Anastasia
Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
Writer: Susan Gauthier, Bruce Graham, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White, Eric Tuchman
Starring: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Angela Lansbury, Hank Azaria, Kelsey Grammar, Kirsten Dunst, Lacey Chabert, Jim Cummings
Reason for watching: great movie I haven’t seen before and Jane was upset that I had never seen it.
Number of times I’ve watched it: first time viewing
***
Part of me wanted to open this post with a comment about how I don’t like another genre of movie. Because I have this stupid masculine instinct that when I hear a movie is supposed to be a “princess movie,” I am immediately turned off and would rather watch something else. So when Jane tells me frequently that I need to see Anastasia, my stone cold heart tells me, “No.” But eventually I relent. And this movie has helped me realize something: most princess movies are good. But let’s talk about this princess movie.
Princess Anastasia (Kristen Dunst and Meg Ryan) was left with no memory of her childhood and separated from her grandmother (Angela Lansbury) during a revolt that left the rest of her family dead when she was only nine. Now as a young adult she is trying to find her place and travel to Paris when she meets a young street hustler named Demetri (John Cusack) who offers to take her to Paris under the pretense of trying to pass her off as the long lost princess…who she actually is. Oh yeah, and for some reason Rasputin (Jim Cummings aka Winnie the Pooh/Megatron) is a wizard who killed Anastasia’s family out of revenge and wants to finish her off.
Look, I could point out my criticism and spend too long on nitpicking when in reality, I enjoyed this movie. For once we have a princess who isn’t some altruistic model. She just wants to find her family. Simple as that. She isn’t raising an army of mice or trading her voice for a pair of human legs (worst trade since 2008 when the Lakers traded a pile of garbage for Pau Gasol). Anastasia is far more relatable than her rivals at Disney, and that puts her over the top of that competition.
Yes the movie does copy some of the generic crap from Disney. Handsome pauper turned eligible bachelor. Quippy sidekicks. A cute animal to distract us. Does not matter to me. As long as those elements don’t get in the way of a well-told story, which they don’t here, those are tolerable elements. My only legitimate criticism is HOW DID RASPUTIN, a real historical figure, BECOME A WIZARD??!! Take liberties with history, that’s fine. Lots of movies do. But that’s just a little too much for me. All around, this is a well made movie. It tones down the Disney element that make their movies in this genre overbearing for me. And we get a happy ending regardless.
7/10
Until I see another one