AnastasiaHistory is a story that changes with each telling. Anastasia is an animated musical about the presumed "lost" Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Imperial Russia, purported to be the last surviving member of the Romanov dynasty. In this film, Anastasia is saved by a young peasant boy, allowing her to flee from her executioners, but failing to make the train to Paris with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie. Ten years later, an amnesiac young woman named "Anya" sets her sights on visiting St. Petersburg, unaware that the ghost of Grigori Rasputin longs to finish the job he started with the rest of the Romanovs.
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Directed and produced by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, this animated tale of Anastasia is a light-hearted, romantic romp through history that features so many hallmarks of the animated gems made during this time period, including those by Bluth's competition, Walt Disney Feature Animation. There are musical numbers that would be right at home in a Sondheim production, and celebrity voice actors; Meg Ryan voices the older Anastasia, for example. The movie is charming and even funny, borrowing the tone of romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally... to emphasize the burgeoning affection between Anya and the conman who wants to present her to the Dowager Empress as Anastasia, a young man named Dimitri (voiced by John Cusack). Their adventure from St. Petersburg to Paris is fraught with peril as the ghost of Rasputin (along with his reluctant comedy sidekick, an albino bat named Bartok) sends waves of spectral bats to sabotage their quest, from derailing their train to hypnotizing Anya at sea. Anastasia doesn't break the mold when it comes to animated musical spectaculars--including other Bluth classics like An American Tail--but does differ by choosing figures from history and the myth of Anastasia as its subject matter. What makes this so intriguing is that while so many other animated films come from fairy tales (notably Disney's of the era), this choice to dip into the past--even a highly fictionalized version of it--makes this movie unique. Made in 1997, the movie embraces the possibility that Anastasia survived, like the claims made by Anna Anderson, who indicated (and may very well have even believed) that she was, in fact, the long lost Grand Duchess, or princess of Russia. The sad truth emerged, however, in 2007, when the last of the Romanovs' bodies were discovered, thus forever marking the myth of Anastasia surviving the murder of her and her family by the Bolsheviks as just that. And this film's fantasy world where Anastasia survived also cushions other historical incongruities, like Rasputin's role in it. (He was long dead by the time of Anastasia's killing, assassinated himself by Prince Felix Yusupov.) And it is this conglomeration of historical inaccuracies which contribute to Anastasia being a family-friendly, even "Disney-fied" take on the past, and any claims to historical accuracy should be taken with a grain of salt.
This raises the obvious question about whether movies intended toward children should play fast and loose with history. After all, accounts of Rasputin being a drunk, a womanizer, and a scheming hand behind the throne have had virtually no historical evidence to substantiate them, and may have been nothing more than rumor and propaganda spread by internal factions in the Russian aristocracy. Yet the Rasputin of Anastasia is a malicious and evil man, pathologically compelled to see all of the family that spurned him slain, even after his own death! What is a child to make of this interpretation of a man who may (or may not) have been the instrument of Russia's downfall; or was he just a humble holy man who offered counsel to many before being taken in by the Romanovs? And suppose what a conversation with said child would be when they grow up to find out that Anastasia was shot in cold blood and stabbed to death as a child? Not exactly a fate that other "Disney Princesses" share...unless you dig deeper into their source material, that is. Would that be like telling them that Santa Claus isn't real? Is there harm in perpetuating a lie of what really happened? Of course the downfall of Imperial Russia is rarely if ever discussed today, so it would be unlikely that this would influence one's enjoyment of the movie...until one begins to do some cursory research as I did after watching Anastasia. It's strange how my perception of the film changed after this. Before, I had some vague idea of the stories about how Rasputin died, or about how the empire fell to communist rule under the Soviets after the revolution. And although it would be inappropriate to even consider Anastasia to be any kind of propaganda, it--even unintentionally--is, to some degree, revisionist history. But then again, couldn't the same argument be made for virtually any movie based on true events? Coincidentally, the vocally unrepentant assassin of Rasputin, Prince Yusupov, would later win a lawsuit against MGM studios for the depiction of his wife in a movie called Rasputin and the Empress. And it was because of this that movies that depict historical figures now include the crucial disclaimer that "the preceding was a work of fiction, any similarity to a living person..." and so on. Yet despite the fine print, people watch these movies and develop an impression of what history "really" was like, regardless of its veracity, because it was on TV or in the movies.
It should be noted that, despite my assertions that Anastasia is a movie that presents an inaccurate view of history and my commentary about what complications that this in and of itself can foster, it is a beautiful and gorgeously animated movie, in keeping with the works of Don Bluth. It combines animation styles, even when they are incongruous, from the photorealistic music box that Marie gives to Anastasia to remind her of Paris, to the facial features of Anastasia, Dimitri, and Marie, which are far less exaggerated than virtually every other character--a more natural look befitting these protagonists. The musical numbers and romantic hijinks add levity to what might otherwise be a film too intense for young audiences; ironically, so does Rasputin's propensity to detach parts of his decaying body, which is really done for comedic effect. In many ways, Anastasia is reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty, from the lush palaces (later turned to ruin) and Dimitri's inadvertent "awakening" of the princess, bringing her to her grandmother (despite his initially mercenary motives), thus restoring the royal family. Rasputin is very much a surrogate for Maleficent, showing up early on to portend an evil curse and confronting the hero (and heroine) at the climax in a fiery battle for supremacy. (Their wicked magic even glows with the same sickly green color.) Anastasia is the penultimate feature film directed and produced by Don Bluth to date (the most recent being Titan A.E.), and it embodies much of the magic that made his preceding films so enjoyable, from colorful characters to top-notch animation, and an awareness of his target audience's interests in these things. The film was even so popular that it went on to inspire a stage musical of the same name, featuring many of the same songs (and more), but notably removing Rasputin from the mix. Interestingly, the musical debuted in 2016, meaning that it was known that the real Grand Duchess was killed as a child, so whatever implied mystery about whether she survived is, obviously, a fabrication at this point. Perhaps it is just one of those things that stage musicals (like "Hamilton") embrace, but truth rarely finds purchase in the realm of escapism. And that is what these stories really are: an escape into a world where the Bolsheviks didn't murder a little girl in cold blood, and where a mad monk makes a convenient villain, regardless of not having a hand in her killing. Yet perhaps that's why that important disclaimer about these stories being nothing more than "a work of fiction" should come at the very beginning of each film, stage production, and so on--like warnings on a pack of cigarettes--lest people let stylized history overshadow reality, and give over to a deadly illusion like the kind Rasputin uses to try to destroy Anya.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming animated musical that enchants younger audiences with colorful characters, songs, and a story fundamentally about discovering that secret hidden away within each of us that makes us special. Anastasia may take historical figures and events and alter them to suit the story, but an awareness of this can certainly inspire astute viewers to seek out the truth for themselves, as it did for me.
This raises the obvious question about whether movies intended toward children should play fast and loose with history. After all, accounts of Rasputin being a drunk, a womanizer, and a scheming hand behind the throne have had virtually no historical evidence to substantiate them, and may have been nothing more than rumor and propaganda spread by internal factions in the Russian aristocracy. Yet the Rasputin of Anastasia is a malicious and evil man, pathologically compelled to see all of the family that spurned him slain, even after his own death! What is a child to make of this interpretation of a man who may (or may not) have been the instrument of Russia's downfall; or was he just a humble holy man who offered counsel to many before being taken in by the Romanovs? And suppose what a conversation with said child would be when they grow up to find out that Anastasia was shot in cold blood and stabbed to death as a child? Not exactly a fate that other "Disney Princesses" share...unless you dig deeper into their source material, that is. Would that be like telling them that Santa Claus isn't real? Is there harm in perpetuating a lie of what really happened? Of course the downfall of Imperial Russia is rarely if ever discussed today, so it would be unlikely that this would influence one's enjoyment of the movie...until one begins to do some cursory research as I did after watching Anastasia. It's strange how my perception of the film changed after this. Before, I had some vague idea of the stories about how Rasputin died, or about how the empire fell to communist rule under the Soviets after the revolution. And although it would be inappropriate to even consider Anastasia to be any kind of propaganda, it--even unintentionally--is, to some degree, revisionist history. But then again, couldn't the same argument be made for virtually any movie based on true events? Coincidentally, the vocally unrepentant assassin of Rasputin, Prince Yusupov, would later win a lawsuit against MGM studios for the depiction of his wife in a movie called Rasputin and the Empress. And it was because of this that movies that depict historical figures now include the crucial disclaimer that "the preceding was a work of fiction, any similarity to a living person..." and so on. Yet despite the fine print, people watch these movies and develop an impression of what history "really" was like, regardless of its veracity, because it was on TV or in the movies.
It should be noted that, despite my assertions that Anastasia is a movie that presents an inaccurate view of history and my commentary about what complications that this in and of itself can foster, it is a beautiful and gorgeously animated movie, in keeping with the works of Don Bluth. It combines animation styles, even when they are incongruous, from the photorealistic music box that Marie gives to Anastasia to remind her of Paris, to the facial features of Anastasia, Dimitri, and Marie, which are far less exaggerated than virtually every other character--a more natural look befitting these protagonists. The musical numbers and romantic hijinks add levity to what might otherwise be a film too intense for young audiences; ironically, so does Rasputin's propensity to detach parts of his decaying body, which is really done for comedic effect. In many ways, Anastasia is reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty, from the lush palaces (later turned to ruin) and Dimitri's inadvertent "awakening" of the princess, bringing her to her grandmother (despite his initially mercenary motives), thus restoring the royal family. Rasputin is very much a surrogate for Maleficent, showing up early on to portend an evil curse and confronting the hero (and heroine) at the climax in a fiery battle for supremacy. (Their wicked magic even glows with the same sickly green color.) Anastasia is the penultimate feature film directed and produced by Don Bluth to date (the most recent being Titan A.E.), and it embodies much of the magic that made his preceding films so enjoyable, from colorful characters to top-notch animation, and an awareness of his target audience's interests in these things. The film was even so popular that it went on to inspire a stage musical of the same name, featuring many of the same songs (and more), but notably removing Rasputin from the mix. Interestingly, the musical debuted in 2016, meaning that it was known that the real Grand Duchess was killed as a child, so whatever implied mystery about whether she survived is, obviously, a fabrication at this point. Perhaps it is just one of those things that stage musicals (like "Hamilton") embrace, but truth rarely finds purchase in the realm of escapism. And that is what these stories really are: an escape into a world where the Bolsheviks didn't murder a little girl in cold blood, and where a mad monk makes a convenient villain, regardless of not having a hand in her killing. Yet perhaps that's why that important disclaimer about these stories being nothing more than "a work of fiction" should come at the very beginning of each film, stage production, and so on--like warnings on a pack of cigarettes--lest people let stylized history overshadow reality, and give over to a deadly illusion like the kind Rasputin uses to try to destroy Anya.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming animated musical that enchants younger audiences with colorful characters, songs, and a story fundamentally about discovering that secret hidden away within each of us that makes us special. Anastasia may take historical figures and events and alter them to suit the story, but an awareness of this can certainly inspire astute viewers to seek out the truth for themselves, as it did for me.