''Anastasia: Once Upon a Time'' is a 2020 American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

adventure film very loosely based on the legend of

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

. The film stars Armando Gutierrez as Grigori Rasputin,

Jo Koy Joseph Glenn Herbert (born June 2, 1971), known professionally as Jo Koy, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a frequent panelist on E!'s late night show ''Chelsea Lately''. He has since had a number of Comedy Central and Netflix ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

Brandon Routh Brandon James Routh (; born October 9, 1979) is an American actor. He portrayed Superman in the 2006 film '' Superman Returns'', which garnered him international fame. In 2011, he played the titular character of the film '' Dylan Dog: Dead of N ...

Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

and

Emily Carey Emily Joanna Carey (born 30 April 2003) is an English actor. She began her career as a child actor on stage and in the BBC One soap opera '' Casualty'' (2014–2017, 2021). She went on to play young versions of characters, such as Diana Prince ...

Anastasia Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the most ...

. The film was released through digital platforms on April 7, 2020.

Plot

In 1917, thirteen-year-old Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, a Russian

Grand Duchess Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. In status, a grand duke traditionally ranks in order of precedence below an emperor, as an approxi ...

, escapes through a portal created by her family's old friend, Grigori Rasputin, when her family is threatened by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

, led by

. Anastasia finds herself in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, seventy years later, in 1989. She also finds herself in a suburban neighborhood. However, Anastasia is unaware that an enchantress, Yara, is working with Lenin. She has hypnotized Rasputin, sending him through another portal to capture her. Anastasia is befriended by Megan, a thirteen-year-old girl who had recently moved and feels lonely as she has no friends. Despite Anastasia's initially fragmentary grasp of English, she introduces herself to Megan as "Annie," aided by an amulet Rasputin gave her that glows when she is in the presence of a person she can trust. As Anastasia's understanding of English grows, Megan finds her a place to stay in a currently-vacant house near Megan's own, and the two even manage to befriend a pop star giving a concert in a nearby mall who helps buy Anastasia contemporary clothing. Eventually, Anastasia is able to tell Megan the truth about herself when she finds a book on the

Romanov The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to ...

family's fate, but is disturbed to learn of their apparent

deaths Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. Trying to cheer Anastasia up, Megan offers her one of a pair of "best friend" bracelets she bought herself in the past, as she had never had anyone to share them with. When the two girls go to a

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

party on Halloween, Anastasia is captured by Rasputin when she and Megan are separated. Megan's school bullies initially convince her that Anastasia left the party on her own, but later, when she sees a live local news report of a traffic accident, Megan spots Anastasia and Rasputin in the background and realizes what actually happened. Tracking them to the park where she first met Anastasia, Megan is able to help distract Rasputin long enough for Anastasia to open a new portal, allowing her to go back to a few moments before her original trip into the future and help her family escape Lenin's forces, with Rasputin staying behind to buy them time to escape. Back in 1989, Megan is once again disappointed at the loss of her friend, but when her mother suggests she introduce herself to the new neighbors, she is overjoyed to realize that the elderly grandmother of the new family next door is Anastasia herself, now at eighty-three years of age. Anastasia invites her inside to tell her everything that happened to her since their last meeting.

Cast

Production

Principal production began in the summer of 2017 in

Louisville, KY Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

with the young stars filming the 1988 portion of the film. Shooting on the 1917 portion of the film started in August 2017 and concluded in April 2018 after a break in between filming locations of about 6 months due to the scheduling of its location the

Rosecliff Rosecliff is a Gilded Age mansion of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a historic house museum. The house has also been known as the Hermann Oelrichs House or the J. Edgar Monroe House. It was built 1898–1902 by Theresa Fair ...

which was the same location used for the Great Gatsby and its actors

and

Reception

The Dove Foundation The Dove Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that issues film reviews, ratings and endorsements of movies that it considers suitable for family audiences, and that bases said reviews on Christian values. D ...

'' said that the "film includes a strong message of friendship and sacrificial love." ''

Russia Beyond ''Russia Beyond'' (formerly ''Russia Beyond The Headlines'') is a Russian multilingual project operated by TV-Novosti (formerly Russia Today), founded by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. History ''Russia Beyond The Headlines'' was l ...

'' lambasted the film highlighting the negative portrayal of Russians and its handling of the tragic true story. Regarding the merits of the film itself, Tom Whitcomb at ''The Bozho'' reviewed the film negatively, writing, "The acting is wooden and uninspired; the shoddy accents make me understand why everyone in the HBO miniseries

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

stayed British. The production design is phoned in. The script was in serious need of several rewrites."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 7014356 2020 films 2020 adventure films 2020 fantasy films 2020s fantasy adventure films 2020s English-language films American alternate history films American fantasy adventure films Depictions of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia on film Films about time travel Films scored by Nami Melumad 2020s American films