Anastasia

Starring the voice talents of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd and Kelsey Grammar At the turn of the century Imperial Russia was undergoing the throes of revolution. It didn't take long for Tzar Nicholas Romanov and his family to be murdered and replaced by the Bolsheviks.

That was the end of Tzarist Russia in 1917.

But this film is something else entirely - a beautiful romance between a peasant palace worker and the impetuous and excitable Anastasia Romanov. This is a journey through life, a quest for truth on a road less traveled.

Young Anastasia has no recollection of her past, but she is soon won over by a charming swindler who takes her to Paris to meet up with the Empress of Russia. Action, adventure and romance awaits!

The best way to watch a movie is with suspension of disbelief - Just trust what the producers present you with and don't question it. With that, "Anastasia" is one of the most delightful movies I've seen in some time. It's like an old musical, with people spontaneously erupting into choreographed dance, but with modern dialog (And funny, at that!), an enjoyable romance, and action sequences to keep things moving. The music, while nothing to remember to the point of distraction, was perfect for humming, and even worked to advance the plot - Unlike so many animated songs put in for the sake of having a song. So it wasn't historically perfect - if it were, there'd be no story. Go ahead and feel smug that you know what really happened, but don't turn to comment to your neighbor, lest you miss one minute of the wonderfully unfolding plot.

I'm somewhat biased: I watched this movie as a child dozens of times. The first because it had the same name as mine, and all of the times afterwards and still today because I love the movie by itself.

After years, I watched it once more tonight. The fact that it's not factual in the least doesn't take anything away from the movie to me, though I must admit cross-referencing did distract me from the movie until I just put that to the side and decided that the movie is just fiction and to leave it at that. Avoid looking at the facts very much until after the movie.

The music, characters, and scenes took me back to my childhood. The first ballroom scene and remembrance of it is my absolute favorite. I remembered the wonder of being a child throughout watching the movie, but I also held wonder for some more little details in the scenes I hadn't noticed before.

Only two things made me cringe: the pronunciation of Anastasia and Rasputin's undead body's antics.

I've grown up listening to almost everyone pronounce the name not as the Greek origin or the Russian adaption (Ah-na-stah-see-uh / Ah-na- stah-shyah), but as the common English pronunciation - which this movie uses. I'm both Greek and Russian, so it does tend to rub me wrong even more in that aspect. I've grown up around both cultures and done further research on the name, and I'm certain it's pronounced wrong. It's funny how what bothers me the most is the pronunciation.

Overall, this is a magnificent movie which all children (and those childlike at heart) will enjoy and should watch at least once. It definitely encourages imagination in its own way.

I watched this movie for the first time when I was 8 years old in VHS. So I'm a little biased. I love a good animated movie and this is definitely one. I used to think only Disney could do a really good animated movies but no, Anastasia is a keeper!

It's my favorite animated movie and right after it there's Mulan and Pocahontas. Anastasia is made beautifully, the animation is amazing, every frame is wonderfully made. And gosh, Dimitri is so damn beautiful haha

The songs are so beautiful, and I hear them till this day, actually I'm watching it right now for the billion time. Definitely show this to my kids as a family and kids film, it may be historically incorrect but it's beautiful and it did made me go look about Anastasia and who she was in real life so... job done!! And well done!

The last time I saw this, I thought there were maybe too many songs in it that distracted the feel from the movie. But now that I've seen it again, it's clear that the songs are well written, along with the storyline.

This is not based on a true story, only loosely on a few rumors that the real Anastasia survived the killing of her family. The heroine Anya is like a Disney princess who is desperate to find out who she is and where she belongs, after suffering from amnesia following the separation of her family. The villain is the brilliant Rasputin, back from the dead, intent on extracting revenge on the Romanovs, thus starting the Russian Revolution. Dimitri and Vladimir at first are looking to find the ideal Anastasia look alike in order to get the riches from her real mother in Paris.

A lot of Bluth's films revolve around a journey and a couple involving some history on Russia. I really enjoyed the songs that played over the end credits, "At the Beginning" and "Journey To The Past" sung in her own way by Aaliyah, the beautiful angelic voiced R&B singer who left way too soon.

Brilliantly animated for its time and enjoyable for adults, Anastasia remains a classic family film.