Nicole Gaudreau
Period 1 APLAC
Miss Taylor
12 February 2012

Anastasia

Children’s movies should do a lot of things to be considered “classics”. For one, children’s movie should not be too long so it captures the child’s attention. It should keep the child’s interest by using songs or other devices that would keep a child’s interest because “a 6-year-old may stay interested for as much as 30 minutes” (Neville). This limited attention span almost makes watching a movie impossible, but if the child is engrossed in the movie, they may pay attention for longer. Additionally, it should have characters that children can look up to or want to be. Lastly, children’s movies should interject humor throughout the movie (especially if there are scary scenes).

                20^th Century Fox’s Anastasia is a cartoon adaptation of the myth that Princess Anastasia of Russia in fact survived her family’s murder. When her family is murdered by the evil Rasputin, 8-year-old Anastasia and her grandmother run away and are separated. Anastasia falls when they are escaping and suffers a case of amnesia, living in an orphanage for 10 years, her only clue to her identity being a necklace her grandmother gave her which says “Together in Paris”.  When she is 18, she leaves the Orphanage in search of her family. She meets Dimitri and Vlad, two con-men who want to try to pass her off as the real Princess Anastasia for the reward money her grandmother is now offering, not knowing they are really dealing with the real princess. Dimitri and Vlad train Anastasia (though she thinks her name is Anya) to act like the princess, and through their training, Dimitri and Anya fall in love. When Dimitri brings Anya to her grandmother, after many trials, Anya’s grandmother finally sees that she is Anastasia. The movie has a few fight scenes between Dimitri, Anya, and Rasputen, and overall good wins over evil, and naturally everyone has a happily ever after.

                Anastasia has a ninety-four minute run-time, making it just five minutes longer than other popularly accepted classics such as Disney’s The Lion King (89 minutes) and Aladdin (90 minutes). This ensures that a child can stay interested in the movie and enjoy it. Anastasia also is a musical, so it has many songs with catchy beats and tunes to keep kids tapping their feet along with the music, as well as singing along. The songs also play a large part in capturing their attention, keeping them engaged. While some of the lovey-dovey scenes, as well as the action-packed fight scenes may drag on and seem a bit too long, the music quickly sweeps in and captures your attention with a new ballad or up-beat dance number.

                Anastasia is the epitome of every little girl’s dream. As Anya not-so eloquently states in one of the first scenes of the movie, "Sure, yeah, I guess every lonely girl would hope she's a princess” (Anastasia). This movie speaks to the hope in all little girl’s hearts that maybe they too are princesses who are just lost in the world. Young girls who feel lost in the world can feel that they’re not alone, and that something better will come their way. Anastasia teaches perseverance, and that even when you seem to be your most lonely, someone will come around who cares about you. Little girls can also look up to Anya because she is a strong woman who knows what she wants, and how she plans to get it. As Vladimir likes to say “she certainly has a mind of her own” (Anastasia). Anya teaches everyone to be true to themselves and to always keep trying, even when all hope seems to be lost.

                This movie has a few scenes of a more “graphic” nature (well, as graphic as children’s cartoons can really get) that may frighten children. However, the move balances humor with the scary content, mostly in the form of the witty sidekick to Rasputin, Bartok. In one of the scenes where Rasputin is highlighting how he will form Anastasia’s demise, Bartok comes in with a comment of, “Just wishing I could do the job for you, sir. I'd give her a HA! And a HI-YA! And then a OUU-WA! And I'd kick her, sir” (Anastasia). This breaks up the morbidity of Rasputin’s claims with comical and a bit absurd statement from a character who’s purpose is to, essentially, be the comic relief of the movie. Bartok, as a character, serves to break up the fear Rasputin may incite in children by making his claims seem, if anything, a bit silly.

                All in all, Anastasia is a film that deserves to be recognized among the great Disney classics like Aladdin, The Lion King, and Cinderella. It is a story of love, perseverance, and strong willpower, whose lesson can be applied over the decades. The movie is just the right length of time to keep children engaged, as well as having characters children can look up to, as well as utilizing humor to break up the sometimes monotonous and even scary qualities that the story’s villain brings to the table. I love this movie, and give it a 5-star rating, recommending that it should be placed in the Classics hall of fame like its Disney counterparts.

Works Cited

Neville, Helen F. "Is This a Phase?" Parenting Press: Skill-Building Books for Parents, Teachers & Children. Parenting Press, 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.parentingpress.com/media/phase-excerpt2.html>.

Anastasia. By Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Perf. Meg Ryan and John Cusack. 20th Century Fox, 1997. Videocassette.