'' is an
Animated Feature film produced and directed by
Don Bluth and
Gary Goldman at
Fox Animation Studios , and released on
November 21 ,
1997 by
Twentieth Century Fox . A musical in the vein of
Disney Animated Features , the film is notable for being one of Bluth's most critically acclaimed works, and for being one of the few animated features produced in the
Widescreen Anamorphic process.
The idea for the film originates from Fox's
1956 live-action film version of
Anastasia . Fox executives gave Bluth and Goldman the choice of creating either an animated adaptation of that film or of the
Musical ''
My Fair Lady ''.
The movie features the voices of
Meg Ryan as
Anastasia ,
John Cusack as Dimitri,
Kelsey Grammer as Vladimir,
Christopher Lloyd as
Rasputin ,
Hank Azaria as Bartok,
Bernadette Peters as Sophie,
Kirsten Dunst as the young Anastasia,
Angela Lansbury as
Dowager Empress Marie ,
Rick Jones as
Tsar Nicholas II ,
Liz Callaway , and
Andrea Martin . The film features songs by
Stephen Flaherty and
David Newman . Spanish version features the voice of the Latina singer and actress
Thalía as
Anastasia , whom also participated in the soundtrack.
''Anastasia'' was nominated for two
Academy Awards in the categories of
Best Music, Original Musical Or Comedy Score and
Best Music, Original Song for "Journey to the Past." At the awards ceremony, "Journey to the Past" was performed by
R&B singer
Aaliyah , who recorded the pop single version of the song. Another popular song is 'Once upon a December' which is very well known.
A fairy-tale style adaptation of the legend of the Russian grand duchess
Anastasia , the film imagines that Anastasia, daughter of
Nicholas II Of Russia , escapes the Imperial Palace during the
October Revolution and survives the slaughter of the Imperial family. She loses her memory, battles the lich of the evil monk
Grigori Rasputin and his sidekick Bartok (an
Albino Fruit Bat ), convinces her paternal grandmother
Maria Fyodorovna of her true identity, and falls in love with the kitchen boy (Dimitri) who helped her escape.
The film took several liberties with the details of historical events, and some
Orthodox Christians were offended due to the historical Anastasia's sainthood which was declared formally the next year. Some of the differences with actual history include:
- Though the body of two members of the Russian Imperial Family, including one of the daughters, have not been found, there is no evidence that any family members, including Anastasia, survived.
- In the film, a curse from Rasputin brings about the Russian Revolution . The real leader of the Revolution ( Vladimir Lenin ) is not portrayed. Rasputin was a religious mystic, who washed infrequently and was often drunk. Nevertheless, he gained the trust of the Tsarina Alexandra when he seemed to alleviate the symptoms of Hemophilia from which her son Alexei suffered.
- In reality, Rasputin had been dead for nearly a year before the October Revolution began. He was assassinated on 29 December , 1916 .
- The Imperial Palace is missing an entire story and a grand Column that is sporting a cross bearing angel at the entrance.
- In the film, Anastasia is only a young child at the time of the Revolution, when in fact, she was 17 years old. Anastasia was born on June 18 , 1901 .
- At the times the story takes place, Saint Petersburg was known as ''Petrograd'' or ''Leningrad'', not Saint Petersburg, as it is called in the movie.
Bluth and Goldman, who did extensive historical research on the
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Of Russia and the Russian Revolution for the film, never intended for their film to be scrupulously analyzed for historical accuracy; their film is based upon the legend of
Anastasia having survived the slaughter of the family. A disclaimer can be found at the end of the credits for the film. It reads as follows:
: ''"While some of the characters and events depicted in this film were inspired by well-known historical figures and events, the portrayal of such characters and the depiction of such events are fictional. All other characters and incidents portrayed and names used were created for the purpose of fictitious dramatization and any similarity to the names, characters, and history of actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional."''
The film is based on the play from the
1950s by
Marcelle Maurette which was based on the legend of
Grand Duchess Anastasia Of Russia surfacing as '
Anna Anderson '.
