First shot of animation: Music box spins, and is taken by grandma

Last we checked on Don Bluth he was railing against Disney’s 70s films, and here he emulates their 90s output, in a movie they now own after the 20th Century Fox acquisition. The action starts with a push over a parallax cityscape where the people sing a big number to introduce the situation. Then a common girl sings about her big dreams and makes friends with a critter. The villain’s voice actor is replaced with Jim Cummings for his song; the whole deal. The princess movies get special reference. The Cinderella ballet is one thing, it is a Cinderella story after all, but the magic overgrown briar and casting Angela Lansbury is something else.

But the stuff before that opening, the fall of the Romanovs, is so bizarre. The need for fairy tale royalty in the 20th century means blaming 1917 on a demon wizard, and narration so thoughtless the Dowager is completely unsympathetic. The revolution “Destroyed our lives forever”, but other people’s lives? Unmentioned.

Bluth puts the budget in the front to make an impact, and really scales it back where he can. At the top hundreds of people with unique designs are dancing in unison. It eventually reaches a point where background characters don’t move. Every significant prop, every vehicle, and many backgrounds are computer animations or renders: a lot of detail you only have to draw once.

Anastasia is Meg Ryan playing to type, which is to say great. Same character as You’ve Got Mail in different clothes. And what clothes they are. The gown for the ballet scene is iconic, but the way her big coat in her first scene moves independently of her body when she lifts her arms is expert work.

And it succeeded. A lot of people think this is a Disney film, and in a corporate sense it has become one. What’s it like as a director when one of your most beloved works is the one people credit to your competition?