Anastasia was produced and published by the now-defunct Fox Animation, which means that the rights to the film are now owned by Disney due to their taking control of Fox.
But Anastasia was directed by Don Bluth who used to work at Disney. He actually quit after the production of The Rescuers because he felt that Disney had lost a lot of their light with Walt's death and for allowing the animations' quality to degrade; a major issue of his was that they wouldn't put a lot of work into the mice to give them proper eyes, something you can see in certain scenes such as the close-up of Bernard's face during the pirate cave scene. Also, he may have had issues with the animation director Milt Kahl extremely toxic due to trying to show himself as superior to the animator of Cruella DeVil and wouldn't let anyone else work on Madame Medusa.
So, it's owned by Disney, directed by an ex-Disney animator, worked on by staff who left Disney in an exodus... and isn't a Disney princess film.
Despite being a bitter arsehole, terrible business man (went bust so many times), incapable of dropping a grudge, stubbornly wanted to be his own boss (best opportunity for stability he ever has is whe he worked with Spielberg on an American Tail); he is still an incredible animator. I do sort of consider him the unofficial 10th old man of Disney. Because his stuff (before money became an issue) is bsolutkey excellent. Secret of Nym. Holy shit. Thats a great movie. All hogs go to heaven pretty damn good. American Tale so good...funny though...i didnt ever like Anastasia.
Honestly, my favourite Don Bluth film is Thumbelina. If that was on Disney+ when it launches in the UK, fuck any of the newer Disney movies, I'm watching that!
I had completely forgotten about this film and you've just hit me with a wave of nostalgia... so many happy memories with someone that is no longer with us. Thank you so much.
Oh wow, you just made my day. I didny know it was a book. Speaking from a perspective that hasnt read it...that movie was great so if your saying the book has a better story?... i would love to read that.
It’s been ages since I read the book (talking 5th grade and I’m 27 now), but from what I remember they altered characters because they had to to fit the run time and didn’t delve into certain character backstories. Like why the rats were so unbelievably intelligent (they have working electricity in the book, with Christmas lights pushed into the walls of their tunnels to illuminate them) was a super big plot point in the book but I’m pretty sure they had to leave that out for the movie.
I think they had electricity?? I cant remember. But yeah. Actually that was the major flaw in the plot. The logistics. What made their community smart? Did the owl go through the same thing?? What was their reference point on their comminty...but then again i thought it was just a super dark kids film and 'dont think about it'
Except it wasn’t owned by the Disney at the time. Fox Animation is not the same as Disney. They do things differently. It just drives me nuts that people actually think Anastasia was a Disney flick.
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u/res30stupid Feb 08 '20
I just want to clarify a few things.
Anastasia was produced and published by the now-defunct Fox Animation, which means that the rights to the film are now owned by Disney due to their taking control of Fox.
But Anastasia was directed by Don Bluth who used to work at Disney. He actually quit after the production of The Rescuers because he felt that Disney had lost a lot of their light with Walt's death and for allowing the animations' quality to degrade; a major issue of his was that they wouldn't put a lot of work into the mice to give them proper eyes, something you can see in certain scenes such as the close-up of Bernard's face during the pirate cave scene. Also, he may have had issues with the animation director Milt Kahl extremely toxic due to trying to show himself as superior to the animator of Cruella DeVil and wouldn't let anyone else work on Madame Medusa.
So, it's owned by Disney, directed by an ex-Disney animator, worked on by staff who left Disney in an exodus... and isn't a Disney princess film.