Bartok, o Magnífico

Following the massive success of Anastasia in 1997, directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman took it upon themselves to create a direct-to-video prequel entitled Bartok the Magnificent, focusing on Hank Azaria's lovable bumbling bat character from the first film. Known as the only followup to a Bluth film that the original creator himself was involved with, the film has gone on to achieve a small cult following from fans of Anastasia and Bluth enthusiasts alike, even if its existence alone remains fairly questionable. For a small direct to video prequel about a sidekick, it's not half bad.

The film centers on the titular Bartok who makes his way as a street magician and a con artist having to unveil the kidnapping of the young czar prior to the Russian Revolution. Because the premise of the film is super simple at its core, the execution is all the more impactful, down to a strong message of discovering inner strength through selfless acts and overcoming what you appear to be. Every character in the film is defined through a definitive role, whether it be Bartok's flamboyant partner Zozi the thespian bear, the czar's cunning assistant Ludmilla, and even the misunderstood witch Baba Yaga. Zozi is arguably the most lovable character in the whole feature, as his overly confident persona allows for a strong contrast between the more insecure Bartok, making the journey all the more delightful from start to finish. By embracing the limitations in format and presentation, Bluth, Goldman, and even the cast did their absolute best in performing through their hearts, something that can always be appreciated in musical cinema and animation.

Arguably though, the real star of the movie has to be the musical numbers, written once again by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. With the film's establishing number sets up the film's world with appropropriate danger and fear from the people of Russia, which then connects to Bartok the Magnificent pitching his concept of who he is to the public, all with the right amount of dazzling showmanship to be found. Arguably the biggest heartwarmer would have to be A Possible Hero, showcasing how much Zozi encourages Bartok to be far more than he appears to be. The lyrics in every song are jam packed with whip smart material, demonstrating Sondheim's method through forming patterns of catchy sound and simple words easy to remember by the audience, on top of cleverly expressing all the story and character you have. The blending of Russian folk music and Broadway jazz suits the tone very well, pulling off different genres through modern swing and Russian mythology. Through so much self worth and projection, this film's soundtrack is easily one of the best in Bluth's filmography.

As far as other notable qualities are concerned, despite the low budget showing in some aspects, the art and animation direction are quite impressive. Bluth's trademark character animation direction works in the film's favor with a lot of strong acting and staging shown throughout. Even with a lot of crowd scenes, the normal issue of there being too much going on in just one shot alone in a Bluth film remains toned down to keep the clarity strong and intact. The small but effective usage of computer generated imagery adds into the unsettling atmosphere in some sequences, complete with Baba Yaga's skull entrance/guard posing a spooky albeit playful presence to our heroes. Perhaps some of the backgrounds do look a bit pug fugly in saturation, but the more gloomy backdrops add a nice contrast to the eyes. Considering that the film was not optimized for the big screen, one would probably be disappointed that Bluth's talents were utilized in a smaller aspect ratio than usual, but once again, the limitations worked within everyone's favor in the end.

Despite being a fairly simple endeavor in Bluth and Goldman's filmography, Bartok the Magnificent has a lot to offer in terms of characterization, performance, musical accompaniment, and visual choices. Given that this film was made with little interference from Fox, it is both a blessing that this film came out as good as it was, and a curse that it remains obscure in spite of its triumphs. I would definitely recommend it to anyone regardless if you have seen Anastasia or not, for just like the movie's hero, this tiny project will surely leave an impact in one way or another.

I liked Anastasia. It wasn't the best animated movie ever, but it was nice. And Bartok was my favourite character, so.... .... I was all the more disappointed with this movie. The idea of giving him his own story to star in is great. But please, please, give the movie a story! This one mixes an old Russian fairy tale about a witch (in the original she lives in a house with 4 chicken legs, so the house can walk around, I believe) with a PC-game-alike plot:

1) Go on quest. Get item 2) return from quest. bring item to whoever requested it. 3) get sent on another quest to get another item.... 4) repeat until you feel sick

First quest: find the kidnapped prince. Then the witch sends him on 3 or 4 quests of her own before being willing to help him. Etc. etc.

Add in some poor songs, some really really obvious morals, and you've got one of the worst direct-to-video sequels ever devised for a major animated feature. Only Lion King 2 comes off worse, from those that I've seen so far...

Anastasia is my personal favourite Don Bluth movie, but this film actually does it justice if not as good.

The animation is mostly good, bright and colourful, that falls a tad flat in the scarier bits. The story is a bit noisy, but well told, considering that the film itself is too short. The dialogue is good, the best coming from Zozi, and the morals are admirable.

The songs are quite good, but not as beautiful as Anastasia. All of them are lively, and atmospheric, but could have been better timed. The voice talents are impeccable, Bartok is a little annoying but Hank Azaria voices him well, but Kelsey Grammar is perfect as Zozi. Andrea Martin is convincing as Baba Yaga, and Catherine O'Hara is a suitably over the top villain, a bit too OTT perhaps. Tim Curry is also very good as the skull who was brilliantly animated, and Jennifer Tilly is great as Pilaf .

An entertaining movie! Look out for it! 7/10. Bethany Cox

I didn't expect to like the movie as much as I did Anastasia and I was right.

They chose the character I didn't care much for, but as I said in my Anastasia review he was very appealing to the kids. So when it comes to Bartok the magnificent, this cartoon is more for just children. So the drawing is not as beautiful, there are less details of Russia and songs are not as great.

Also, as somebody who grew up over there and had a lot of Baba Yaga in my childhood, I really didn't like the portrayal of her or her house, was so different from what it was in my childhood. This of course wouldn't make a difference for most viewers and kids but this is where movie lost some points with me. I wish it was her old house with chicken legs in the middle of a beautiful Russian forest.

It is still not a bad movie for kids. And I personally liked to have more of Kelsey Grammar in it who now had a bigger part as Bartok's friend the bear.

As an earlier commentator noted, "Bartok the Magnificent" is a prequel to "Anastasia". I guess animated bats live for a REALLY long time. But if you are going to quibble about dates then just what will you say about the existence of talking bears, musical witches and a huge animated riddle asking skull—just go with it. For all the sequential fuzziness, I find this film a real joy.

The voice talents of Kelsey Grammar as the Russian Dancing (and classical theater loving) bear Zozi is wonderful as are also Tim Curry's, as the Huge Talking Skul and Jennifer Tilly's role as Piloff. I have no idea what Piloff is, She looks life a living fur boa some women might wear around their necks. Whatever she is, Tilly's voice makes her seems gentle and funny (and a little ditsy but in an attractive kind of way) while also being impervious to whatever Bartok does to get her off the bolder (and a strange looking bolder it is too—looks more like a construction girder) as demanded by Baba Yaga. Indestructible gentle femininity is a good thing. Of course Bartok (voiced by Hank Azaria) is himself a hoot. Also Kelsey Grammar's voice in song is as full of life and warm as is his speaking voice. I love to listen to him even when he's the bad guy as in "Toy Story 2" as Stinky Pete. This film is one of the straight to video ones which should have been given a shot as a theatrical run. Both the video and the DVD comes with the songs separate with sing along lyrics--nice touch.