Word: anastasia
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Epic in scope and grandeur, Anastasia almost pulls off the impossible--upstaging Disney. Trying to emulate the grand love stories of the past, it sweeps between dazzling sequences but lacks the necessary character development to move the film beyond being merely a disjointed string of lavish set pieces. Still, though the villain element falls hopelessly flat, the love story comes to life in the voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack and Angela Lansbury. The challenge to the animated empire is clear: Disney magic is no longer an exclusive product...
Shakespeare's treatment of history can be excused both by his time period and by his artistic merit. The practice (not to mention conception) of history was quite different in Shakespeare's time than our own. Even in "history" writing, very different standards were applied. Pocahontas and Anastasia, however, must answer to our own contemporary standards of historical veracity...
...conflict between art and history is not at all necessarily bad. It can be poorly resolved, as in Anastasia, but it can also be the wellspring of a tremendous amount of creativity. Artists who embroil themselves in history should ask themselves whether they are doing so to comment on the history or if the history is merely serving as a convenient dramatic vehicle, easing the creative burden...
...film like Glory was made with the express intent of drawing attention to the contribution of black soldiers to the Union Army war effort during the Civil War. The success of this endeavor was dependent on the movie being perceived as historically credible. Such can be said of neither Anastasia nor Pocahontas. For the handful of people whom they might interest in history, these movies create a legion of historically misinformed individuals...
...place, at the end of some of the longest titles I have ever seen, a disclaimer announcing that the film was just a huge historical fantasy and should not be taken as factual. But after a fun flick, who cares?Photo courtesy of Robert Speller & SonsSEVEN: The real Anastasia, seated far right...