On a fateful day in July of 1918 (a
day in Russian history that would forever live in infamy), the overthrown Tsar
Nicholas II and his family were met with a terrible fate knocking down their
door. They were suddenly awakened by their captors; the members of the
Bolshevik party.
According to an article on Town and Country (link is in the
description below if you wish to read the whole thing), “Ex-Tsar Nicholas II,
Ex-Tsarina Alexandra, their five children, and their four remaining servants,
including the loyal family doctor, Eugene Botkin—were awoken by their Bolshevik
captors and told they must dress and gather their belongings for a swift
nocturnal departure.” (Have this quote appear onscreen)
Unfortunately (despite their best
efforts in staying safe), Tsar Nicholas and his family did not survive the
brutal massacre at the hands of the Bolsheviks…
However; for the longest time, it
was rumored there was indeed a survivor of the massacre. The survivor was
purportedly The Grand Duchess Anastasia. Unfortunately, this was not the case
as her remains were found with the rest of her family in the late 1970s.
The myth of her survival was
adapted countless times for film and stage; most notably in 1956 and again in
animated form by the legendary Don Bluth in 1997.
In this episode of Reviews and Retrospectives, we will be
looking at the latter adaptation and see events that unfolded “Once Upon a
December…”
(Modified Intro
Sequence, improved from the one seen in The
Prince of Egypt’s review)
To begin, let’s take a look at the
overall premise of the film. The movie details the adventures of an amnesiac Anastasia
(also known as Anya). While escaping from the raid on the palace in the
beginning of the film, she hits her head and loses her memory. Around ten years
later she encounters two con men and embarks on a journey to Paris with them in
order to reunite with her grandmother.
However, along the way; she is
pursued by a zombified sorcerer known as Rasputin who seeks to eliminate each
and every member of the Romanovs. Did I mention he was also accompanied by a
small bat named Bartok?
The story is loosely based on the
events I mentioned in this episode’s prologue, albeit including mystical
elements such as Rasputin (but I will get to him later on because I have SO
MUCH to say about him. When I say “loosely” I mean about as loose as the skin
of a guinea pig, and those things have extremely loose skin! (Trust me, I used
to have some as a kid) This story strays so far from the events that actually
happened that it should really be considered “Anastasia” in name only. Despite that, the story is beautifully
crafted, well-paced, and stands well on its own merits. As was the case with
the Prince of Egypt, it is also beautifully orchestrated.
The music written and used for the
film is pleasing to the ears and is used not only to progress the story, but
supplement it as well. Each song is given its own unique style to fit with the
characters’ situation and setting. David Newman, you did an awesome job with
the score! If I had to pick a favorite song, it would definitely be Once Upon a December. It is beautifully
performed by actresses Liz Callaway and Angela Lansbury (whom you may know as
the singing voices of Princess Jasmine and Mrs. Potts respectively).
Speaking of characters; along with
their respective animations, they all have beautiful and realistic
personalities. Anastasia (or Anya as she is called for most of the film due to
her suffering from amnesia) has a headstrong and somewhat childlike
personality. She is a sarcastic, playful, and extremely stubborn young woman.
However, she has a deep emotional side in a few scenes as well. As the film
progresses, you see her develop into a stronger character through overcoming
the various obstacles she faces. What Joker says in The Dark Knight really is true in this case, “what doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger” (use actual clip from TDK).
In comparison to her historical counterpart, Anastasia is designed to resemble
what she would have looked like as an adult (albeit a bit slimmer as the actual
Grand Duchess was reported to be overweight). Also, the character is actually a
composite of two people. The first is of course the titular Grand Duchess, and
the second was a woman known as Anna Anderson.
For those wondering; Anderson (an
alias of Polish factory worker Franziska Schanzkowska, pardon me if I ended up
butchering the name) was a woman who physically resembled Anastasia, and believed
she was her for quite some time. Due to her deluded mental state, she attempted
to convince Anastasia’s relatives that she was either the long-lost princess or
her daughter. She was posthumously found as a fraud, when the bodies of the
Romanov daughters were exhumed in 1991. According to an article on Anusha.com
released around the time of the film, “The DNA test was possible because the
royal families of that time intermarried with each other… Queen Victoria of
England was the great grandmother of Anastasia.” Since we have compared
Anastasia to her actual counterparts, I can tell you are wondering how the rest
of the cast compares to their “source material”. To start, let us take a look
at Rasputin.
While many of the characters were
created using their historical counterparts as a base, Rasputin was created
with only a physical resemblance to the actual person. His personality,
motivations, and his relationship to the others was a significant departure from
the Romanovs’ loyal advisor. The actual Rasputin did not desire to destroy the
royal family, as he was a close friend and confidante of theirs. However, he
did face a massive amount of scrutiny from the public; due to his knowledge of
the mystical arts. He was a benevolent monk, and not a malicious sorcerer as
the animated film portrayed him to be. He was brought into the royal family
primarily to act as a healer for the Tsar’s youngest son, but that is actually
a story for another day. Overall, Rasputin in the film is a near opposite to
his historical counterpart. Luckily, the same cannot be said for Anastasia’s
grandmother.
The characterization of Anastasia’s
grandmother, the Dowager Empress, remains relatively faithful to the source
material aside from a few differences. Unlike the animated film, she never
reunited with any members of her family and continued to live in denial; she
believed they had survived the execution up until her death at the age of
eighty. She also lived in Denmark rather than Paris; I believe her location was
changed because the latter is more iconic than the former, but I could be
wrong. (As usual, if there are any inaccuracies in this review, feel free to
let me know in the comments and I will definitely address the corrections) As
much as I enjoy comparing characters to the source material; this is where the
comparisons end as the other members of the cast were created exclusively for
the film.
As for the characters created
exclusively for the film such as Dimitri, Vlad, and Bartok; I enjoyed the characterization
of Dimitri more than the other two. I enjoyed seeing Dimitri’s relationship
with Anastasia develop as the film progressed. However, I cannot say the same
for the development of his friend, Vlad. I found this character to be nothing
more than a bland background character created to give the deuteragonist a
sidekick.
As for Rasputin’s bat sidekick,
Bartok; I felt his character was similar to Iago from Aladdin. He isn’t an inherently evil character, he simply fell in
with a bad crowd when he first met Rasputin. He is reluctant in complying with
the demands of his master, but does so in fear of his own life. However, there
are moments where he tries to persuade Rasputin to give up on the Romanovs and
“get a life”. While he is unsuccessful in persuading his master, he does manage
to break free and “get a life” of his own. As with all characters, Bartok has
an excellent animation and movement to match his overall personality.
In the department of animation and
visuals, both are an excellent sight to behold. Each character’s movement is
fluid and realistic without relying on emphasizing techniques such as
exaggeration. This is unsurprising since the man in charge of animating was
none other than Don Bluth, whom you may know from films such as The Land Before Time, The Secret of Nimh, and
All Dogs Go to Heaven. (He was also
an animation director for Disney until the early 1980s) While I admire the
animation from Bluth (he is one of my favorite animators along with Walt Disney
and Andreas Deja), I feel his animation is too
realistic (especially in this film). As a result, the characters have moments
where their motion borders the “uncanny valley”, which can be somewhat
unsettling. For those wondering what the “uncanny valley” is; it is a
phenomenon in which something can be unsettling by ironically being too
lifelike. Animation is supposed to
imitate life, that is true. However, sometimes one must exaggerate the movement
to prevent the motion from achieving an unnecessary level of realism. On an
unrelated note; this reason is why Disney chose to use keyframe animation instead
of motion capture for their recent remake of The Jungle Book.
Overall, Anastasia is an amazing film and a treat for the senses. Yes, it
strays considerably from the actual events but the story in its place is well-written,
animated by the legendary Don Bluth (uncanny valley aside), and beautifully orchestrated
by David Newman. I would recommend this film to any fans of animation, cinema,
and musicals.
Speaking of musicals, I suppose
many of you are wondering my thoughts on the recently released Broadway musical
based on the film. Unfortunately, I cannot give my opinions on the stage
musical as I have not seen it or listened to its respective cast recording. I will
give my opinion at a future date once I have done so. From what I have read in
news articles, it is supposed to be grounded in realism and adapted with a greater
deal of historical accuracy. Based on that information, it can be safe to
assume characters such as Bartok are eliminated from the production. I am not
sure about Rasputin, maybe in the musical he is portrayed closer to his actual
counterpart.
Anyway, that wraps up this Journey to the Past, next time we will
be taking a small trip to La La Land!
