The last surviving child of the Russian Royal Family joins two con men to reunite with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, while the undead Rasputin seeks her death.
The daughter of the last Russian Czar, Nicolas II (Rick Jones), Anastasia (Meg Ryan) is found by two Russian con men, Dimitri (John Cusack) and Vladimir (Kelsey Grammer), who seek the reward that her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna (Dame Angela Lansbury), promised to the ones who'll find her. But the evil mystic of the Czar family, Grigori Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd), still wants the Romanov family to be destroyed forever.
Hank Azaria, Andrea Martin, and Kelsey Grammer made Bartok the Magnificent (1999), only Azaria reprised his role as Bartok the bat. Whereas Andrea and Kelsey played two different characters. See more »
Goofs
At the beginning, Bartok mentions that "all the Romanovs are dead", because he doesn't know Anastasia is alive. Later, several times, Rasputin is intent on killing Anastasia, thus seeing "the end of the Romanov line". They both must know that Anastasia's grandmother the Dowager Empress Marie -explicitly mentioned as Anastasia's father's mother- is also still alive, however she is well beyond child-bearing years, and has no plans to attempt to claim a throne. To truly "end the line", Rasputin needs to make sure that no other Romanovs would be born or attempt to claim their birthright; Anastasia could potentially claim her right to the throne as well as have children, and therefore is more of a threat. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Dowager Empress Marie:
There was a time, not very long ago, where we lived in an enchanted world of elegant palaces and grand parties. The year was 1916, and my son, Nicholas, was the czar of Imperial Russia.
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Crazy Credits
The first part of the initial set of the credits highlighted scenes from the film. See more »
Alternate Versions
The version shown on HBO and related channels contains extra credits for the Spanish-language version of the film. The song over those credits, a Spanish version of "Journey to the Past," was on the film's soundtrack album. See more »
Some of the most beautiful animation and backgrounds in recent history are a central ingredient of "Anastasia", a charming full-length feature based on the famous title character and set against the period of the Russian revolution. Expert vocal work by Angela Lansbury (Dowager Empress), Meg Ryan (Anastasia), John Kusack (Dimitri) and many others, make the characters seem more dimensional than in most animated features. Particularly Dimitri and Anastasia, whose love-hate relationship seems startlingly real given the superb animation.
The score is studded with some Oscar-nominated music and the sinister moments have the kind of villain you love to hate (Rasputin). Some of the scenes might be too intense for small children--as well as a realistic railway scene on a runaway car--but all in all, should delight young and old. Angela Lansbury's voice is especially effective as the Empress. The art of animation doesn't get any better than this! This Don Bluth/Gary Goldman production is as good as anything Disney might have attempted.
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Some of the most beautiful animation and backgrounds in recent history are a central ingredient of "Anastasia", a charming full-length feature based on the famous title character and set against the period of the Russian revolution. Expert vocal work by Angela Lansbury (Dowager Empress), Meg Ryan (Anastasia), John Kusack (Dimitri) and many others, make the characters seem more dimensional than in most animated features. Particularly Dimitri and Anastasia, whose love-hate relationship seems startlingly real given the superb animation.
The score is studded with some Oscar-nominated music and the sinister moments have the kind of villain you love to hate (Rasputin). Some of the scenes might be too intense for small children--as well as a realistic railway scene on a runaway car--but all in all, should delight young and old. Angela Lansbury's voice is especially effective as the Empress. The art of animation doesn't get any better than this! This Don Bluth/Gary Goldman production is as good as anything Disney might have attempted.