Search - Anastasia on DVD

MPAA Rating: G Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Excellent For Children Movie Release: 1997 DVD Release: 11/16/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 35 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 97 Genres: Children's/Family, Children's Fantasy, Animated Musical See Also: Anastasia [Carrying Case], Anastasia [Family Fun Edition], Anastasia [Widescreen] [Includes Digital Copy]

The first feature from the 20th Century-Fox animation unit in Phoenix, Arizona, this is the ninth film produced and directed by the Don Bluth/Gary Goldman duo (An American Tail) and the first animated feature to be made in CinemaScope since Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959). This $50 million animated fantasy retells the story of Anastasia, daughter of Czar Nicholas, beginning with her childhood in 1916 Russia. After Rasputin's curse on the Romanovs, little Anastasia is separated from her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria. After growing up in an orphanage, Anastasia emerges as a young woman called Anya. With no clear memory of her youth, Anya encounters entrepreneurs who seek an Anastasia look-alike in hopes of collecting a reward in Paris from the aged Dowager Empress. Despite demonic interference from Rasputin, the three travel to Paris where another problem awaits: the Dowager Empress is now skeptical of the parade of imposters. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Meg Ryan - Anastasia
John Cusack - Dimitri
Kelsey Grammer - Vladimir
Christopher Lloyd - Rasputin
Hank Azaria - Bartok

While the historical and factual qualities of Anastasia may be open to question (and possibly ridicule), it does stand that the movie is a splendid piece of animation work that initially boded well for the Fox Animation Studios operation -- which unfortunately closed its doors after the ill-fated release of Titan A.E. in 2000. Fox has handled the DVD release well. The disc includes Dolby Surround and Dolby 5.1 English soundtracks, as well as French and Spanish Dolby Surround tracks, a pair of sing-along videos, trailers for Anastasia and Bartok the Magnificent, a short promotional featurette, and a longer promotional featurette hosted by Aaliyah. The featurettes are mainly interesting in terms of enticing the viewer with small revelations about the larger part computers are playing in traditional animation. The sing-along videos are cute, and will likely get a bit of a workout from the younger set. The disc is equipped with an animated, anamorphic main menu, while the others are static. The movie itself is available in both pan-and-scan and widescreen formats. Curiously, the pan-and-scan version is itself a mildly widescreen transfer, with an aspect ratio of approximately 1.48:1, which results in narrow black bars on standard televisions. The widescreen transfer is letterboxed at 2.35:1, but is unfortunately non-anamorphic. Overall picture quality is very good and does justice to the subtle color variations, as well as some of the more impressive and showy coloring effects that can be achieved by computer. The source print seems to have been pristine. The audio is a study in variations, with the English Dolby Surround track surprisingly mushy and lacking in separation and dynamics -- the music suffers particularly badly in this regard. The Dolby 5.1 track, on the other hand, is dynamic, crystal clear, has a nice solid bass, excellent separation, and allows the music to surge grandly whenever it needs to. The French and Spanish Dolby Surround tracks are marginally better than the English, though the Spanish track has the music flattened. Both have good voice replacements and okay dubbing, and it is quite interesting to hear the songs in languages other than English. Overall, a good disc for a decent film. ~ Steven E. McDonald, All Movie Guide