History WesternAnimation / Anastasia

In 1916, Nicholas II, Czar of Russia, and his family, the Romanovs, were very happy until they were cursed by the evil [[RasputinTheMadMonk Rasputin]] and their people revolted against them [[HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection for some mystical reason]], aided by demons. All of the Romanovs apparently died in the attack except the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna Romanova, the Czar's mother. A young kitchen boy helped Marie and one of the Czar's daughters, the eight-year-old Anastasia, escape. However, she and Marie got separated when Anastasia fell from a train and, presumably, died.

:: Roughly translated[=:=]

If we See God, we flee to the new places''

Contrary to [[AllAnimationIsDisney popular belief]], '''this movie was ''not'' produced by Disney'''.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspz-zqeNbg "At the Beginning"]] by DonaLewis and RicharcMarx at the end credits

* DisneyDeath

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The Romanovs were not exactly ideal rulers, leaning toward oppression of ethnic minorities among other things. The story also starts in 1916, but their mismanagement of WorldWarI is not even mentioned. They've historically gotten a pass simply because the Soviets were so much worse.

* HistoryMarchesOn: Sadly, in the years since the making of this film, it has been rather conclusively proven that the real Anastasia was killed by the Bolsheviks along with the rest of the Russian royal family.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Bartok. He's not particularely evil for serving such a dark master, and not very competent either; he almost kills Rasputin when he tries to break his phylactery on a whim.

* OhGodWithTheVerbing: "Enough with the glowing and the smoke people!." Well said, Bartok.

* RasputinianDeath: Rasputin 'dies' three times in the movie, and only the last one sticks. The real Rasputin's death was an aversion of this trope, ironically. The first time he is stripped to the bone due to his soul trade, but he restores himself with the powers he gains. His second death does include one element from the apocryphal real life story. He [[spoiler:falls through some ice, and drowns.]] The third and last one involves [[spoiler:Anastasia smashing his [[SoulJar phylactery]]. What result from this is itself pretty Rasputinian; see FamilyUnfriendlyDeath above.]]

* ShownTheirWork: Despite the historical liberties taken (some for the sake of the medium and length, some to spare children the grisly truth about the Russian Revolution, and some for simple poetic license) and myths bought into (aside from the urban legend about Anastasia herself, nods are given to Rasputin's [[RasputinianDeath alleged exaggerated death]]), [[WordOfGod a great deal of work was done to otherwise display geographical and biographical accuracy]].

* 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 parallelism?]]

* StandardFemaleGrabArea: {{Subverted}}. [[spoiler:When Dmitri grabs her arm she takes one look at his hand, and then raises her other hand and slaps him.]]

** [[spoiler:Subverted during Rasputin's death scene. He melts down to the bone and writhers briefly, but he then decays further into dust.]]

* SlapSlapKiss: ''Literally'' at the end, where Anya accidentally smacks him in the face, and then cradles his face in her hands for an AlmostKiss.

* AtTheCrossroads: in the Journey To The Past sequence

-->''(Anastasia has left the train cabin after an argument with Dmitri)''\\

* GameChanger: Dmitri 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, something that only Grand Duchess Marie, Dmitri, and Anastasia herself could possibly have known about. Only then does Dmitri realize that, rather than a lookalike, he's found the real Anastasia.

* BackgroundGag: A subtle penis joke is made in a scene involving SigmundFreud slipping on a banana peel.

* SlapSlapKiss: Quintessential example between Anya and Dimitri, starting as soon as they get on a train together. Vlad knows exactly what's really going on, even when they don't.
-->''(Anastasia has left the train cabin after an argument with Dmitri)''\\
'''Vlad:''' ''(gleefully to Pooka, Anastasia's dog)'' Oh no! An unspoken attraction?\\
'''Dimitri:''' ATTRACTION?? To that skinny little brat? Have you lost your mind?
:: ''Literally'' at the end, where Anya accidentally smacks him in the face, and then cradles his face in her hands for an AlmostKiss.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: A subtle penis joke is made in a scene involving SigmundFreud slipping on a banana peel.

* ForgottenFirstMeeting: [[spoiler:Dimitri used to work as a servant in the Winter Palace when he was a boy and he was the one who saved Anya from being captured in the Revolution.]]

* GameChanger: When conman Dmitri brings orphan Anya before Princess Sophia, he thought he'd drilled Anya on every fact about the lost Princess Anastasia. But when Princess Sophia asks how she'd escaped the palace during the uprising, Anya replies with something only the actual Princess Anastasia could know. It is then that Dmitri realizes that Anya really is the missing Romanov princess.

* OurLichesAreDifferent: Rasputin is a pretty straightforward example, except for lacking a real drive for immortality, which was more a byproduct of his quest for vengeance than his main objective. He was already a powerful sorceror before he made his DealWithTheDevil, but he became undead upon selling his soul (not after he went to Limbo; he loses all his flesh when he gives up his soul, and restores it with the powers he gains).

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Bartok. He's not particularely evil for serving such a dark master, and even almost kills him when he tries to break Rasputin's phylactery.

!!This film proves examples of:

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Falls victim to this quite often.

* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler:Anastasia]]'s [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]] [[spoiler:(to Rasputin as she kills him) ''"This is for Dimitri! This is for my family! And this... this is for you! [[GratuitousRussian Do svidaniya!]]"'']]

* BigBad: Rasputin.

* BilingualBonus: Anya's pet dog is named Pooka (пука), which sounds similar to the Russian for "farting", "pukat' (пукать)"
** A 'Pooka' (or Phouka) is also a mischievous fae-creature that often takes the form of a dog, though the dog is usually scary and black. Still, considering the mysterious origin of Anya's pet...

* ComingOfAgeStory

* DarkIsEvil: Rasputin is the darkest-coloured character, says he obtained his powers by [[DealWithTheDevil selling his soul to]] "the Dark Forces", and [[VillainSong his musical number]] is called "In The Dark Of The Night".
** For some reason, his powers often manifest as green light, though.

* DealWithTheDevil: At the beginning, it is made clear that Rasputin has sold his soul in exchange for doom unto the Romanov line. This deal apparently also included being turned into an immortal undead corpse until his revenge is completed or his reliquary is destroyed, although Rasputin might have inadvertently caused that to happen when he swore "I will not rest until I see the end of the Romanov line forever!"
** Some of the dubs, like the Russian dub, even outright say he gained his powers from {{Satan}}.

* EasyAmnesia: Or at least, it was easy for her to get it... The bump to her head caused no other damage, and as far as we can tell, only made her forget who she was.
** Given she was all of, what, eight? She gets knocked out, and what child would ''want'' to remember that? It's possible she repressed it.
*** Repress what? Her entire life up to that point? Including all the good memories?
** As pointed out by the manager of the orphanage, Anya never stopped ''behaving'' like a princess.

* EvilSorcerer: Rasputin.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Rasputin's.]]
** And a bit of a HistoricalInJoke compared [[RasputinianDeath with how he]] ''[[RasputinianDeath actually]]'' [[RasputinianDeath died...]]

* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: Very little is really mentioned in the way of politics. The closest we get is when Vlad complains when the colour of the ink for travel papers changes from blue to red, blowing his forged ones: "That's what I hate about this government, everything is in Red!" We do see Bolsheviks storm the palace, but it is said that this is due to Rasputin's curse causing people to hate the Romanovs, because why the heck not?
** Averted when Anya tries to get a ticket. The man at the ticket counter does in fact have a hammer and sickle on his hat.
** There is also a 'blink-and-you-will-miss-it' moment on the train when the camera momentarily looks over one of the character's shoulders at his tickets. For that brief moment, one can make out 'Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' with the attendant emblems.
** The original script for Anastasia inverted this; during the scene where Anya attempts to get train tickets, several of the people waiting in line were going to be refraining from making complaints about the Soviet government in case they were being watched. One guy later would, and was going to be abruptly abducted and taken away.
*** Contrary to what the page description implies, the Bolsheviks didn't overthrow Tsar Nicholas II. The Tsar was overthrown in the Liberal(-ish) February Revolution in 1917 (and was forced to abdicate the throne in March), and it was this provisional government that was overthrown by Lenin and his gang. The Bolsheviks also significantly exaggerated how dramatic events were - the Winter Palace was nearly empty, and the few government officials there were forced to write their own arrest papers by the illiterate revolutionaries. The Romanovs were eventually executed on Lenin's orders, though.
**** The Tsar's family was not executed on Lenin's orders. Even an investigation by the viruently anti-communist present Russian government corroborated this.
* HappilyEverAfter: In the movie. In reality, however, [[DownerEnding it´s another story...]]
* HistoricalDomainCharacter

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The Romanovs were not exactly ideal rulers, leaning toward oppression of ethnic minorities among other things. They've historically gotten a pass simply because the Soviets were so much worse.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The real Rasputin was an enigma but undoubtedly an ''ally'' of the Romanovs.
** The important ones, anyway. Several relatives kinda hated him and plotted his death. *cough* Grand Duke Felix Yusupov *cough*.
** Also note, the real Rasputin wasn't an evil undead warlock who [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to the devil for revenge on the Romanovs]]. However, [[RasputinianDeath he was notoriously hard to kill]]; the movie just took that UpToEleven and made him somewhat immortal.
*** In one of the older drafts for Anastasia, Rasputin only became a bad guy after ''surviving'' the historical assassination attempt against him, leading him to orchestrate their downfall out of a desire for revenge. He would also justify this trope in a later scene by revealing his lying low over the years meant historians never realised how connected he was to the fall of the Romanovs.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Bartok.

* NotUsingTheZWord: Rasputin gets progressively more gruesome throughout the film.
** Also, it's said that he sold his soul but he only ever refers to those he sold he soul to as "the dark forces".
* OffModel: Anastasia looked uglier on the [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P8GC40J9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg "Family Fun" DVD case]] than she usually does in the movie. Fortunately, [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NEEa5vDSL._SL500_AA300_.jpg corrected]] versions are available.

** The dress Dimitri buys for Anya when they get on the ship, the one she wears when learning to waltz, changes from the scene in which he gives it to her to when she's first seen wearing it. When he gives it to her, it has distinct white ruffles on the collar and sleeves. When she emerges on deck actually wearing it, it's a plain blue dress.
*** That could have been due to Anya changing it though, as she expressed a dislike for its original appearance.

* [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Russian Chanting]]: During the prologue's recapitulation of the coup set off by the curse; this troper [[BilingualBonus would very much like to know what the chorus was singing]]. It happens again in the finale during Rasputin's death scene.
** This troper found the lyrics to the prologue:

** Roughly translated:

* OurLichesAreDifferent: Rasputin.

* 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.
** And while Anastasia Barbie had the opera house program, it had no sparkly dress, just the orphan outfit.
*** They did make an Anastasia Barbie with the blue sparkly dress, as well as the DisneyAcidSequence dress, AND a line of dresses that didn't appear the movie at all, but were 'inspired by' it and made to fit the Anastasia doll.

* RagsToRoyalty: Or Royalty to Rags back to Royalty [[spoiler:to presumably fairly comfortable but not royalty.]]
** Most likely back to Rags, as girls from orphanages and reformed conmen who refuse reward money aren't known to be rolling in it. Unless [[spoiler:in addition to writing a hurried goodbye note, they stopped by her grandmother's office to take the reward money, but probably not. Though it is possible Grandma could be sending them something to live on. The ending more or less implies that Anya and Grandma will remain close.]]
* RasputinianDeath: Well, they got ''this'' part right.
** Not really. He [[spoiler:falls through some ice]] and [[spoiler:Anastasia smashes his [[SoulJar phylactery]].]] That's missing several important steps -- and adding one puzzling one due to the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, of course.
*** Though he was made pretty much unkillable due to his DealWithTheDevil, so that could explain things...
*** The real Rasputin's death was an aversion of this trope, ironically.

* ScienceMarchesOn: The whole plot of this movie was based on the urban legend that the real Grand Duchess Anastasia somehow escaped the massacre of the Romanov family and survived. This was fueled by the fact that the remains of the Czar and his wife and children were not found for a very long time - until 1991, when all but two of their bodies were discovered, namely Anastasia and her younger brother. Also helped by the imposter known as Anna Anderson who did convince several relatives of the Romanov family that she was the real deal. In the 90's Anderson's DNA was tested and discovered to be of no relation to the Romanov family. Also, in 2007, more than a decade after this movie was made, the bodies of the younger brother and the last of his sisters (assumed to be Anastasia) was found, which at last proved without any doubt that all of the urban legends and reports of survival were false and that Anastasia was killed with the rest of her family in 1918.

* ShownTheirWork: Despite the historical liberties taken (some for the sake of the medium and length, some to spare children the grisly truth about the Russian Revolution, and some for simple poetic license) and myths bought into (aside from the urban legend about Anastasia herself, nods are given to Rasputin's [[RasputinianDeath alleged exaggerated death]]), [[WordOfGod a great deal of work was done to otherwise display geographical and biographical accuracy]]. Photography, including aerial shots, enabled startlingly true-to-life likenesses of St. Petersburg and Paris and the inside of the Winter Palace; period costumes and trains were duplicated, as well as historical figures living in Paris at the time; and [[RealitySubtext actual relics of the Romanovs]] were scanned into the computers and inserted within the movie, including photographs of the family shown on Marie's wall and the drawing Anastasia made when she was eight years old, [[TearJerker which was drawn by the real Anastasia]]. All of the bathing suits worn by Anastasia, her father, and her sisters during the dream sequence, and the sailor suit worn by her little brother, are also reproductions of the actual suits worn on their frequent family vacations. Even the notion of Rasputin cursing the Romanovs is based off of an anecdotal account that, on one of the few occasions Nicholas and other nobles became worried about the influence he had over Alexandra and foreign policy, Rasputin threatened the family with a pox if he were dismissed from court.

* SicklyGreenGlow: Rasputin's reliquary oozes with this.
* SlapSlapKiss: Quintessential example, starting as soon as they get on a train together. Vlad knows exactly what's really going on, even when they don't.

** ''Literally'' [[spoiler:at the end, where Anya accidentally smacks him in the face, and then cradles his face in her hands for an AlmostKiss.]]
* SoulJar: Rasputin's reliquary.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Sadly, the main character Anastasia, because the real one most likely died along with her family, this being an adaptation of RealLife.
** It's been confirmed that Anastasia was murdered. I'd keep that from any small princess fans you might know.

* UnlimitedWardrobe: Anya/Anastasia, counting the clothing she wears as a child, has 13 different outfits during the course of the movie. Blue court dress, nightgown, overcoat, peasant outfit, yellow DisneyAcidSequence ballgown, blue short-sleeved dress, pajamas, sailor bathing suit thing, 2 flapper dresses during a musical number, blue evening dress, pink pajamas, court dress (make it 14 if you count the ClothingDamage incurred on the last court dress as a costume change). To compare, Ariel in ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' had 7 (her purple SeashellBra, a ship's sail wrapped around her, a pink dinner dress, a pink nightgown, a turquoise dress, a blue sparkly dress and a wedding dress).
** Although two of the above are completely hallucinatory.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: And ''how''.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: To levels rivaling the recent ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}''. The real Anastasia was just shot alongside her family in July 1918 at the age of 17. After this movie was made, the actual Romanovs were dug up and DNA typed. All the Romanov children were in the graves, including Anastasia. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_romanov#False_reports_of_survival_and_identification_of_Romanov_remains The Other Wiki has the details.]] Also, Rasputin was an ally of the Romanovs, and was murdered before them.
** Two of the children were discovered in a grave near Ekaterinburg, apart from the original discovery site in early 2008: Alexei and one of his other sisters, either Marie or Anastasia.
** Also, Rasputin was (probably) neither a lich nor powered by demons. And bats can't talk.

** Taken UpToEleven when you consider that the plot is essentially the same as the 1956 movie with Ingrid Bergmann and Yul Brenner.
*** We should mention [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson "Anna Anderson"]], the real life inspiration for the Bergman/Brynner film who went to her grave pretending to be Anastasia and managed to convince a surprising number of credulous supporters despite ample evidence to the contrary. Her claim was disproven via DNA evidence after her death.
**** FWIW, Anna's attitude was more along the lines of "It could have happened."
**** We should also mention how it's already been mentioned that it's not intended to be accurate...

Got a DirectToVideo spin-off in the form of ''BartokTheMagnificent'', [[hottip:*: (though all it has in common with the first movie is...Bartok. And that it's set in an even less historically accurate version of Russia.)]] which deals with the plucky little bat impressing people with his "[[BlatantLies special abilities]]". It's important to note that this is the only sequel that Bluth has ever been involved with.

** The important ones, anyway. Several relatives kinda hated him and plotted his death. *cough* Grand Duke Felix Yussopov *cough*.

* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: a TropeCodifier.

** And the pegasus statue (minus the mane which is obviously 2D, creating an odd effect overall)

* EvilPlan: Everything is kicked off by Rasptutinian's desire to kill the Romanov family. He continues with this plan after the time skip.

* DealWithTheDevil: At the beginning, it is made clear that Rasputin has sold his soul in exchange for doom unto the Romanov line. This deal apparently also included being turned into an immortal undead corpse until his revenge is completed or his reliquary is destroyed.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anastasiagu4.jpg]]

* DanceOfRomance: Anastasia and Dimitri, while Vladimir {{lampshade| hanging}}s this with a brief song.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The Romanovs were not exactly ideal rulers, leaning toward oppression of ethnic minorities among other things. They've historically gotten a pass simply because the Soviets were so much worse.

-->''Glory to the Revolution! Many have died''
-->''Those left we rely on''
-->''In the glory of revolution!''
-->''Who will maintain, that he will say: "Glory! Glory!"''

*** The real Rasputin's death was an aversion of this trope, ironically.
* [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Rasputin Was An Evil Sorcerer]]

* SicklyGreenGlow: Rasputin's reliquary oozes with this.

-->''(Anastasia has left the train cabin after an argument with Dmitri.)''\\

--> '''Dimitri:''' Princesses don't marry kitchen boys.

* ForeShadowing: A blink-and-you-miss-it shot at the start, has young Dimitri being dragged away from Anastasia and told "You belong in the kitchen." Shoot to the end and the reason he can't be with Anya? He's just a kitchen boy.
** Additionally, he is dragged away just before the Empress makes the music box play, thus keeping him from knowing it ''is'' a music box. This is key later, when Anya's [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay instinctive knowledge of how to open it]] proves her identity, since Dimitri could not have told her.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Poor Dimitri finally decides to do the right thing when he gets found out and Anastasia reacts about as well as one might expect.

-->''Glory to the Revolution! Many have died\\
''Those left we rely on, in the glory of revolution!''\\

''Those left we rely on, in the glory of revolution!\\