Anastasia: Music From The Motion Picture (1997 Version)

2007 will mark the 10th "birthday" of the animated film, Anastasia. When I was little, this was one of my favorite animated films. (All the way up in the top 10 with The Lion King) One reason I liked it so much was easily the music.

1. A Rumor in St. Petersburg-
A funny song that played near the beginning of the movie. Not something you'd want to play really loud, but still a funny track.

2. Journey to the Past- Anastasia singing about "home, love, family". Isn't that the main theme of the movie? Lovely, high quality song.

3. Once Upon a December- I LOVE this song. It's beautiful.

4. In The Dark Of The Night- O.o An old creepy man singing about killing an innocent girl? Er... yeah. Like the first track, it's not something you should be blasting on a giant stereo system... unless you want to get some weird looks from innocent passer-bys.

5. Learn To Do It- Cute song from another one of those "random characters...Read more

I must confess: This is the first ever CD that I bought back in 1997, and it's been a beautiful musical gem that's got me into appreciating other various genres of music! There is not one song on this soundtrack that you could possibly dislike...which brings me to the curious fact: WHY WASN'T THIS NOMINATED FOR BEST SOUNDTRACK (as far as I know)! It isn't a matter of being biased in enjoying the tunes here: whether or not you support Fox, or its fictitious rendition of historical characters, don't matter in this judgement. The music of "Anastasia" is LIVING TALENT on its own.

From the bright start in "A Rumour in St. Petersburg", follows the touchingly nostalgaic "Journey to the Past". "Once Upon A December" is an absolute favourite as a haunting lullaby with lyrics of magical fantasy, whose tune lingers throughout the movie with the theme of poignant memory. "In the Dark of the Night" is a surprisingly amusing...Read more

The pop tracks are the only thing, in my opinion, that keeps this CD from being 5 stars. I'm a huge fan of musicals, and this is a good, good album which covers a wide range of moods. From the exuberant "A Rumour In St. Petersburg," to the haunting "Once Upon A December," this is an album that will work its way into your mind and have you humming songs from it. Not only are the vocal pieces fun, and stirring, and full of emotion, but the instrumental tracks are amazing. My personal favorites are track "Prologue," where the Russian chorals have me turning the CD player up as loud as it will go, and "Nightmare," which perfectly captures the dreamlike terror of Anya's trance.

That being said, I understand that it's the animated movie convention to have a single that can be released for the radio, but how many does this one have? In addition to the sheer number of pop "single" tracks (four), the pop tracks are, sadly,...Read more