Anastasia

[history_spork]

Today, it's our first attempt at sporking an animated movie, Don Blyth's and Gary Goldman's Anastasia. Brace yourself...

( Ra - Ra - Rasputin... )

Okay, we need to make up for the trauma we suffered here, so the next one will definitely be fun to spork: it will be Randall Wallace's Man in the Iron Mask!

Comments

[fernwithy]

:actually likes movie, because it's interesting how quickly it became a fairy tale, despite all facts; speculates that in a hundred years, it will be only vaguely associated with Russia at all:

Surrounded by a country quickly going to the dogs, but of course, we felt this was none of our concern...

Oh, I know. The first time I saw that, I was like... Russia? In the early 1900s? Yeah. And isn't this from the same guy who brought us An American Tail? I think the talking mice had a better concept of tsarist Russia.

How about the nice young man, dear? I may be a Dowager Empress, but I have no qualms whatsoever about my granddaughter slumming it with the commoners!Because I'm the good guy, duh, and no good guy could possibly hold on to such antiquated concepts as class, which is why everyone's so concerned about finding the heir to the throne-that-doesn't-exist in the first place. 'Cause royalty doesn't matter. They were so forward thinking in the '20s, ten years before Edward VIII had to abdicate over marrying an American

[burntcopper]

:cough: american divorcee was just an excuse to get rid of the nasty fascist twit, actually.

[fernwithy]

Yeah, true enough, but the point is that this was a viable way to do it, because while "fascist twit" wasn't seen as a legal way to get him off the throne, "American divorcee" was.

[tree_and_leaf]

To be fair, the key point was 'divorcee', which was a theological problem rather than a class or nationality problem. It's not like the British aristocracy weren't keen on marrying (rich) Americans...

[wulfila]

Brilliant sporking! I do not know if the Harry Potter references or the language remarks made me laugh more this time. And I am really looking forward to the "Man in the Iron Mask" sporking. :)
As for this installment, well... I'm honestly glad I never watched this movie. Just out of interest, how much does it owe to this film that I did not watch either? Just the romance element, or is there more fun stuff in the 1956 version already?

[history_spork]

Thank you! The HP references were just unavoidable... ;D

The 1956 movie has its merits, a great Ingrid Bergman, and since it concentrates more on the story of Anne Anderson (which is hardly recognisable in Anya), it's not that stupid (although, of course, Bergman finally gives up her status as a princess for the sake of love blah blah).

[burntcopper]

Y'know, I watched this in the cinema. Went 'eh, borrrrrring' and proceeded to blank it out of my mind as just spectacularly bad, never mind the historical bits.

[history_spork]

That's also been one of our main problems with this movie - it's just so damn boring! It's not even a cute little movie for kids! To blank it out is probably the best way to deal with it... ;D

[maexle]

In a moment, the Dowager Empress will call Czar Nikolai "Nicky", so I guess you really shouldn't worry about that.
Considered Czar Nikolas signed private letters with "Nicky", I don't think that point so important.
But the rest of the movie is obviously pure and unstirred sh**. I'm glad I never saw it.

[eleigh]

Oh thank goodness. I thought I'd imagined that he signed his letters to Kaiser Wilhelm II as Nicky thus why they were called the Nicky-Willy letters.

[spiralsheep]

Members of the British Royal Family also called him Nicky to his face.

[_illumina_]

I was going to say that - his wife called him Nicky, so why not his mother.

[history_spork]

Thank you!

Yes, the 1956 movie! But at least, this one's a movie about Anna Anderson (although they twist her life story pretty relentlessly, too!), whereas the cartoon never even makes any reference to the historical Anderson...

*snicker*