November 20–27, 1997

movie shorts

Anastasia

The first of a crop of Fox cartoon features hoping to beat, or at least wrestle, Disney on his home field, Anastasia has a heavy load to bear. Half the people want to know, "Is it as good as Disney?" and the other half, "Is it as bad as Disney?" The answer is "no" to both. Frame to frame, it's not Disney-smooth, and there probably isn't enough Disney-funny-animal humor for most kids, and the songs—except for "Learn To Do It"—lack Disney-toe-tappin' tunes. But it takes risks Disney won't even approach. One of these, of course, is making a kids' movie that starts with a girl's parents being murdered in their home. Another is to treat a historical subject (here, the massacre of the Romanovs in the Russian Revolution) and keep it bouncy without completely mangling it. On these, Anastasia slightly outpaces Disney, if only because the bar is so low (remember Pocahontas?). Admittedly, this story is pure fiction (Anastasia did die in the siege), but it sticks to its premise consistently and doesn't confuse the issue. Unfortunately, right now Disney is the only yardstick to measure cartoon feature quality, and this, on balance, comes up just a quarter-inch short. But if Don Bluth and his friends keep improving, and if one of the next features succeeds in topping Disney, then Anastasia will not have died in vain.

—Vance Lehmkuhl

See Lehmkuhl's interview with writer Bruce Graham.