Review of Anastasia

Introduction

Fox`s 1997 Disney-basher from Don Bluth Studios. This lavishly-made animated extravaganza is based on the story that one of the daughters of Tzar Nicholas escaped the fate of the rest of her family and ultimately made her way to freedom in Paris. Taking terrible liberties with historical events such as the October Revolution and real historical characters such as Rasputin, the story is the weakest element in this frothy musical confection which is ultimately a queasy mix of romance, action and misplaced comedy.

The masterplan behind this movie was to create something with the scale and lavishness of Disney`s "Beauty and the Beast", combining the cute comedy elements that some studios think indispensible in animated films and the edgy, not-so-cute semi-horror elements that have turned up in some of the more recent animated blockbusters. The result is a movie that is perhaps a little too saccharine for the Dreamworks fan, and a little too intense for the "Little Mermaid" crowd. That said, the movie might find its audience in the mid-ground.

Video

Shot in anamorphic 2.35:1, using state-of-the-art animation techniques, image quality is a treat. Marvellously rendered backgrounds, both traditional and computer generated, a rich colour palette and a distinctive art style reveals the Disney training of the animators. The naturalistic movements of the human characters also reveals the extensive use of rotoscoping (tracing live action on paper as an animation guide.)

Audio

A belting soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 with voice talents from Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey (Frasier) Grammer, Hank Azaria, Christopher Lloyd and Angela Lansbury. Just a pity it`s full of syrupy "Beauty and the Beast" style songs that will probably have the kids making ralphing noises.

Features

There`s a 22 minute featurette on the making of the movie, fronted by the late Aaliyah who also contributed one of the songs. There`s a 7 minute EPK featurette, two singalong songs and three interactive puzzles. There is also a "clip reel" that consists of two songs from the movie and demonstrates the sheer number of different international language versions of the movie prepared. Of course, this sort of thing is no surprise to those of us who use the "audio" button on our remotes when we get bored. Oddly enough, there is only the English 5.1 soundtrack on the movie proper.

Conclusion

If your rugrats are into "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Little Mermaid", they`ll probably love this double dose of saccharine. It`s very slow moving at first, until the voyage to Paris begins. The climax may be a little over the top for the very small.