Anastasia (1997 film)

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Anastasia
Anastasia-don-bluth.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
  • Don Bluth
  • Gary Goldman
Screenplay by
Story byEric Tuchman (animation adaptation)
Based onAnastasia
by Arthur Laurents
Anastasia
by Marcelle Maurette
Produced by
  • Don Bluth
  • Gary Goldman
Starring
  • Meg Ryan
  • John Cusack
  • Kelsey Grammer
  • Christopher Lloyd
  • Hank Azaria
  • Bernadette Peters
  • Kirsten Dunst
  • Angela Lansbury
Edited by
Music byDavid Newman
Production
companies
Fox Family Films
Fox Animation Studios
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 14, 1997 (1997-11-14) (New York City premiere)
  • November 21, 1997 (1997-11-21) (United States)
Running time
94 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million
Box office$140 million[2]

Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical drama film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman in association with Fox Animation Studios, distributed by 20th Century Fox, and starring the voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Hank Azaria, Christopher Lloyd, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, and Angela Lansbury.[3] It is an alternate history film loosely based on rumors that Grand Duchess Anastasia escaped the execution of her family. Its plot follows an eighteen-year-old amnesiac Anastasia "Anya" who, hoping to find some trace of her family, sides with con men who wish to take advantage of her likeness to the Grand Duchess; thus the film shares its plot with Fox's prior film from 1956, which, in turn, was based on the 1954 play of the same name by Marcelle Maurette. Unlike those treatments, this version adds a magical Grigori Rasputin as the main antagonist.

Anastasia premiered in New York City on November 14, 1997, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 21. The film was positively received by many critics and audiences, who praised the animation, themes, characters, voice performances, and the soundtrack, though it was criticized by some historians for its fantastical retelling of the life of the Grand Duchess. From a $50-million budget, Anastasia grossed over $139 million worldwide, making it the most profitable film from Bluth and Fox Animation Studios. It received nominations for several awards, including for Best Original Song ("Journey to the Past") and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score at the 70th Academy Awards. The success of Anastasia spawned various adaptations of the film into other media, including a direct-to-video spin-off film, a computer game,[4] books, toys and a stage musical, which premiered in 2016.[5][6]

Due to the creation of Fox Animation Studios, Anastasia was the first 20th Century Fox animated feature to be produced by its own animation division 20th Century Fox Animation.

Plot[]

In 1916 Petrograd, Russia, at a ball celebrating the Romanov tricentennial, Dowager Empress Marie bestows a music box and a necklace inscribed with the words "Together in Paris" as parting gifts to her youngest granddaughter, eight-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia. The ball is suddenly interrupted by Grigori Rasputin, a sorcerer and the former royal adviser until he was exiled for treason. Seeking revenge, Rasputin sells his soul in exchange for an unholy reliquary, which he uses to curse the Romanovs, sparking the Russian Revolution. As revolutionaries besiege the palace, Marie and Anastasia escape through a secret passageway, aided by 10-year-old servant boy Dimitri. Rasputin confronts the two royals outside on a frozen river, only to fall through the ice and drown. The pair manage to reach a moving train, but as Marie climbs aboard, Anastasia falls and hits her head on the platform, subsequently suffering amnesia.

Ten years later, Russia is under communist rule and Marie has publicly offered 10 million rubles for the safe return of her granddaughter. Conman Dimitri and his friend/partner-in-crime, Vlad, search for an Anastasia look-alike to bring to Paris so they can collect the reward. Elsewhere, an 18-year-old Anastasia (now called "Anya") leaves the rural orphanage where she grew up. Accompanied by a stray puppy she names Pooka, she decides to head to Paris, inspired by the inscription on her necklace, but finds herself unable to leave Russia without an exit visa. An old woman advises her to see Dimitri at the abandoned palace; there, the two men are impressed by Anya's resemblance to the "real" Anastasia, and decide to take her with them to Paris.

Rasputin's albino bat minion, Bartok, is nearby and notices his master's dormant reliquary suddenly revived by Anya's presence; it drags him to limbo, where he finds an undead Rasputin has been confined. Enraged to hear that Anastasia escaped the curse, Rasputin sends his demonic minions from the reliquary to kill her. The demons sabotage the trio's train as they leave St. Petersburg, and later try to lure Anya into sleepwalking off their ship to France. The trio unwittingly foil both attempts, forcing Rasputin and Bartok to travel back to the surface to kill Anya personally. During their journey, as Dimitri and Vlad teach Anya court etiquette and her family's history, Dimitri and Anya begin to fall in love.

The trio eventually reach Paris and go to see Marie, who has given up the search after meeting numerous impostors. Despite this, Marie's cousin Sophie quizzes Anya to confirm her identity. Though Anya offers every answer taught to her, Dimitri finally realizes she is the real Anastasia when she (without being taught) vaguely recalls how he helped her escape the palace siege. Sophie, also convinced, arranges a meeting with Marie at the Paris Opera House. There, Dimitri tries to establish an introduction but Marie refuses, having already heard of Dimitri's initial scheme to con her. Anya overhears the conversation and angrily leaves. Dimitri later abducts Marie in her car to force her to see Anya, finally convincing her when he presents the music box Anastasia dropped during their escape. As Marie and Anya converse, Anya regains her memories, and the two sing the lullaby the music box plays. Marie recognizes Anya as Anastasia, and the two are joyfully reunited.

Marie offers Dimitri the reward money the next day, recognizing him as the servant boy who saved them, but he refuses it, surprising her, and leaves for Russia. At Anastasia's return celebration, Marie informs her of Dimitri's gesture, leaving Anastasia torn between staying or going with him. Anastasia walks off to the Pont Alexandre III, where Rasputin traps and attacks her. Dimitri returns to save her, but is attacked by a Pegasus statue enchanted by Rasputin. In the struggle, Anastasia manages to get hold of Rasputin's reliquary and crushes it under her foot, avenging her family as Rasputin's demons turn on him and destroy him.

In the aftermath, Anastasia and Dimitri reconcile; they elope, and Anastasia sends a farewell letter to Marie and Sophie, promising to return one day. Bartok shares a kiss with a female bat before bidding the audience farewell.

Voice cast[]

  • Meg Ryan as Anastasia "Anya" Romanov: Raised as an orphan, sets out on a journey to discover her true heritage. Liz Callaway provides the singing voice for Anastasia.
    • Kirsten Dunst provided the speaking voice for young Anastasia.
    • Lacey Chabert provides the singing voice for young Anastasia.
  • John Cusack as Dimitri: A young con-man, a former servant of the Romanovs, and Anastasia's love interest. Jonathan Dokuchitz provides the singing voice for Dimitri.
    • Glenn Walker Harris Jr. provided the speaking voice for young Dimitri.
  • Kelsey Grammer as Vladimir "Vlad" Vanya Voinitsky Vasilovich: A former nobleman turned con-artist, and a friend of Dimitri.
  • Christopher Lloyd as Grigori Rasputin: An evil sorcerer, who cast a curse upon the Romanov family.
    • Jim Cummings provides the singing voice of Rasputin.[7]
  • Hank Azaria as Bartok: Rasputin's mild-mannered, talking, albino bat assistant who serves as the film's comic relief.
  • Angela Lansbury as Marie Feodorovna Romanov: The Dowager Empress, mother of Nicholas II, and Anastasia's grandmother.
  • Bernadette Peters as Sophie Stanislovskievna Somorkov-Smirnoff, Marie's first cousin, and lady-in-waiting.
  • Andrea Martin as "Comrade" Phlegmenkoff, the orphanage's inconsiderate owner.
  • Rick Jones as Nicholas II Romanov, the last Tsar of Imperial Russia and Anastasia's father.
    • Jones also provided voice-over work for the voices of a revolutionary soldier, a servant, and a ticket agent.
  • Charity James as Anastasia impostor
  • Debra Mooney as an Actress
  • Arthur Malet as Traveling Man Majordomo

J. K. Simmons, Victoria Clark, Billy Porter, Patrick Quinn and Lillias White were among the ensemble and character voices.

Production[]

Development[]

In May 1994, the Los Angeles Times reported that Don Bluth and Gary Goldman had signed a long-term deal to produce animated features with 20th Century Fox with the studio channeling more than $100 million in constructing the animation studio.[8] They selected Phoenix, Arizona, for the location of the new animation studio because the state offered the company about $1 million in job training funds and low-interest loans for the state-of-the-art digital animation equipment,[9] with a staff of 300 artists and technicians, a third of whom worked with Bluth and Goldman in Dublin, Ireland, for Sullivan Bluth Studios.[10] For their first project, the studio insisted they select one out of a dozen existing properties which they owned where Bluth and Goldman suggested adapting The King and I and My Fair Lady,[11] though Bluth and Goldman felt it would be impossible to improve on Audrey Hepburn's performance and Lerner and Loewe's score. Following several story suggestions, the idea to adapt Anastasia originated from Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Bill Mechanic. They would later adapt story elements from Pygmalion with the peasant Anya being molded into a regal woman.[12]

Early into production, Bluth and Goldman began researching the actual events through enlisting former CIA agents stationed in Moscow and St. Petersburg.[13] Around this same time, screenwriter Eric Tuchman had written a script that co-screenwriter Bruce Graham described as being "very adult, very based in reality, all about politics, and without any magic or comedy". Eventually, Bluth and Goldman decided the history of Anastasia and the Romanov dynasty was too dark for their film.[12] In 1995, Graham and Susan Gauthier reworked Tuchman's script into a light-hearted romantic comedy. When Graham and Gauthier moved onto other projects, the husband-and-wife screenwriting team Bob Tzudiker and Noni White were hired for additional rewrites.[14] Actress Carrie Fisher also made uncredited rewrites of the film, particularly the scene in which Anya leaves the orphanage for Paris.[15]

For the villains, Bluth also did not take into consideration depicting Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and initially toyed with the idea of a police chief with a vendetta against Anastasia. Instead, they decided to have Grigori Rasputin as the villain with Goldman explaining it was because of "all the different things they did to try to destroy Rasputin and what a horrible man he really was, the more it seemed appetizing to make him the villain".[13] In reality, Rasputin was already dead when the Romanovs were assassinated. In addition to this, Bluth created the idea for Bartok, the albino bat, as a sidekick for Rasputin. "I just thought the villain had to have a comic sidekick, just to let everyone know that it was all right to laugh. A bat seemed a natural friend for Rasputin. Making him a white bat came later – just to make him different."[16] Composers Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens recalled being at Au Bon Pain in New York City where Rasputin and Bartok were pitched, and being dismayed at the decision to go down a historically inaccurate route; they made their stage musical adaption "more sophisticated, more far-reaching, more political" to encompass their original vision.[17]

Casting[]

Bluth stated that Meg Ryan was his first and only choice for the title character. However, Ryan was indecisive about accepting the role due to its dark historical events.[18] To persuade her, the animation team took an audio clip of Annie Reed from Sleepless in Seattle and created an animation reel based on it which was screened for her following an invitation to the studio. "I was blown away that they did that", Ryan later confessed, and accepted the role.[19] Before Ryan was cast, Broadway singer and actress Liz Callaway was brought in to record several demos of the songs hoping to land a job in background vocals, but the demos were liked well enough by songwriters that they were ultimately used in the final film.[20] John Cusack openly admitted after being cast that he couldn't sing,[21] in which his singing duties were performed by Jonathan Dokuchitz.[22] Goldman had commented that originally, as with the rest of the cast, they were going to have Ryan record her lines separately from the others, with Bluth reading the lines of the other characters to her. However, after Ryan and the directors were finding the method to be too challenging when her character was paired with Dimitri, she and Cusack recorded the dialogue of their characters together, with Goldman noting "It made a huge difference."[13]

Peter O'Toole was considered for the role of Rasputin, but Christopher Lloyd was hired because of his popularity from the Back to the Future trilogy. Bartok was initially written for Woody Allen, but the studio was reluctant to hire him following revelations of his relationship with his ex-partner Mia Farrow's adoptive daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Martin Short was also considered, but Hank Azaria won the role ten minutes into his audition.[13][14]

Musical score and soundtrack album[]

See also: Anastasia (soundtrack)

The film score was composed, co-orchestrated, and conducted by David Newman, whose father, Alfred Newman, composed the score of the 1956 film of the same name.[23] The songs, of which "Journey to the Past" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, were written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.[24] The first song they wrote for the project was "Once Upon a December"; it was written during a heatwave "so [they were] sweating and writing winter imagery".[17] The film's soundtrack was released in CD and audio cassette format on October 28, 1997.[25]

Release[]

20th Century Fox scheduled for Anastasia to be released on November 21, 1997, notably a week after the 1997 re-release of Disney's The Little Mermaid. Disney claimed it had long-planned for the 17-day re-release to coincide with a consumer products campaign leading into Christmas and the film's home video release in March 1998, as well continue the tradition of re-releasing their films within a seven-to eight-year interval.[26] In addition to this, Disney would release several competing family films including Flubber on the following weekend, as well as a double feature of George of the Jungle and Hercules.[26] As a response, Disney refused to advertise for Anastasia on the ABC program The Wonderful World of Disney, and banned its corporate sponsors from airing film clips during their television commercials.[27]

Commenting on the fierce competition between the two films, Disney spokesman John Dreyer brushed off allegations of studio rivalry, claiming, "We always re-release our movies around holiday periods". However, Fox executives refused to believe Dreyer's statement with Bill Mechanic responding that "It's a deliberate attempt to be a bully, to kick sand in our face. They can't be trying to maximize their own business; the amount they're spending on advertising is ridiculous... It's a concentrated effort to keep our film from fulfilling its potential."[28]

Marketing[]

Anastasia was accompanied with a marketing campaign at more than $50 million with promotional sponsors from Burger King, Dole Food Company, Hershey, Chesebrough-Ponds, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Shell Oil, and the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Overall, the marketing costs exceeded that of Independence Day by more than 35 percent.[29] For merchandising, Fox selected Galoob to license dolls based on Anastasia.[28] Many storybooks adapted from the film were released by Little Golden Books. In August 1997, the SeaWorld theme parks in San Diego and Orlando featured a 40-foot-long, 20-foot-high inflatable playground for children called "Anastasia's Kingdom".[30]

Home media[]

On April 28, 1998 and January 1, 1999, Anastasia was released on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD and sold eight million units.[31] On March 14, 2006, the film was reissued on a two-disc "Family Fun Edition" DVD with the film in its original theatrical 2.35:1 widescreen format. The first disc contained the film, an optional audio commentary from directors/writers Bluth and Goldman, and bonus features. The second contained a making-of documentary, music video and making-of featurette of Aaliyah's "Journey to the Past", and additional bonus content.[32] The film was released on Blu-ray on March 22, 2011; this came with Bartok the Magnificent in the special features.[33]

Anastasia became available on December 4, 2020 on Disney+,[34][35] following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019.[36]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 86% based on 56 reviews and an average rating of 7.11/10. The website's consensus reads, "Beautiful animation, an affable take on Russian history, and strong voice performances make Anastasia a winning first film from Fox Animation Studios."[37] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[38]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, praising "the quality of the story" and writing, "The result is entertaining and sometimes exciting."[39] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave Anastasia three stars, calling the lead character "pretty and charming" but criticizing the film for a lack of historical accuracy.[40] The Cincinnati Enquirer described the film as "charming" and "entertaining," concluding, "Anastasia serves up a tasty tale about a fairy-tale princess."[41] Lisa Osbourne of Boxoffice called the film "pure family entertainment."[42] Awarding the film three out of five stars, Empire's Philip Thomas wrote, "Historical inaccuracies aside, Anastasia manages to be a charming little movie."[43]

Several critics have drawn positive comparisons between Anastasia and the Disney films released during the Disney Renaissance, noting similarities in their story and animation styles. Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle awarded the film three out of five stars. Likening its quality to that of a Disney animated film, Baumgarten wrote that Anastasia "may not beat Disney at its own game, but it sure won't be for lack of trying." Baumgarten continued, "[t]his sumptuous-looking film clearly spared no expense in its visual rendering; its optical flourishes and attention to detail aim for the Disney gold standard and, for the most part, come pretty darn close."[44] The Phoenix's Jeffrey Gantz jokingly stated, "[i]f imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then the folks at Disney should feel royally complimented by Twentieth Century Fox's new animated feature about Tsar Nicholas II's youngest daughter."[45] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Fox's challenge to the Disney empire is a beautifully animated musical." However, Gleiberman continued, "Anastasia has the Disney house style down cold, yet the magic is missing."[46]

Critical reception in Russia was also, for the most part, positive despite the artistic liberties that the film took with Russian history. Gemini Films, the Russian distributor of Anastasia, stressed the fact that the story was "not history," but rather "a fairy tale set against the background of real Russian events" in the film's Russian marketing campaign so that its Russian audience would not view Anastasia "as a historical film."[47] As a result, many Russians praised the film for its art and storytelling and saw it as "not so much a piece of history but another Western import to be consumed and enjoyed."[47]

Some Russian Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, found Anastasia to be an offensive depiction of the Grand Duchess, who was canonized as a new martyr in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.[48] Many historians echoed their sentiments, criticizing the film as a "sanitized, sugar-coated reworking of the story of the Czar's youngest daughter."[49] While the filmmakers acknowledged the fact that "Anastasia uses history only as a starting point," others complained that the film would provide its audience with misleading facts about Russian history, which, according to the author and historian Suzanne Massie, "has been falsified for so many years."[50] Similarly, the amateur historian Bob Atchison said that Anastasia was akin to someone making a film in which Anne Frank "moves to Orlando and opens a crocodile farm with a guy named Mort."[50]

Some of Anastasia's contemporary relatives also felt that the film was distasteful, but most Romanovs have come to accept the "repeated exploitation of Anastasia's romantic tale... with equanimity."[50]

Box office[]

A limited release of Anastasia at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on the weekend of November 14, 1997, grossed $120,541.[51] The following week, the wide release of Anastasia in the United States made $14.1 million (for an average of about $5,692 from 2,478 theaters), which placed it as the #2 film (behind Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) for the weekend of November 21–23, 1997. By the end of its theatrical run, Anastasia had grossed $58.4 million in the North American box office and $81.4 million internationally.[2] The worldwide gross totaled up to about $139.8 million, making it Don Bluth's highest-grossing film to date and beating out his next highest-grossing film, An American Tail, by about $55 million.[52] This was Don Bluth's first financially successful film since All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Adaptations[]

Ice Follies[]

Anastasia On Ice was a licensed adaptation produced by Feld Entertainment's on ice unit that ran from at least 1998 to 1999.[53][54]

Spin-off prequel[]

In 1999 a direct-to-video spin-off and prequel called Bartok the Magnificent was released which focused on the character of Bartok.[55]

Stage musical adaptation[]

Main article: Anastasia (musical)

On April 21, 2015, Hartford Stage announced plans to premiere a new stage production of Anastasia, with the book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty and directed by Darko Tresnjak.[56] The production ran from May 13 through June 19, 2016.[57]

It is an original new musical combining both the 1956 Fox film and the 1997 animated film. According to Tresnjak, the musical features six songs from the animated film and additionally includes 16 new songs. Additionally, there have been some newly rewritten characters including Checkist secret police officer Gleb Vaganov (in the place of Rasputin), and Lily, who has been renamed in the place of Sophie.[58] McNally said, "This is a stage version for a modern theatre audience... The libretto's 'a blend' of old and new... There are characters in the musical that appear in neither the cartoon nor the Ingrid Bergman version."[59]

The Hartford production featured Christy Altomare as Anastasia / Anya, Derek Klena as Dimitri, Mary Beth Peil as The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Manoel Felciano as Gleb Vaganov, John Bolton as Vladimir, Caroline O'Connor as Lily, and Nicole Scimeca as Young Anastasia.[60] The musical transferred to Broadway with much of the original Hartford cast, opening on April 24, 2017, at the Broadhurst Theater[61] to mixed reviews.

Accolades[]

Anastasia received the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film[62] and was nominated for 7 others, including two Academy Awards in the categories of Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (lost to The Full Monty) and Best Original Song for "Journey to the Past" (lost to "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic).[63][64] The R&B singer Aaliyah performed her pop single version of "Journey to the Past" at the 70th Academy Awards.[65]

Awards
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Result
Academy Awards March 23, 1998 Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and David Newman Nominated
Best Music, Original Song "Journey to the Past"
Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Annie Awards November 13, 1998 Best Animated Feature Film Anastasia
Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Animation Studios
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Effects Animation Peter Matheson
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and David Newman
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Producing in an Animated Feature Production Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Production Angela Lansbury
For playing "Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna".
Meg Ryan
For playing "Anastasia".
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production Hank Azaria
For playing "Bartok". 		Won
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production Animation Adaptation: Eric Tuchman
Screenplay: Susan Gauthier, Bruce Graham, Noni White, and Bob Tzudiker 		Nominated
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards March 10, 1998 Favorite Animated Family Movie Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards January 20, 1998 Best Family Film
Golden Globe Awards January 18, 1998 Best Music, Original Song "Journey to the Past"
Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens 		Nominated
"Once Upon a December"
Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

See also[]

  • Anna Anderson
  • Romanov impostors
  • List of 20th Century Studios theatrical animated feature films

References[]

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