Movie Review: Anastasia

Heroine as a Role-Model: A
Hero as a Role-Model: B
Female to Male Character Ratio: B
Scariness of the Bad Guy: F
Violence or Inappropriate Behavior Level: D
Rating: PG

Overall Appropriateness for Preschoolers or Younger:
C -

Anastasia, 1997

I really wanted this movie to be appropriate for my kids. Meg Ryan is the charming and spirited Anya, the former Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia who has lost her memory and is seeking her lost family. John Cusack is believably lovable and devious as a con artist determined to make his fortune by scamming the only surviving member of the Russian royal family.  He lies to Anya repeatedly (earning him his B rating) but, like all good heroes, comes around at the end. Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Angela Lansbury, Hank Azaria, and Bernadette Peters round out the delightful cast. Anya is a wonderful female character who (as usual) falls in the love with the hero, but unlike usual, she winds up saving him in the end, which is completely awesome.  Besides Anya, all of the main characters are male, but there are several important secondary female characters, and so I give the male-to-female ratio a B.  The romance is sweet and the good characters are very likable.

Unfortunately, however, this delightful movie is marred by the evil Rasputin, who sells his soul in order to cast a curse upon the royal family, and he is unable to die (although his body continues to rot) until the last member of the royal family is dead. This is a macabre premise, and the character adds a considerable ick effect, as well as some serious scariness. Multiple attempts are made on Anya's life in the movie itself, and the final battle scene, while not at all gory, has multiple frightening moments.  While the movie creators try to lighten the mood with a cute and not-entirely-evil sidekick, the attempt fails. In a way, it isn't that surprising, since the historical story of Anastasia is a pretty grisly one, with her entire family murdered by the Bolsheviks: women, children, and servants alike.  But perhaps this was not a story destined to become a children's movie.

Overall, I find that this movie is NOT appropriate for preschool aged children, and perhaps even only appropriate for older grade-schoolers. I wish they could have toned down the terror, but I found myself skipping through Rasputin's scenes, and if I don't really want to watch them, I certainly don't want my children watching them.