Factual error: In the beginning of the film, the Dowager Empress Marie states that the year is 1916 and that they are celebrating the 300th anniversary of their family's rule. The 300th anniversary actually took place in 1913. (00:01:05)
Anastasia (1997)
Plot summary
Directed by: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
Starring: John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Meg Ryan, Hank Azaria, Kelsey Grammer, Angela Lansbury
Genres: Adventure, Animated, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Musical
The movie is a fictionalized version of the legend of Anastasia, a daughter of the Russian royal family who allegedly escaped while the rest of her family was killed.
The movie starts in the past, with the royal family receiving a curse from the evil Rasputin, which leads to the uprising of the nation and the murder of the whole royal family except for the grandmother and Anastasia, who are saved by a kitchen boy. They try to board a train to escape, but Anastasia falls off and is left behind.
Fast forward ten years later, and we meet an orphan called Anya who has a necklace exactly like Anastasia and who doesn't remember who she is. She wants to go to Paris to find her family, and so joins up with two con artists, Dimitri and Vlad (?), who realise that she really resembles the princess and would be a perfect candidate to fool the grandmother into giving them the reward for finding Anastasia. They pretend that they really think that she is Anastasia to get her to come.
They teach her everything about Anastasia and go to Paris to meet with the grandmother. Dimitri discovers that Anastasia is actually the princess because she remembers the kitchen boy (actually, him) when he hadn't told her. He also realises that he loves Anya, but resolves to give her back to her family.
Anya realises that Dimitri and Vlad were only in it for the money, and tries to leave. Dimitri forces her to meet with the grandmother, and so the family is reunited, while Dimitri refuses any reward, and disappears
Rasputin reappears and tries to kill Anya, who is saved by Dimitri, and they both run off together and live happily ever after...
More mistakes in Anastasia
Bartok: Just wishing I could do the job for you, sir. I'd give her a HA! And a HI-YA! And then a OOH-WAH! And I'd kick her, sir.
Trivia: Inspired by the story of Anna Anderson (died 1984) who claimed to be Archduchess Anastasia, which would have made her the only surviving daughter of the Czar and Czarina of Russia. Only DNA tests years after her death proved she was not Anastasia, but an imposter which European nobility had long suspected.
Question: Why doesn't Rasputin kill Anastasia's grandmother since she's part of the Romanov family?
Answer: As I recall it, Anastasia and her grandmother escaped through a secret passageway when revolutionaries invaded the palace. After the two got separated, the grandmother lived in exile in Paris, where she and Anastasia are eventually reunited. If the grandmother had not escaped, she likely would have been executed. Rasputin probably realised her being a prominent Romanov, as well as a grieving mother/grandmother, could garner public sympathy and outrage over the royal family's brutal deaths.
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Answer: Because she is an old lady, the last of the Romanov line. She was no threat to him, when she died, it would be over.