Hey, kids! Do you want to see a movie about the murder of the Romanovs?

Sarcasm aside, the one film that absolutely should not be given the live-action remake treatment is Anastasia.

Released in 1997, Anastasia was based on a recurring legend that the youngest Daughter of the Imperial Russian family Anastasia escaped the massacre. In this film, Anna Struggles with Amnesia looking to get out of the country. She encounters two con men, Dimitri and Vladimir, who look to obtain a $10 million reward offered by the exiled Empress Dowager, not knowing that Anna is in fact the real Grand Duchess. At the same time, they are being pursued by the Czar’s former mystic, Rasputin.

It is important to stress that, despite its appearance as an animated musical, this was not originally a Disney property. This was produced by Fox Animation and directed by Don Bluth of Land Before Time and American Tail fame. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Several major studios were attempting to copy the Disney formula. Despite not being made by Disney It found success financially and with audiences to the point where there is a Broadway production in the same manner as Beauty and the beast and the lion king. Any movie that attempts to replicate the Disney formula and gets a Broadway treatment deserves credit.

For a long time, Anastasia was one of the few animated princesses not on the Disney lineup. However, circumstances have changed rapidly in the past several years. Just as Disney purchased Marvel and Star Wars, 20th Century Fox was acquired in 2019. This includes all of their media franchises including the X-men, National Geographic, and their animated properties such as The Simpsons and, of course, Anastasia. Since it is now a Disney property it’s impossible for some not to consider the idea of this for a live-action Remake.

Historical Context

After being pulled into a losing campaign during World War 1, Russia fell into a state of Revolutionary chaos. Its Emperor, Czar Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate in February 1917. later in October the Bolsheviks known as the Reds seized power in a coup. Russia descended into a civil war between the “Red” revolutionaries and the “White” armies loyal to the monarchy. A year later, fearing Whites would restore Nicholas’s power, the Local Commissar gave the order and Nicholas and his entire immediate family were executed in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.

However, for many years rumors persisted over the survival of the Czar’s youngest daughter, Anastasia. 

Over the years there have been several women claiming to be Anastasia only revealing to be impostors. One of the most famous impostors was Franziska Schanzkowska, who would later change her name to Anna Anderson, claiming to be the lost princess. Some former members of the court were convinced including Maria Feodorovna, the Czar’s mother. However, she’s now believed to be a peasant from Poland who struggled with mental illness. 

In 1998 a year after the film’s release the bodies of Czar Nicholas and his family were officially unearthed and laid to rest in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. Further DNA tests in 2007 confirmed Anastasia did die alongside her family. Despite Nicholas’s inept rule, The Czar’s family has been through a spiritual redemption in the eyes of the Russian orthodox church to the point where they have been canonized as Saints.

Another aspect this film gets wrong is making the very real Rasputin an evil sorcerer. In this, he was banished by the Imperial court. in revenge, Rasputin puts a curse on the royal family. In this dignified setup, it was his magic that he was responsible for the Russian revolution. Oh, he was dead long before the revolution ever took place.

• 

• 

As modern audiences have changed so does our understanding of history. As such we can’t ignore one of the most horrific murders of a royal family in history. My issues don’t come from the film itself, it still has beautiful animation and songs (“Once upon a December” among my favorite animated songs). But, there is a whole generation of people that grew up reinforced with a false perception of history because of these movies.

In contrast, Disney’s Pocahontas simply twisted events of America’s founding – Anastasia dances over the entire Communist Revolution. It is that aspect alone why no one should be making a movie much less a remake like this. But still, this article is about me hypothesizing a live-action remake and that’s what I’ll do – with our own changes of course.

Our Changes

The first thing I would like to keep is same musical formula as the original film. “Once Upon a December” would be absolutely a must keep, granted these song may need some more lyrics as it’s relatively short compared to other “who am I” songs. Another song to Keep is “In the Dark of the Night” as it is a perfect villain song that easily rivals other Disney songs like “Be Prepared” and “Hell Fire”. However, the choirs wont be singing bugs but his fellow souls in purgatory. The rest of the soundtrack needs to be replaced and re-written though, as the rest of the songs were really quite weak.

Thankfully, this leaves room for writing new originals, and we would love to see the Russian people storming the palace which is an homage to Beauty and the Beast’s “Kill the Beast” number.

One big mistake with the original film was the lack of context as to why the Romanovs were overthrown. The only context we were given is that Rasputin put a curse on the imperial family and they were overthrown shortly after. In this version, we see the Russian people in discontent because of bad policies and WWI, and disgruntled Rasputin is more of a Rush Limbaugh/Alex Jones character, but with magic. We see Rasputin manipulate the people into seeing news of scandals real or imagined causing them to storm the palace.

My ideas are still not accurate by any means, but at least it would have gotten a little more context why the Romanovs were overthrown as they were blinded in their palaces while the people starved.

I’ve decided that in this version Anastasia (Anna) was in the room when her family was shot. It was only the jewelry sewn in her clothes that stopped the bullet from hitting her heart to which there is evidence of. One of the older soldiers (later revealed to be Vladimir) notices that Anna is still alive and takes pity. He would take Anna to an orphanage outside St Petersburg.

In the meantime Rasputin was betrayed by the revolutionaries fearing his mystic power and tossing him in a frozen lake, again somewhat like what happened historically to Rasputin, nobody wants a perverted mystic monk. Just like in the movie Rasputin would spend the next 7 years in purgatory because the curse he put on the Romanovs has not been fulfilled since Anastasia is still alive.

 The rest of the Story mostly follows the same plot as the original though there are a few more added elements. one other change to make is Demitri’s fellow con man Vladimir. As I mentioned earlier I like the Idea that Vladimir was a Red soldier who rescued Anna from the massacre. It was he that realized who she was after all these years. I feel it adds more dimension to him than just the clumsy but good-hearted mentor he was portrayed in the show. To go from a feared veteran soldier to a disillusioned figure who makes money by ripping people is a fascinating addition to this story.

• 

• 

I want to show life in the early Soviet Union that has more or less become ideologically oppressive than the Czar’s period – which makes the rumor about the last Romanov have more appeal than what’s presented in the movie. There are secrete police patrolling the streets, open talk of the Romanov’s is stifled, Russian churches are closed, and like in the Movie the once beautiful Winter Palace is now an empty shell. The Bolshevik government wants to eliminate all Czarist history wanting to establish a new Utopia without social class or titles. I want Anastasia to address that such noble goals never come to fruition.

Furthermore We need to see Anna learn why her family was deposed in the first place. An aditional subplot I may add is Anna being offered to return home by exiled White Russian officers hoping to depose the Communists, but declines to acknowledge that times have changed and monarchs and family titles are no longer needed in the modern world.

One more plot element I would change is the contrived 3rd act breakup cliché scene that has happened so much in other family films that always drags the ending. What didn’t make sense about that scene is that Anna knew she was part of a con so it doesn’t make sense that she would turn on Dimitri so quickly. Instead, I’m gonna have this scene play out similar to Fin admitting to Ray he wasn’t a resistance fighter in The Force Awakens. In this version before Introducing Anna, the her Grandmother Dimitri admits to her about his con history and leaves Anastasia and leaves her in shame. A lot of romances to me work better when characters are honest with one another and not resort to generic “will they”/”won’t they?” clichés. So no scene of Anna bitch-slaping Dimitri because of a scheme she already knew she was a part of.

Conclusion

The reason that this film shouldn’t be remade is for the same reason as our Pocahontas takedown – the core plot of Anastasia pays zero attention to the actual history it tries to represents. In some aspects, this film is even worse as it trivializes one of the most infamous and impactful cases of Regicide in history, and the sociopolitical upheaval that led to it.

Not just a deposed emperor, but an entire family was murdered and personally I find it distasteful that anyone would consider making an animated “fun for the whole family” out of this event. Would I like to see A dark tragic period drama, absolutely, but that’s that.

Dreamcast

Anastasia: Karen Gillian

• 

• 

Rasputin: Ben Cartwright

Also played Rasputin in the Netflix Docudrama The Last Czars. Best part of the whole show, he just needs a musical number to be complete.

• 

• 

Dmitri: Chris Pine

• 

• 

Vladimir: Kelsey Grammar

Fun fact: Grammar voiced him in the original film

• 

• 

Bartok – Zach Braff

In all honestly, I’d prefer for there NOT to be a cute animal sidekick… but f*ck it…

• 

• 

Dowager Empress – Maggie Smith

• 

•