To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

OK, you're going to tell me that a cartoon doesn't have to be historically accurate. Even so, Don Bluth's "Anastasia" contains what has to be one of the most ridiculous excuses for a story ever. At the very least, the movie could've looked at the reasons why Russia had a revolution in the first place (the monarchy and aristocracy owned everything while the people owned nothing). At least it showed the people carrying out the revolution rather than giving the Bolsheviks credit; after all, the latter merely used the revolution to seize power. As Noam Chomsky noted, Lenin killed anyone who held authentically socialist views.Most importantly, I can't figure out what went wrong with Don Bluth. In the '80s he made two of the greatest animated features ever: "The Secret of NIMH" and "An American Tail". Then in the late '80s and '90s, he turned to movies that tried to be fluffy and scary at the same time. Seriously, the depiction of Rasputin - with his name not even pronounced the Russian way - seems like its purpose is to give the tykes nightmares. Basically, every character is a cardboard cutout from Disney: the beautiful woman, the handsome man, the power-hungry villain, and his bumbling sidekick. I should say that Bartok is the only interesting character in the movie. As for the song that received an Academy Award nomination, let's just say that there's a reason why it didn't win (Elliott Smith's song from "Good Will Hunting" should've won).As for the cast. Let's see, we've got America's alleged sweetheart (Meg Ryan), a political activist (John Cusack), Frasier (Kelsey Grammer), Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), several Simpsons voices (Hank Azaria), the woman who wrote murder (Angela Lansbury), a Broadway star (Bernadette Peters), Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin), Mr. Dawes (Arthur Malet) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). As it turns out, another Spiderman cast member (J.K. Simmons) also provides a voice."I stuck around St. Petersburg When I saw it was a time for a change Killed the czar and his ministers Anastasia screamed in vain"Sympathy for the Devil

Although communists had killed the entire imperial Romanov family in July 1918, including the Grand Duchess Anastasia by shooting squad, for years, afterwards, communist disinformation fed rumors that members of the Tsar's family had survived. The conflicting rumors about the fate of the family allowed impostors to make spurious claims that they were a surviving Romanov. The most famous, being Anna Anderson who claim to be, the long-lost child of Tsar Nicholas II, Anastasia. Because of this claim, the purported survival of Anastasia has been the subject of both cinema and made-for-television films for years, now. After all, the earliest adaptation of this myth, was made in 1928, was called 'Clothes Make the Woman', follow close by 1956's 'Anastasia' and 1986's television film, 'Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna'. However, since 1997's 'Anastasia', is the most famous adaptation movie of this myth. Its gets the most criticize. Produced by Fox Animation Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox, this animation musical directed by Don Bluth & Gary Goldman tells the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia (Voiced by Meg Ryan) escaping the execution of her family, during the height of February Revolutions of 1917; only to find herself, an orphan living with amnesiac. With the help of a couple of con men, Dimitri (Voiced by John Cusack) & Vlad (Voiced by Kelsey Grammar), she hopes to reunited with the last reminding family member, still alive, Empress of Russia, Maria Feodorovna (Voiced by Angela Lansbury) in Paris, France. However, the banished mystical former royal adviser, turn sorcerer, Grigori Rasputin (Voiced by Christopher Lee) thinks, otherwise, wanting to destroy the last member of the House of Romanov for revenge. Without spoiling the movie, too much, since the film is more, about the urban myth of Anastasia than true actual historical events. I allowed myself to enjoy the movie, because I took it, with a grain of salt and also the fact that, at the time, this movie was made. Anastasia's body hasn't yet, been discovered. Her body wouldn't be found until 2007, if you were wondering. Because of that, I was able to get through this film. However, I can see, why some historians can't look pass that. There were some moments in the film, even I, somewhat found, pretty jarring. First off, the film's urban legend of Anastasia's survival does not related, with the real-world supposedly 'real' reports of Anastasia's escape. After all, Anastasia was indeed, presented, during the Yekaterinburg massacre, as seen in historical Cold War archive photos. If anything, if the real Anastasia would had survived the shooting, due to the diamond corsets, her body would be still, cover with bayonet scars, bullet holes, and some sulfuric acid burns. It wouldn't be a pretty sight. Since this movie couldn't show that, it felt more like white-washing, changing history than showing what could possibility happen. It's wasn't the best choice in my opinion. After all, the whole, attempted train escape with her grandmother, Maria Feodorovna from the Winter Palace, felt a little too far deep in the fictional settling, since both of the characters weren't in St. Petersburg in real-life. In truth, during the February & October Revolution, Maria wasn't really near the royal family. She heard of the murders of her son's family, while hiding out in Crimea. Maria didn't escape until 1919, after the urging of her sister, Dowager Queen Alexandra. She fled to London, then to her home country of Denmark, not Paris, France. None of this, was ever explain in the film. Not only that, does the movie, not explain, what happen to Anastasia's family. The movie also makes Anastasia, way too close to her grandmother than their own murdered family that she rarely cares to find out. In truth, Anastasia rarely saw the former Empress, as Maria was spending a lot of time abroad when Anastasia was a child. They have little to no connection. Another big inaccuracy is the age of Anastasia, during the Revolutions. She wasn't eight years old, when the events happen. She was seventeen year old, when her family was executed on July 18, 1918. However, the biggest historical accuracy is what they did to Rasputin. Rasputin wasn't a sorcerer nor was he, a Communist. If anything, WWI, fatigue, and harsh punishment for protesters, were the leading factors to the Romanov's downfall. In real-life, Rasputin kinda love the family, and the Romanov love him, back, after he help them with the problems with Nicolas II's son, Alexei's hemophilia. After all, the Romanov's children kinda died with amulets full of Rasputin photo in their pockets in Yekaterinburg. Was he, a child molester, rapist, & womanizer? Who knows? All, I know, is that he wasn't as evil, as this film make it, out to be. In the end, the Royal family never truly betrayed him. Instead, a group of nobles coaxed Rasputin out of his house, and murdered him, by poison, shooting, and tossing him, in an icy river. Despite the fact that this movie shat all over Russia's history, the animation is stunning. Another is the voice acting. It was all wonderful. Meg Ryan and the writers got Anya right. Lively, mischievous, and sharp. Full witty remarks sometimes hit sensitive spots. That's sounds like the real Anastasia. However, the real Anastasia was nasty to the point of being somewhat evil, like tripping people and throwing rocks. Despite that, the supporting cast was just as great. Another thing, all of the music from the film is beautiful to listen to. I love the songs, 'Once Upon A December', 'Journey to the Past', and 'In the Dark of the Night'. They're all in my IPOD playlist. Overall: While, this movie indeed carbon copy, of the Disney Princess formula. I still love it to death. I think the movie gave enough actual history and respect to allow this film to fly pass the levels of 1999's 'The Legend of the Titanic', awkwardness. So go check it out! It's a lot of fun.

This is one of my favorite animation movies. It is beautiful and appealing to both children and adults.The story is not historically accurate, but I would think any adult, even the ones not familiar with Russian history at all would sense that there is no truth in Rasputin selling his soul to put a curse on Romanovs. Yet I am sure this beautiful movie would awake interest in people regardless of age to find out more about it. And it is also obvious why. Which kids would want to sit through the details that lead to Russian revolution, the main story of the movie isn't that anyways but the legend of Anastasia.The greatest strength of this movie is the animation. It is so beautifully mastered together with amazing colors and use of shadow. They also went a big way to be accurate in details when it comes to the settings, mainly the palaces. The story takes mainly place in St Petersburg and Paris and both places get a spirit about them I was especially in love with Russian scenery. So much magic and beauty about it. Not just in the palace but the beautiful snowy are out of the city as well.The cast to give voices to the characters is amazing. Angela Lansbury was a perfect choice for the Empress Marie. All the other main characters were also very impressive considering their star status.The music is another important element for the movie. The songs have a big variety and are beautifully sung. My personal favorite is Once Upon a December. They also did so well with collaboration the voices of the singers with those of the actors. Except for Kelsey Grammar who as I read mastered to sing Vladimir's songs on his own. I would love to go see it on stage as a musical.And as I sad it is a wonderful movie for both kids and adults. It follows a well known princess movie formula which children love. But even so the main princess is an exceptionally strong female character who does a lot of brave things in the movie and for the most wants to find herself and her roots. The evil scenes of the movie are also appealing to children, Rasputin's character was sure created to entertain them including the little bat that is his buddy. And adults enjoy more the artful animation and the music.

This movie by Don Bluth is very similar in style to Disney films of the period. It is a very fanciful take on the Russian Revolution, which happened not because of discontented people and bad rulers but because swell rulers were magically undone by a villain who without explanation hates them passionately. This magic follows the amnesiac Anastasia as she teams up with a couple of likable grifters.At times the movie is quite enjoyable, although I always felt like it was falling a little short. The comparisons with Disney are hard to avoid, and while it does some things a bit better than Disney did in this period, Disney still tends to do more things better. One strength of Anastasia is its princess, who has more personality than Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. In her spunky determination she is more akin to the princesses Disney has pumped out in more recent years, making her ahead of her time. But while she has some personality, I would say she has a lot. The love interest is also likable but fails to be memorable.Still, the likability of the leads makes the plight of the protagonists more affecting than many Disney films of that period, and there are moments when the movie is downright touching.On the other hand, Bluth is not nearly as good at villains. Rasputin is evil, and his first appearance beyond the grave is amusingly perverse, but he's not remotely scary, never come close to someone like Malificent.The animation is quite good, and there are moments when it is really quite lovely, but again, it lacks the memorable scenes that distinguish Disney's better (and sometimes even lesser) films. There is something off about the basic structure of the film. Rasputin's pet bat seems shoe-horned into the film just because they wanted him, and he's never essential nor particularly amusing.