Steineded How sad is this?

CookieInvent There's a good chance the film will make you laugh out loud, but if it doesn't, there's an even better chance it will make you openly sob.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Anastasia Gumas I'm somewhat biased: I watched this movie as a child dozens of times. The first because it had the same name as mine, and all of the times afterwards and still today because I love the movie by itself.After years, I watched it once more tonight. The fact that it's not factual in the least doesn't take anything away from the movie to me, though I must admit cross-referencing did distract me from the movie until I just put that to the side and decided that the movie is just fiction and to leave it at that. Avoid looking at the facts very much until after the movie.The music, characters, and scenes took me back to my childhood. The first ballroom scene and remembrance of it is my absolute favorite. I remembered the wonder of being a child throughout watching the movie, but I also held wonder for some more little details in the scenes I hadn't noticed before. Only two things made me cringe: the pronunciation of Anastasia and Rasputin's undead body's antics. I've grown up listening to almost everyone pronounce the name not as the Greek origin or the Russian adaption (Ah-na-stah-see-uh / Ah-na- stah-shyah), but as the common English pronunciation - which this movie uses. I'm both Greek and Russian, so it does tend to rub me wrong even more in that aspect. I've grown up around both cultures and done further research on the name, and I'm certain it's pronounced wrong. It's funny how what bothers me the most is the pronunciation.Overall, this is a magnificent movie which all children (and those childlike at heart) will enjoy and should watch at least once. It definitely encourages imagination in its own way.

TheOneManBoxOffice In the late 1990s, we had two animated movies that were based on a certain event in a country's history. In 1995, Disney gave us an American "history lesson" (and I use that term loosely) with Pocahontas, but in 1997, 20th Century Fox did exactly what Disney did, except give us a look at a bit of Russian history (again, using the term "history" loosely) about the daughter of Czar Nicholas II, Anastasia Romanov, simply called...well...Anastasia. However, one thing to consider when going into this film is that this is a family picture ("kids movie" for short), so if you're looking for a true-to-life history lesson a la a PBS or History Channel documentary, you might as well throw that out the nearest airlock.In this film, Anastasia, voiced by Meg Ryan, is a princess that went missing for several years after the attack on the Romanov family during a party, which was led by the Romanov's former confidant Rasputin, voiced by Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future fame, who is an undead, evil sorcerer in this movie. Anastasia, now with a case of amnesia and dubbed Anya, eventually joins two con men, Dimitri (John Cusack) and Vladimir (Fraiser's Kelsey Grammar), who are convinced that she really is the missing Romanov princess, and travel to Paris, France, where her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, resides, to hopefully reunite them, all while Rasputin is seeking her unfortunate demise.I won't judge this movie on historical accuracy, as all (or most) of us can tell that the general audience for this film is younger children, though adult audiences will also be entertained, since there was a lot of effort put into the creation of this film. That, and I wouldn't dismiss it as a "Disney knockoff" right away, because the directors of the film, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, were former Disney animators, so it's easy to confuse this for a Disney picture like Beauty and the Beast. As a family film alone, it is pretty damn good. The artwork and animation is great, the songs are enjoyable, and the voice acting is pretty decent.The film was such a success that it became co-director Don Bluth's comeback after a slew of mediocre to bad animated films he directed throughout most of the decade, and his highest grossing film to date. Not only that, but it warranted a direct-to-video follow up film starring the villain's sidekick, Bartok the Bat (voiced by The Simpsons' Hank Azaria in both films).Overall, the film serves as a great choice to have playing during a family movie night, unless you're extremely picky on historical accuracy, in which case, go do something else for 97 minutes.

Alyssa Jordan Eckenroth This movie is very special to me because it's a movie that my grandma and I used to watch together before she died. I feel like I am Anastasia sometimes because I lost my grand mother however I can't find mine as easily as she did. I love how Dimitri started to remember her and then fell for her all over again. The music is amazing and the music box will always be iconic. I actually have my own music box that is special to me because it keeps me close to my grandma. My favorite song will always be "Once Upon a December" and every time I hear it or sing it I start to think about her and all these memories start flooding back. This is my absolute favorite movie ever and I will never get sick of it. I always use the kids as an excuse to watch it.

ikrani If you HONESTLY think that this movie's going to be historically accurate, think again. Aside from the points in the title of this review, in real life Anastasia died with the rest of the Romanov family on July 17, 1918 in Ekaterinburg, Russia when they were all shot by order of Vladimir Lenin himself. So any and all criticisms about the historical inaccuracy of the film are ultimately superfluous.Harsh reality aside, this animated adaptation of the 1956 film of the same name holds up pretty well after all these years. The story of a young girl being picked up by con men who want to pass her off as the Duchess and claim the Tsar's fortune is nothing new. But Don Bluth and crew manage to make it surprisingly refreshing with some bright colors, fun characters, mild but tense action scenes, and one of the most perfect love stories I've seen. Heck, the romantic leads don't even say "I love you" once; they leave it entirely up to the animation, the music, and the superb voice acting. THAT is what film is supposed to be: showing instead of telling.The characters are great, better than some in the Disney movies this film borrows from. Anastasia herself is a wide-eyed but hopeful woman whose banter with Dmitri, a con man who's afraid of admitting he's not such a bad guy after all, is the best part of the movie. Vlad is a lovable yet hopeless romantic, thus the perfect best friend for Dmitri. Angela Lansbury as The Dowager Empress Marie is, well, Angela Lansbury. Nothing that new, but NEVER anything bad.And then we have Christopher Lloyd as Rasputin. He's... 50/50. Sometimes I buy him as this hate-filled, despicably evil sorcerer, other times my mind momentarily flashes to Christoper Lloyd in a recording booth. And most of his scenes are plagued by Bartok the Bat, voiced by Hank Azaria. Bartok's not annoying or anything, but given that he does all of ONE thing in the film, his presence is no doubt due to the producers feeling that Rasputin and his awesome villain song were too scary. Gee, a villain that scares people? UNACCEPTABLE!Aside from "In the Dark of the Night," the rest of the songs in the movie aren't that memorable. They're not BAD songs by any stretch, they just don't go as far with the lyrics or the tune as Rasputin's villain song. The only one I remember distinctly was Once Upon a December, and only by name. But, seriously, why isn't David Newman getting more work these days? His score in this film was spectacular, enough to give Alan Menken a run for his money.Overall, while it may not my favorite movie or the the BEST movie I've seen, there's nothing really to hate about this film. It was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, and that's really all a movie needs to be.