Written by Susan Gauthier And Bruce Graham And Bob Tzudiker And Noni White
Directed by Don Bluth And Gary Goldman
Anastasia: "Yes, let this be a sign, / Let this road be mine, / Let it lead me to my past, / And bring me home - at last!"
When is a Disney movie not a Disney movie but still has all the trappings of a Disney movie? Well, when it's this one I guess. For years, I genuinely thought this was a Disney movie. Of course I was wrong.
However like any Disney movie playing around with a historical character, this isn't a movie where accuracy was priority of the day. Nope, it's a very creative liberty taking version of what happened to the Romanov princess. Basically not the sort of thing that will please history buffs.
Taking some inspiration from Sleeping Beauty, an embittered Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd) decided to put a curse on the Romanov family. Shortly afterwards, that fateful night came to play and a young Anastasia (Kristin Dunst) barely managed to escape with her grandmother, Maria Feodorovna (Angela Lansbury) as Rasputin fell to an icy death.
Fast forward a decade later and an older Anastasia (Meg Ryan) had no recollection of her former life but soon found herself in a scheme with handsome cob man Dimitri (John Cusack) and Vladimir (Kelsey Grammer) in order to make some money. All Anya had to do was pretend to be the lost Princess Anastasia.
During the movie, we went through the classic romantic tropes between Anya and Dimitri. Their constant bickering evolved into a mutual attraction that was then threatened when Dimitri realised that Anya really was Anastasia. Oh and there was the return of rotting corpse Rasputin and his exasperated albino bat companion, Bartok (Hank Azaria).
A slight minus with this movie would be that Anastasia's reunions with both her grandmother and Rasputin are somewhat rushed and needed a little more breathing between them. Rasputin himself was given a very rushed comeuppance while Anastasia and Dimitri also speedily ended the movie by eloping.
- Other voice actors for Anastasia included Lacey Chabert and Liz Callaway.
- Anya took on a cute little dog named Pooka, who was responsible for giving her a sign.
- In real life, there were rumours of Anastasia surviving but the women who claimed to be her were debunked.
- Despite not being a Disney movie, you can actually watch the movie these days on Disney+.
- Standout music: Journey To The Past, Once Upon A December, In The Dark Of The Night and At The Beginning.
- Chronology: 1916, Saint Petersburg, Russia before moving a decade later to the Soviet Union and Paris.
If you're looking for historical accuracy, then Anastasia definitely will not be the movie for you. If you're looking for the Disney esque fairytale version, then there's plenty to enjoy here. It's a pretty entertaining movie overall.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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