Review of Anastasia

Introduction

Twentieth Century Fox isn`t the first name that comes into mind when you think of animated movies. Fox Animation was a studio in its own right for only a few years before Titan AE bankrupted it. The films it made often rivalled Disney for cute characters and family friendly storylines, but with more of a contemporary edge. One of the films from Fox Animation to really take the mouse on at his own game was Anastasia.

Anastasia is the story of the last of the Romanovs. The young Anastasia is orphaned when Rasputin`s curse is enacted on the Russian Royal family during the bloody revolution. Surviving an attempt on her life by Rasputin, who perishes in the waters of a frozen river, Anastasia and her grandmother flee for their lives. They are separated trying to board a train and Anastasia is knocked down. Ten years later, young Anya is old enough to work and is shown the door of the orphanage where she has lived. She remembers nothing of her childhood and the only link to her past is a pendant with an inscription telling her to go to Paris. She soon learns that to leave Communist Russia for this dream is a difficult thing and is advised to seek the help of a young man, Dimitri who can provide her with forged papers. Going to the old Palace where Dimitri resides, faint memories awaken in Anya, but when Dimitri and his friend Vladimir set eyes upon Anya, they are taken aback with her resemblance to the missing member of the Romanovs. They see a chance to set into motion their plan of presenting a fake Anastasia to her grandmother and reaping a financial reward. They easily persuade Anya to take part in their scheme, especially when she wishes to remember her own past, and they set about coaching her to be Anastasia during their trip to Paris. But their trouble is only beginning, as Rasputin isn`t dead. His decaying form is residing in limbo, where he watches and plans his revenge, for he has realised what even Anya has not, the true Anastasia has returned and with the aid of his faithful sidekick, Bartok he will wipe out the last of the Romanovs.

Video

Anastasia is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic ratio. This is a great transfer, clear and colourful with a sharp image. There is no sign of any print damage and the whole spectacle comes across very well on DVD. The animation is a mixture of traditional and computer imaging and allows for a more majestic and dynamic spectacle. The animation is good, but the backgrounds are wonderfully sumptuous. The characters are a little simplistic but more than rival Disney for style. Don Bluth has oodles of experience with feature length animation and it certainly shows here, where he directs with Gary Goldman.

Audio

It may not advertise it, but Anastasia has more than just the DD 5.1 English soundtrack. There are Surround tracks in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish and subtitles in several languages. Unfortunately, you can`t switch these from within the film and have to go through a menu sequence that gets longer every time you use it. The surround itself is quite effective with action and atmosphere represented well through the speakers. The dialogue is always clear and the songs and music are very apt for the film. You`d be hard pressed to tell this apart from a Disney presentation, aside from the story and the characters of course

Features

Anastasia has a few extras to it and both children and adults are catered for.

For kids there are 3 interactive puzzles that are basically Jigsaws that you create with your remote, and 2 sing-a-long songs or Karaoke for the less enlightened. I gave one a half-hearted bash and my family and neighbours agree that I have an amazing effect on vermin. Talk about humane pest control.

There is a multi language clip reel that lasts some 6 and half minutes. It is a curiosity that you probably won`t visit more than once.

Anastasia: A Magical Journey is a 23-minute making of, presented by Aaliyah. It`s a fairly nice affair, with interviews with the cast and creators and a look at the animation and voice recording, quite interesting really.

Finally there is a 7-minute featurette, which although it does repeat some information also adds something new. The animated menus, while nice to look at do take a little long to change screens, but all in all the extras, though brief are a good mix for young and not so young respectively.

Conclusion

The story of Anastasia is a tragic one, and almost legendary. The actual events were an awful culmination to a tumultuous upheaval in Russia. The revolution that finally installed the communists as leaders of the Soviet Union was a bloody affair with many factions and characters. One of the most enigmatic was Rasputin, a monk who claimed magical powers and had undue influence over the Romanovs. The end result is indisputable, the Russian Royal Family were rounded up and summarily executed. For many years afterward, rumours of a survivor, Anastasia kept on circulating, and many women appeared to claim the name, and the Romanov fortune. Even when I was young, there would be news stories about Anastasia, and I suppose that a sense of magic and myth grew up around the last surviving Romanov. That such a story would be ripe for cinema is no surprise, and indeed many films have been made. But what surprised me is the transfer to the medium of animation, especially Disney style films.

This particular Anastasia almost pulls it off though. The story is compelling, if only through the tenuous link with history, and the characters are excellent. John Cusack and Meg Ryan voice Dimitri and Anastasia, and they are quite compelling. Unlike Disney, their characters are very contemporary and honest. The dialogue is sharp and witty and the magic is certainly there between the two characters. Kelsey Grammer provides the voice to Dimitri`s mentor, Vladimir and his is a wonderful expansive character around which the two younger characters orbit. Christopher Lloyd brings his inimitable touch to the madness of Rasputin and is aided by the bat Bartok, voiced by Hank Azaria. Bartok is a great sidekick and has some of the best lines in the film. But I`m of two minds about the film. I`m sure that the characters of Rasputin and Bartok are wonderful for the younger audience and they have a sense of manic unreality about them that is entertaining to be sure. Lloyd and Azaria`s performances are peerless in the role, but I personally wasn`t happy with the Rasputin`s vengeance subplot. The main storyline, where Anya searches for her past, and Dimitri and Vladimir try to con the Grand Duchess are entertaining in their own right, as well as the romance between Anya and Dimitri is very enjoyable. In fact when the two are interacting, I was hard pressed to distinguish the movie from a Meg Ryan rom-com. I felt that the Rasputin subplot was a distraction from this and it could have been a brave decision to ditch it all together. Nevertheless, the scores are as thus…