Nomi White. Producers: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Directors: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. MPAA Rating: G. Running Time: 94 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Long before its release, Fox's ANASTASIA was greeted with some strangely familiar skeptical remarks. "The execution of the Romanovs?" scoffed the wags. "Not exactly the stuff for an animated film, is it?" Similar words greeted Disney's POCAHONTAS a couple of years ago, and that film went on to take a criticaly pasting for not being enough "fun." Journalists and studios have formed an odd tag-team perpetuating the notion that an animated film with adult subject matter is just a waste of time between the Happy Meal characters. While television has produced smart animation for grown-ups like "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill," "Dr. Katz" and "South Park," adult-themed animated features have been treated as though they were violating the social order. It's like folks don't like their cartoons gettin' uppity.
ANASTASIA is not, I repeat, _not_ a great film for kids. It is, however, a visually rich and extremely well-constructed story which shows a little nerve. It begins in 1916 Russia, where the mad monk Rasputin (voice of Christopher Lloyd) places a curse on the ruling Romanov family. All are killed in the ensuing domestic upheaval except the Dowager Empress (Angela Lansbury), who escapes to Paris, and young Anastasia (Kirsten Dunst), who is lost in the chaos. Flash forward ten years, to 18-year-old Anya (Meg Ryan) leaving the orphanage where she grew up with no memories of her life before she arrived. Her only clue to a family is an inscribed necklace leading her to Paris, so she joins up with a pair of other travelers, the con men Dmitri (John Cusack) and Vlad (Kelsey Grammer). The two plan to deliver a phony Anastasia to the exiled Empress in Paris, but little do they know that they have the real thing on their hands. Little also do they know that Rasputin intends to return from the dead to finish off the last of the Romanovs.
At its least inventive, ANASTASIA attempts merely to follow the successful Disney plan for animated features. There is a cute puppy named Pooka, a wise-cracking bat cohort for Rasputin named Bartok (hilariously voiced by "Simpsons" cast member Hank Azaria), the Disney-patented affection for monarchy (accompanying a few swipes at Communism along the way), and songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty including the now-standard heroine's theme, a villain song, and a splashy production number. Least effective of all is Rasputin, who spends most of the film grumbling in the underworld while his decomposing body falls apart around him. Most of the comic relief shows up during Rasputin's scenes, yet they also hinder the narrative. The villain doesn't contribute to ANASTASIA's most interesting elements; he's around because, darn it, you've _got_ to have a villain around in an animated film.
That assumption is based on the "kids first" paradigm, one which ANASTASIA doesn't follow most of the time. The characterizations of Anya and Dmitri are effective without being over-wrought; their developing relationship is sketched out in smart, subtle scenes. The character animation seems somehow richer than most of Disney's recent efforts, giving the characters more life (Anya's unconventional features are worth extra attention). Yet ANASTASIA may be most intriguing because, unlike Disney's features, it feels like a genuine _musical_, not simply a film with songs attached. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman put on a real show, with eye-catching choreography, characters who sell their songs with gusto, and a Prokofiev-influenced David Newman score full of grandeur. When ANASTASIA breaks into song, it's like you're watching an ambitious stage production.
It also comes with an unusual but dynamic animation style which combines conventional hand-drawn characters with computer-generated backgrounds. Though the juxtapositions don't always work, the effect is stunning when they do. ANASTASIA also serves up a few genuinely creepy images, the kinds you'd associate with Ralph Bakshi more than with Uncle Walt. Though Disney has managed to make a couple of films as satisfying for parents as they were for their children (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, for certain), no recent Disney film has felt quite as mature as ANASTASIA. Fox, quite predictably, is still marketing ANASTASIA as a family film, and there's not exactly anything which would be considered objectionable. It just seems a shame that ANASTASIA _had_ to become a children's film when this material could have been turned into a spectacular drama unencumbered by cute puppies or talking bats. It's time for someone to take a look at the ratings for television's animation for grown-ups and take a chance. Come on, we can handle it. After all, we're not kids any more.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 bright Russians: 8.
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