Anastasia

100541 / 8/5 / US / 1997 / Bluth, Don & Gary Goldman / animated
Anastasia / Anastasia. © 20th Century Fox. P+D: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. SC based on the screenplay by Arthur Laurents for the 1956 20th Century Fox live action motion picture. Finnish voices: Petra Karjalainen, Paavo Kerosuo, Markku Riikonen. 94’. CinemaScope. MPAA 35550. Rated: G. Finnish version. DIST: Columbia TriStar Egmont Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Friday 9 January 1998. *** Breathtaking, sumptuous animated historical fantasy with a strong, temperamental central character and several engrossing setpieces (the runaway train, the butterfly dream). History is played for fairytale as the Russian Revolution is crystallized in the figure of Rasputin as the Mad Monk From Hell. The animation of the fantasy elements is first rate. The human characters are wooden, Anastasia fortunately being more lively. Everybody keeps praising the Finnish dubbing of the animated films, but I find it affected and condescending. Children should not be insulted by talking down to them, on the contrary, the standards should be higher.