History WesternAnimation / Anastasia

* HypnotizeThePrincess: [[spoiler:Rasputin uses magic to make Anya sleepwalk off the side of the ship she's on in a storm. Dimitri, fortunately, stops her and wakes her up before she can jump.]]

* FingerlessGloves: Anya's purple gloves in snowy Russia.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: The Romanovs in real life easily fell for Rasputin's con ways and SnakeOilSalesman policy because he was able to prevent Alexei's death by exsanguination (the prince had hemophilia, potentially lethal; one theory says Rasputin disallowed giving him aspirin, at the time considered a panacea; in reality, aspirin ''liquifies'' blood, making bleeding more profuse). Here, Marie explicitly calls him "a fraud, power-mad and dangerous". Nicholas apparently banished him for an unknown slight.

** The opening scene. To wit, the Dowager Empress only manages to get ''one'' of her grandchildren out of the violent murdering spree, and the apparent instigator tries to kill said grandchild personally, but then [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the ice he's on breaks and he sinks into the river]]. Finally, when they [[HopeSpot get on a train to safety]], ''Marie'' just manages to get on, but [[OhCrap Anastasia doesn't]], and she loses her.

* ParentsKnowTheirChildren: Played more realistically, sadly, and subverted. Marie has been searching for her granddaughter and set up a reward for anyone to find her. She gets beaten down on seeing so many impostors and identifying them as such, telling them off for breaking her heart just to get her money. Dimitri [[spoiler:has to kidnap her to make her talk to Anya, and even then the Empress isn't convinced when Anya begs her to identify her either as family or not as family. It's not until Anya has a memory about Marie's peppermint oil -- something that an impostor wouldn't know about because it's too personal for historical records -- that Marie stays in the room, sits with Anya, and realizes she's Anastasia when the latter shows her locket, winds the music box and sings along]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Do you know why they say never walk on a frozen river or body of water in the dead of winter? The opening sequence demonstrates why; Anastasia and Marie are using the snow-covered river to flee from the palace, and Rasputin ambushes them by jumping from the bridge. He has a tight grip on the lightfooted Anastasia's ankle...and the ice cracks where he landed from a great height, beneath his legs. Marie and Anastasia were very careful to keep moving so that they wouldn't drown and freeze as well. They also don't bother to save him since they're fleeing for their lives.
** The Dowager Empress has offered a ten million ruble reward to anyone that can reunite her with her granddaughter Anastasia? Seems easy enough for [[UnscrupulousHero Dimitri]] and Vlad to con the money out of her with an [[IdenticalStranger Anastasia lookalike]] and the [[OrphansPlotTrinket "jewelry box"]] she gave her. Once they get to Paris, [[spoiler: it turns out the same reward money has tempted countless conmen with their own Anastasia lookalikes, to the point the Dowager Empress has grown fed up with being disappointed time and time again, and refuses to see any more girls claiming to be Anastasia... before they even roll into town]].
** That's to say nothing of Dmitri's many auditions in St. Petersburg where he was going through numerous lookalikes to present themselves as Anastasia. Word of it inevitably got passed around amidst the storm of many other would-be cons and when the Dowager Empress finally meets him in person, she immediately realizes who he is and orders him removed from her presence.
** ParentsKnowTheirChildren is ''not'' in play here. When Marie finally meets Anya, [[spoiler:she gives her a few minutes before dismissing her as an actress. It takes Anya recalling a memory about Marie's peppermint oil and showing her the locket for Marie to be convinced and realize her granddaughter is alive]].

** The opening scene. To wit, the Dowager Empress only manages to get ''one'' of her grandchildren out of the violent murdering spree, and the apparent instigator tries to kill said grandchild personally, but then [[RealityEnsues the ice he's on breaks and he sinks into the river.]] Finally, when they [[HopeSpot get on a train to safety,]] ''Marie'' just manages to get on, but [[OhCrap Anastasia doesn't,]] and she loses her.

* RealityEnsues:
** Do you know why they say never walk on a frozen river or body of water in the dead of winter? The opening sequence demonstrates why; Anastasia and Marie are using the snow-covered river to flee from the palace, and Rasputin ambushes them by jumping from the bridge. He has a tight grip on the lightfooted Anastasia's ankle...and the ice cracks where he landed from a great height, beneath his legs. Marie and Anastasia were very careful to keep moving so that they wouldn't drown and freeze as well. They also don't bother to save him since they're fleeing for their lives.
** The Dowager Empress has offered a ten million ruble reward to anyone that can reunite her with her granddaughter Anastasia? Seems easy enough for [[UnscrupulousHero Dimitri]] and Vlad to con the money out of her with an [[IdenticalStranger Anastasia lookalike]] and the [[OrphansPlotTrinket "jewelry box"]] she gave her. Once they get to Paris, [[spoiler: it turns out the same reward money has tempted countless conmen with their own Anastasia lookalikes, to the point the Dowager Empress has grown fed up with being disappointed time and time again, and refuses to see any more girls claiming to be Anastasia... before they even roll into town.]]
** That's to say nothing of Dmitri's many auditions in St. Petersburg where he was going through numerous lookalikes to present themselves as Anastasia. Word of it inevitably got passed around amidst the storm of many other would-be cons and when the Dowager Empress finally meets him in person, she immediately realizes who he is and orders him removed from her presence.
** ParentsKnowTheirChildren is ''not'' in play here. When Marie finally meets Anya, [[spoiler:she gives her a few minutes before dismissing her as an actress. It takes Anya recalling a memory about Marie's peppermint oil and showing her the locket for Marie to be convinced and realize her granddaughter is alive]].

* AllForNothing: Both a literal reading of the letter of the trope and an example of TropesAreTools. Anya wants to find her family, Dimitri wants the money. In the end, [spoiler: they both find and leave it behind…for each other.]

* FlowersOfRomance: Dimitri and Anya give each other budding roses during the "Paris Holds the Key (To Your Heart)" sequence. Anya later throws hers away when she discovers his original con. [[spoiler: Dimitri finds his - now full bloomed - in his pocket just as he's about to leave for Russia which prompts him to go back to Anya.]]

--> '''Dimitri''': ''[While on the careering train]'' "If we live through this - remind me to thank you."
--> '''Anya''': ''[While fighting Rasputin]'' "Dimitri! If we live through this remind me to-- "
--> '''Dimitri''': "You can thank me later!"
* GameChanger: Dimitri schools Anya with every fact regarding the lost Princess Anastasia that he can think of. When Sophie asks something he ''hadn't'' thought to tell Anya about, he thinks the con is blown - until Anya describes, vaguely but correctly, how it was she managed to escape the riots at the palace. This is something that only Grand Duchess Marie, Dimitri, and Anastasia herself could possibly have known about. Only then does Dimitri realize that, rather than a lookalike, he's found the real Anastasia.
* GayParee: The song "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart" shows off the swanky, fashionable and romantic aspect of Paris.

* TheHeavy: The entire plot kicks off because Rasputin used his newfound dark powers to trigger the revolution against the Romanovs, which indirectly causes Anastasia to get separated from her grandmother. It also bears noting that he and Anastasia only encounter each other for a very brief moment at the very beginning, and during the climax--the rest of the time, Rasputin is trying to kill her with his demons while he's stuck in Limbo to get revenge and fulfill his curse, but the heroes are completely unaware of his presence until the climax.
* HeldGaze: Two happen between Anya and Dimitri during the AlmostKiss scenes and another one happens before TheBigDamnKiss scene at the conclusion.
* AHellOfATime: Actually Limbo, but it's really boring rather than torturous. The only thing that's really hell-like about the place is being BeneathTheEarth and all the bugs, but they're actually OK guys-y'know, for sapient, supernatural beetles...

--> '''Anastasia''': If we live through this, remind me-

--> '''Dimitri''': [gasping] "Yeah, yeah I know - all men are babies." (Anya hugs him)

* MrFanservice: Dimitri. When they originally animated him, they thought he was too "obviously cute" - so they added the bump on his nose to tone it down. It backfired.

* ParentsKnowTheirChildren: Played more realistically, sadly, and subverted. Marie has been searching for her granddaughter and set up a reward for anyone to find her. She gets beaten down on seeing so many impostors and identifying them as such, telling them off for breaking her heart just to get her money. Dimitri [[spoiler:has to kidnap her to make her talk to Anya, and even then the Empress isn't convinced when Anya begs her to identify her either as family or not as family. It's not until Anya has a memory about Marie's peppermint oil-- something that an impostor wouldn't know about because it's too personal for historical records-- that Marie stays in the room, sits with Anya, and realizes she's Anastasia when the latter shows her locket, winds the music box and sings along]].

* PimpedOutDress: ''Three!'' Though only two figured prominently in the marketing - the yellow silk Dream Sequence dress and the svelte navy and sparkly Parisian Opera dress. They made an Anastasia Barbie with the blue sparkly dress, as well as the DisneyAcidSequence dress, AND a line of dresses that didn't appear in the movie at all, but they were 'inspired by' it and made to fit the Anastasia doll.

** A more contained example with Anastasia's tiara: [[spoiler: After she's defeated Rasputin, she and Dimitri go to kiss, only for Pooka to interrupt them to give her the crown so she's holding it between the two of them - not so subtly symbolizing how her princess status is separating them. In the final scene the tiara is gone and they can kiss with nothing coming between them.]]

* ShowWithinAShow: Anya, Dimitri, and Vlad are treated to the Parisian ballet by Marie's assistant ([[BetaCouple and Vlad's "cream puff"]]), and the ballet in question is ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' - [[FauxSymbolism what do you mean, there's no parallel?]] Quite fittingly the first act of the ballet ends with the prince chasing after Cinderella after the ball and holding her slipper.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Sadly, Anastasia herself - it was finally confirmed in 2008 that the real Anastasia did in fact die with the rest of her family and the Empire that night.
* StandardFemaleGrabArea: {{Defied}} for most of the movie. Anya is established as having strong hands due to her orphanage upbringing, as shown when she shakes with Dmitri.
** During the nightmare sequence, Anya hesitates when she hears Dmitri calling out for her, just as she's about to jump off the railing. Her dream-father then turns into a demon and tries to physically pull her overboard. Anya screams and grapples with him long enough for Dmitri to grab her waist, lower her onto the deck, and wake her up. Justified since it's a nightmare.

* TrampledUnderfoot: Rasputin steps over a drinking glass that a guest at the ball had dropped as he makes his evil PowerWalk through the crowd. Given a nice CallBack later at the end of the film, when Anastasia [[spoiler: destroys his reliquary by stepping on it multiple times, dedicating the blows to her family, Dimitri, and to Rasputin himself--"''Da svidanya!"'']]

** The revolutionaries kill ''all'' the Romanovs they find, including Anastasia's siblings - her older sisters are between the ages of 10 and 14, and her little brother, Alexei, is 5. They also pistol-whip Dimitri for tossing a vase at them.

* SymbolicallyBrokenObject: Not so much broken as ''separated''. Throughout her childhood at the orphanage, Anastasia keeps the necklace that doubles as a key to her music box, and Dimitri is the one that carries around the music box, knowing that it belonged to the lost princess. When the two pieces are finally brought together, it's when Anya finally remembers who she is, opening the box with the help of the key and singing her lullaby with her grandmother.

** We see (presumably) Mensheviks storm the palace, but rather than having diverse public grievances, it's indicated to be the result of Rasputin's rabble-rousing and DealWithTheDevil.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dimitri is a snarky con-artist who is perfectly willing to manipulate a young orphan in order to scam an old lady out of her money... but also risks his life numerous times to protect Anya, is increasingly uneasy about the con and when it comes down to it he does the right thing. Bartok comes across as this too. He teamed up with Rasputin and helped him out a bit with his evil deeds but he he’s not all that bad of a bat. He got away from Rasputin in the end so he wouldn’t have to hurt anybody.

** Back to the undead part. He's portrayed as an undead wizard, so that makes him a {{lich}}, complete with a {{phylactery}}. The movie never calls him that, either.

--> [[spoiler: '''Dowager Empress Marie:''' "You were born into this world of glittering jewels and fine titles. But I wonder if this is what you really want."]]

--> [[spoiler: Dowager Empress Marie: "You were born into this world of glittering jewels and fine titles. But I wonder if this is what you really want."]]

--> Dimitri: [gasping] "Yeah, yeah I know - all men are babies." (Anya hugs him)

Creator/DonBluth's 1997 [[{{Disneyfication}} very loose adaptation]] of [[{{Film/Anastasia}} a 1956 film]], which itself was already [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory very, very loosely based]] on [[DidAnastasiaSurvive the 'life' of]] [[UsefulNotes/AnastasiaNikolaevnaRomanova the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia]].

* BigBeautifulWoman: Sophie is very fun and kind-hearted, as well as really big. Vlad refers to her as "a decadent pasty covered in whipped cream and laughter".

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Where to begin?

** While the historical Anastasia's death wasn’t confirmed until well after the film's release, even at the time her survival was considered ''very'' unlikely.

** The movie implies Anastasia escaped abduction and assassination at the palace, when really the entire family was had been imprisoned in Siberia for nearly a year.

** The movie implies Anastasia was escaped abduction and assassination at the palace, when really the entire family was had been imprisoned in Siberia for nearly a year.

[[caption-width-right:325:"Although the Czar did not survive, one daughter might be still alive..."]]

[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anastasia_movie.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:"Although the Czar did not survive, one daughter might be still alive..."]]

-->--"Journey to the Past"