Anastasia (1997)

Fox's challenge to the Disney empire is a beautifully animated musical that attempts to conjure up the shimmering fairy-tale wonder of...the demise of imperial Russia. Anastasia, starry-eyed princess of the Romanov dynasty, sees her childhood come to an abrupt end when the eivil Rasputin (voiced by Christopher Llyod) places a curse on the czar's family. Thrown off her pedistal, she grows up into "Anya" (Meg Ryan), a spunky vagabond with only a dim recollection of her royal roots. Anastasia has the Disney house style down cold, yet the magic is missing. Perhaps that's because the story's somber emotional hook--Anastasia's thwarted desire for home--is asserted rather than dramatized.