"We've had maybe 20 different writers come in at different times to really tweak it, so you're going to see a script that's had a lot of care." - Don Bluth

The biggest problem with Fox's "Anastasia" is that it wants to be Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" so badly, it reminds us of this superior predecessor at every turn. It even uses Angela Landsbury as a voice talnet. It's second biggest problem is that it should be a live-action musical. This IS a musical. The only reason it's animated is that no one goes to old fashioned musicals anymore, except for cartoons, like Disney's product. If Julie Andrews were 20 today or if it were 1967, she would be making Anastasia, not Don Bluth.

If you're looking for a film that really tells you anything about the true story of Anastasia, forget it. This is so loosely based on the real life incidents, that it's not for anyone seeking knowledge. It's just a cute little fairy story about royalty. The dang thing is such a homage to tales like "Cinderella," that "Anastasia" even includes a segment where the main characters attend a ballet of this type.

There are some great animation sequences but, in the end, it's too much. Most of the film is one overblown spectacular image after another. It's like a contest to see if the Producers can simply overload our senses with huge visuals. It's like eating chocolate for an hour and 40 minutes straight. By the end, we are sick of the sight of it. As Burt Reynold's said in his film "The End" while looking at a blob of colorful vomit, "It looks like Walt Disney through up."

The songs in "Anastasia" are good, don't get me wrong. And the film is good too. It's juts too much sensory overload based on a contrived, silly plot. I can't imagine a child sitting still for all the songs and all the plot points. There are so many ideas they won't understand, like Czars and Rasputin and the like, that I think they will get bored very easily. The only thing the film has for kids is a cute puppy named Pookah and a hilarious bat named Bartok. Hank Azaria supplies the voice for the later and the character and his dialogue are hilarious. This is the best part of the film. But there just isn't enough of any of these two characters to satisfy our desire to see them. A film about Bartok getting a pimple would be 10 times more fun than what we get here.

"Anastasia" is a grandiose mess of animation and music that is too dull for kids and too simple and contrived for adults. Plus, it's a girl's picture. Little boys will HATE it. In reality, it's the wrong film at the wrong time. Yet, because it looks so spectacular and because it looks like a Disney product, and because there is such an untapped market for this kind of animation, it will make a lot of money. Let's hope Fox's animated films get better as they grow.

Note:

Includes voice talent of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, and the singing voices of Liz Callaway doubling for Ryan as Anastasia.

This is at least the 7th film about Anastasia. It is based on a 1956 screeenplay by Aurther Laurents.

Produced and Directed by Bluth and Gary Goldman. Score by David Newman.

Budget: Over 50 million.

(Review written in 1997)

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