Anastasia (1997)

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.

Directors:

Don Bluth, Gary Goldman

Writers:

Susan Gauthier (screenplay), Bruce Graham (screenplay)

Stars:

Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meg Ryan	...	Anastasia (voice)
John Cusack	...	Dimitri (voice)
Kelsey Grammer	...	Vladimir (voice)
Christopher Lloyd	...	Rasputin (voice)
Hank Azaria	...	Bartok (voice)
Bernadette Peters	...	Sophie (voice)
Kirsten Dunst	...	Young Anastasia (voice)
Angela Lansbury	...	The Dowager Empress Marie (voice)
Rick Jones	...	Czar Nicholas / Servant / Revolutionary Soldier / Ticket Agent (voice)
Andrea Martin	...	Phlegmenkoff / Old Woman (voice)
Glenn Walker Harris Jr.	...	Young Dimitri (voice)
Debra Mooney	...	Actress (voice)
Arthur Malet	...	Travelling Man / Major Domo (voice)
Charity James	...	Anastasia Impostor (voice)
Liz Callaway	...	Anastasia (singing voice)

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

romanov | russian revolution | russia | amnesia | princess | 

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Taglines:

Discover the Adventure Behind the Greatest Mystery of Our Time

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

The portrait in the ballroom of the whole family includes a spaniel. The spaniel existed. The spaniel, named Joy, belonged to Anastasia's brother, Alexei, and was found alive at the house where the family was killed. Anastasia's own dog, Jimmy, did not survive.

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Goofs

Sankt-Peterburg (St Petersburg) was called Petrograd during the period of the Great War because of anti-German sentiment. Subsequently, the Communists renamed it Leningrad after the Revolution (it did not revert to its Tsarist name until 1991). And yet everyone in the movie was referring to the city as St. Petersburg.

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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 latter part of the end credits featured various ornamental wallpaper designs in the background.

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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.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: That's Not All, Folks! (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Once Upon a December
(Prologue)
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Performed by Angela Lansbury and Lacey Chabert

User Reviews

Better than I remembered

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian French

Release Date:

21 November 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Music Box

Filming Locations:

Chicago Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$120,541, 16 November 1997

Gross USA:

$58,406,347

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$139,804,348

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Animation Studios, Fox Family Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (as dts) (DTS HD Master Audio 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) Dolby Digital (as Dolby Digital) (Dolby Digital 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) SDDS (as Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) (8 channels) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 (D-Cinema prints) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) Dolby Atmos (Dolby Atmos) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1