Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical historical fantasy film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by the writing teams of Susan Gauthier and Bruce Graham, and Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, and based on a story adaptation by Eric Tuchman. It features songs written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens and a musical score composed and conducted by David Newman. The film stars the voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, and Angela Lansbury. Set in an alternate 1926, an amnesiac Anastasia Romanov goes on a journey to discover her past.

Plot

In 1916, at a ball in Saint Petersburg, Russia celebrating the Romanov tricentennial, Dowager Empress Marie gives a music box and a necklace inscribed with the words "Together in Paris" as parting gifts to her youngest granddaughter, 8-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia. The ball is suddenly interrupted by Grigori Rasputin, the Romanovs’ former royal advisor. The supposed holy man was exposed as a fraud, after wanting to take over Russia until he was finally exiled. Seeking revenge, Rasputin sold his soul in exchange for the power to kill his opponent. His power is manifested in an unholy reliquary he must protect. He uses it to curse the Romanovs and spark the Russian Revolution. As the palace is attacked, Marie and Anastasia escape through a secret passageway, helped by 10-year-old servant boy Dimitri. Rasputin confronts the two royals on the frozen Little Nevka river, only to fall through the ice and drown. The pair reach a moving train; Marie climbs aboard, but Anastasia falls and hits her head, giving her amnesia.

Awards