Anastasia . Tucson Weekly . 12-01-97

Anastasia

DIRECTED BY: Don Bluth

REVIEWED: 12-01-97

Against all odds, Anastasia eventually won me over. The movie gets off to a typically lame-brained start by attributing the fall of the Czar to a magical spell by Rasputin, conveniently ignoring the rest of the Russian Revolution. Glossing over Anastasia's amnesia and the murder of her parents doesn't help. But once the "could she be the princess?" fantasy kicks in and leaves history behind, Anastasia becomes a pleasant little movie full of first-rate animation and mercifully brief musical sequences. The love story between the title character and Dmitri (a con-man who unknowingly trains Anastasia to pretend to be Anastasia) is so effective, in fact, that the evil schemes of Rasputin (now half-dead) and his droll bat sidekick Bartok (hilariously voiced by Hank Azaria) almost seem tacked on. I'm not so sure Anastasia will be a hit with kids--it scores low on the easily hummable tunes and cute animals meter--but I enjoyed it. Moreover, it's great to see 20th Century Fox steal some of Disney's fire (definitely see this before sitting through The Little Mermaid again). Besides, even when it was slow I had a swell old time closing my eyes and picturing Meg Ryan and John Cusack as the voices.

--Woodruff

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Anastasia
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