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By
NICK ZEGARAC
When Russia's last monarch,
Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Bolshevik
Revolution his entire family was taken hostage
before being executed and buried in unmarked
graves. However, when those graves were
rediscovered in the early 1990s it seems that the
youngest of the Tsar's children, the princess
Anastasia and his only son and heir to the throne,
Alexia were not among the bones. Even before this
discovery it was rumored that Anastasia had
escaped her fate -- some claimed with the aid of a
sympathetic soldier from the Royal Guard. Whatever
the truth behind such fables of survival, to this
day, no one really knows what became of the little
princess.
Don Bluth's "Anastasia"(1997) attempts to offer us
a fanciful account of the "what if" scenario.
While void of hard facts, this enchanting animated
musical really brings down the house. In this
case, Anastasia (voiced by Meg Ryan) is a
precocious, independent free thinker who has grown
up in impoverished post-revolutionary Russia with
no recollection of her past. Suffering from
amnesia, Anja is ripe for the picking by a pair of
scheming con artists, Dimitri (voiced by John
Cusack) and Vlad (Kelsey Grammer). As in the 1956
version of Anastasia -- the quest to create a
believable facsimile of the Russian princess and
present her to her grandmother, the Dowager
Empress, Marie (voiced by Angela Lansbury) for a
hefty reward is at the crux of this story. One
problem -- the ghost of Rasputin (a figure of
mythical interest in his own time, voiced here by
Christopher Lloyd) -- is out to destroy the last
of the royals before she gets to Paris.
As is the case with animated movies, the blood and
guts of history are toned down and the musical
highlights bumped up a notch. This "Anastasia"
plays more like a fanciful Broadway play than a
snippet gleaned from the historical records. But
then again, animation's redeeming feature is that
it can make the impossible believable. Bluth's
animators thus have a complete triumph on their
hands, brimming with numbers that are ultra
high-gloss treatment and eye popping to say the
least. Bar none, this is the finest non-Disney
fable ever produced. Bluth's team has created a
rich tapestry of characters married to lush
background drawings that simply glow off of the
screen. Using all of the time-honored and
traditional effects of animation, they have
summoned up a potpourri of spectacle that is
mind-blowing entertainment. The masterful score is
steeped in poignant riches, not the least of which
is "Once Upon A December." The song begins as a
lonely solo sung by Anja in the abandoned and dark
ballroom of the Winter Palace. Suddenly ghostly
dancers burst forth from the surrounding
paintings. They illuminate the ballroom with
reminiscences of its magnificent past. Finally the
ghost of the Tsar appears to share a moment of
tender father/daughter bonding that sadly neither
has ever known. The emotional impact will leave
you with a lump in your throat.
The film also contains two astounding examples of
set piece animation: the intricately staged
opening number, "Have You Heard" in which
literally thousands of dancers fill the streets of
St. Petersburg to regale the audience with the
rumor, the legend and the mystery of Anastasia
through song, and, "Paris Holds The Key to Her
Heart," a Busby Berkeley-esque tour de force in
which the cast visit all of the famed landmarks in
the city of lights and conclude their celebration
with a gorgeous display of fireworks atop the
Eiffel Tower. Truly, this film is a non-stop
myriad of sumptuous film making that places the
art of animation upon a pedestal of high art that
few films in its canon have ever aspired to.
Fox has given us "Anastasia" in both widescreen
and full frame formats. Unfortunately the
widescreen version is not anamorphic -- a genuine
disappointment. That said, there's really nothing
else to complain about. Colors are eye-popping,
rich and vibrant. Blacks are solid and deep.
Whites are exceptionally clean. Fine detail is
extremely well defined. Contrast levels are bang
on. There is no hint of digital anomalies for a
picture that is smooth and gratifying. The sonic
experience on this disc has to be heard to be
believed. Truly, a very charming, viscerally
compelling experience that is not to be missed. We
also get a documentary on the making of the movie,
which is informative and fun, the original
theatrical trailer and Richard Marx's music video
"Life Is A Journey." This is a great family film
that I wish more adults would see. It combines all
the virtues and esthetics of the
Hollywood/Broadway musical and the animated
feature film to retell a story as old as time in a
compelling and fresh new light. My sincere
recommendation is that you get two copies of this
film: one for yourself. The other for someone you
love who's either young or young at heart. |
