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Anastasia
20th Century Fox

Anastasia reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 59 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.7 out of 10
based on 18 reviews
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How did we calculate this?
based on 19 votes
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MPAA RATING: G

Starring Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, and Angela Lansbury

From St. Petersburg, Russia to Paris, France, join Anya on an epic journey of breathtaking animated action and intrigue. (20th Century Fox)


GENRE(S): Animation  |  Family/Kids  |  Musical  
WRITTEN BY: Susan Gauthier
Bruce Graham
Bob Tzudiker
Noni White
 
DIRECTED BY: Don Bluth
Gary Goldman
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 16, 1999 
Video: April 28, 1998 
Theatrical: November 21, 1997 
RUNNING TIME: 94 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

This film received two 1998 Academy Award nominations in the categories of Best Music, Original Score, and Best Music, Song for the song "Journey To The Past".

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
A gorgeous piece of work. It pulls every heartstring a good romance should, yet bursts with G-rated fun, wonderfully human characters and several solid and hummable songs.
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88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Easily the best non-Disney animated movie in recent memory, and it is good enough to rival such titles as “The Lion King” and “Aladdin.”
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88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Picks and chooses cleverly, skipping blithely past the entire Russian Revolution but lingering on mad monks, green goblins, storms at sea, train wrecks and youthful romance.
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80
Film Threat Chris Gore
With A+ voice talent provided by Meg Ryan (Anastasia) and John Cusack (Dimitri), Fox has a winner on its hands.
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75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Lavishly produced animation makes imaginative use of familiar formulas, filling the screen with handsome images accompanied by sprightly songs and lively voice-performances.
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75
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
Flawed but not fatally, this ambitious epic's strength lies not just with its haunting melodies, pretty pictures, star voices and kid-friendly sidekicks - the usual shtick that makes Disney tick. [14 Nov 1997, p.D6]
70
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Impressive, big-scale scenes, such as a train derailment from a snow-covered bridge. And the vocal performances of Ryan and Cusack give us a real sense of romance.
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67
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
This sumptuous-looking film clearly spared no expense in its visual rendering; its optical flourishes and attention to detail aim for the Disney gold standard and, for the most part, come pretty darn close.
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67
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Anastasia has the Disney house style down cold, yet the magic is missing. Perhaps that's because the story's somber emotional hook--Anastasia's thwarted desire for home--is asserted rather than dramatized.
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63
San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego
Lacks the spark of the best recent Disney spectaculars, like "Beauty and the Beast."
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60
Empire Philip Thomas
Manages to be a charming little movie, nothing to write home about but a perfectly acceptable way to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon with the child, or children, in your life.
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60
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Though originality is not one of its accomplishments, Anastasia is generally pleasant, serviceable and eager to please.
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60
Newsweek Yahlin Chang
Meg Ryan lends her trademark feistiness to Anastasia, and John Cusack makes Dimitri eminently likable.
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60
The New York Times Stephen Holden
A deeply silly movie, but it is sumptuous to look at, and it never stands still. Its creators, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, have given the story a lilting rhythm and glittering surface of the most extravagant jewel-encrusted fairy tale.
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50
TV Guide Ken Fox
Decent songs, an amusing script and some surprisingly imaginative animation.
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50
Variety Todd McCarthy
Lacks the special creative spark needed to lift it to an uncommon imaginative level.
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30
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
A story that holds little suspense; we know exactly how happily this animated musical will end--and the wait isn't very diverting.
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30
The Onion (A.V. Club) Maria Schneider
You can set your watch to the musical cues, and the songs themselves are forgettable at best, insipid at worst.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.7 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Uncanny Garlic gave it an8:
Anastasia is an excellent film with a great story and probably the most general audience appeal of traditionally animated film outside of Disney. The underlying themes of the plot are very familiar to Disney fans, being a self discovery journey of a spunky princess, but it's well executed and has good interactions between characters. The voice acting is surprisingly good for most characters, with most actors getting into character very well and voicing their character in a manner which makes them unrecognizable. Hank Azaria does an amazing job with the comic bat, giving the character the perfect voice and delivery, probably being the unexpected standout. Christopher Loyd surprised me by doing a good job changing his voice to be that of Rasputin, with his signature yelling being the only thing giving him away, though it's not disrupting. Meg Ryan, on the other hand, plays Anastasia in the classic Meg Ryan way, making no changes in how she speaks for the character. This makes her performance a bit disrupting, though fans of Meg Ryan will likely disagree, but all of the animation fits the voices, including Ryan's, perfectly. Animation in the film is crisp, fluid, and beautiful with wonderfully illustrated backgrounds. The one flaw of the film is it's use of computer generated (CG) images which, like in most traditionally animated films, stick out. It's not to say that the CG doesn't look good but merely that it doesn't seamlessly mesh with the traditional animation. The movement in the film feels wonderfully natural, with more quirky minor movements made by characters than seems to be in most films. It's musicals are generally good, with a few greats and some misses. "Once Upon a December" really stands out as the height of the movies musical scenes and scores while "A Rumor in St. Petersburg", the first musical scene in the film, was mediocre. The "In the Dark of the Night" scene causes me to laugh every time I watch the film because of how out of place the music seems, despite how the good music was. All in all, this is arguably Don Bluth's best animated film with "The Secret of NIMH" being the competition. The film brushes or even matches the lower edge of the Disney renaissance, being more enjoyable than "The Little Mermaid" for me, despite having more technical problems. If you're looking for a fun and enjoyable animated film for the whole family, I'd fully recommend this film.

Amme T gave it a10:
Fantastic film. Breath taking for any ages. The music is catchy with brilliant lyrics. It has character and is interesting.

Christina H. gave it a10:
This has to be the best Disney movie I've seen, with a good plot, great characters, and catchy songs, who can't love it?

Sally R. gave it a10:
It is brilliant. Not at all scarring for kids, in your face Thomas D.

Thomas D. gave it an8:
It's scarry for kids. The bad guy head comes off. He falls a part. What's that all abot?

Dawn gave it a10:
The music takes me to magical mind trips, it creates dreams,and makes me appreciate the moment.

loves it gave it a10:
I loved the movie it was funny how anastasia and dimitri always argued and i loved bartok the music was great.

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