For a long time, it seemed like only Disney could make great traditionally animated films. Nothing traditionally animated not made by Disney not made in America was good, or at least worth remembering. But then came Anastasia, which dare defied the rules! There's a reason this got two Oscar Nominations for it's music! (I say it should've won Best Original Song over that overrated Titanic crap and Best Original Score over that forgettable The Full Monty stuff.) The songs are outstanding, and can top some of Disney's. The score is amazing, if only David Newman would continue to score movies like this. The story is strong and absorbs you into it for one hell of an amazing ride. The characters are well developed and unforgettable, and Meg Ryan's performance as Anastasia is the best thing. The animation is beautiful and I couldn't take my eyes off of it for one second. So with all that said, how come it only has a 7.1? If you ask me, it deserves closer to the 7.5 to 8.0 range. And Metacritic, why does it only have a 59?! Shame on you for giving it a score lower than a lot of inferior stuff that I can't name right now! And one more thing, if Best Animated Feature was made a few years earlier, like as early as the 70th Academy Awards, this would have won hands down!

The phenomena that a Romanov princess survived the October Revolution has captured the public imagination through out the 20th Century that a member survived and lived in secrecy. Despite this being doubtful the story does have potential as a film but one not done in Disney style but in a serious manner without songs or a frivolous story line. The only advantage of this film was that it had potential the rest of the film is just plain silly for an audience. The film in my view should of used the 1956 Yul Brynner film as a guide and adapted it to animation. The characters are too stereotypical and wooden with clichés but at least they got one thing right the ethnic representations. Despite the history this should be only side show and concentrated on an adventure story without Rasputin as an antagonist going to much in to fantasy. Another flaw with this film is that it follows a judgemental pattern when discussing the Tsar who is always viewed as a Martyr in the Western media and the Anastasia myth is one that compels people to say that the Communists criminals lost and the innocent Tsar did not die in vain. In reality the Tsar was a weak ruler with an arrogant wife who lived in luxury whilst his people starved and kept his people back with medieval practices. Defenders of his will always point to the Duma however this was only a representative the Tsar still had absolute power no matter how many able rulers came before Nicholas II - absolute responsibility who paid the absolute price. Because the order that replaced him was Socialist that the Tsar is revered in cinema as the October revolution gave the Capitalist system a run for its money through out the 20th century but then I must be a hypocrite to deny American Cold war aggression and policy which is what its all about.

I've seen this movie, very literally, dozens of times. It is one of my favourite and most watched (and most listened to) musicals! Anastasia must journey from St. Petersburg to Paris to discover whether or not she is the missing princess but more importantly, she must sing songs along the way. Aided by con-men she takes a journey to the past to help her find her future. This movie has beautiful animation and a brilliant soundtrack! One time my brothers girlfriend borrowed this DVD without telling me and I spent weeks trying to find it. I made a post about it on Facebook, she saw it and felt bad that she had taken it. Luckily I own more than one copy of this DVD and I was still able to watch it.

I remember watching a spin off to this called 'The Secret of Anastasia' and it was similar to this in the aspect that it included the story of the Romonovs. I was born in 1997 so I couldn't watch it when it first came out. I was searching for the spin off earlier this year so I could watch it and I found this film and I can say it was one of the greatest discoveries I've made. I love musical films and this one didn't disappoint. I love how they portrayed the love story of Anya and Dimitri and I love the music that goes with the film. I've always loved the story of the Romonovs and especially the disappearance of Alexei and his sister's bodies. History, especially German and Russian history, has always been a love of mine and this film contributed to it. However, if you don't like history, it doesn't matter as the story is still amazing in itself and you don't need to know about the history of it anyway. I would recommend this film to anyone.