Bartok the Magnificent

Rating:
Summary: Inspired Writing and Great Voices
Review: "Bartok the Magnificent" combines inspired writing and terrific voices from Azaria, Grammer, Tilley, and Curry. I particularly enjoyed the scene with Oble the metal worker. I also find it hard to believe that the reviewer from New Jersey reviewed the video simply by examining the shell cover design. Let's have another Bartok adventure soon.

Rating:
Summary: Not since Secret of NIMH has Don Bluth been this wonderful.
Review: A true delight to watch. Not since Secret of NIMH has Don Bluth been this wonderful. A new studio at his command; one financed by Rupy's 20th Century Fox. An animted film that will be fun for the entire family, including young children; either boy or girl. Check this one out!

Rating:
Summary: One for all Bartok fans!
Review: Firstly if you're a fan of Anastasia don't feel threatened by this film! It has nothing to do with the original, other than having Bartok as its central character, and as such its really one for Bartok fans. The film tells the story of Bartok, a bat who really wants to be a hero but has nothing but made-up stories of heroism to tell to the admiring street crowds, and his quest to save the kidnapped Prince Ivan from the sinister witch Baba Yaga, whose home is guarded by a riddling skull voiced by Tim Curry! Hey, if its got Tim Curry in it, how bad could it be! :-) Has some great lines from Bartok and good, even if not the excellent artwork and animation of "Anastasia". I think this is also the first direct to video production made by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and their team.

Rating:
Summary: One for all Bartok fans!
Review: Firstly if you're a fan of Anastasia don't feel threatened by this film! It has nothing to do with the original, other than having Bartok as its central character, and as such its really one for Bartok fans. The film tells the story of Bartok, a bat who really wants to be a hero but has nothing but made-up stories of heroism to tell to the admiring street crowds, and his quest to save the kidnapped Prince Ivan from the sinister witch Baba Yaga, whose home is guarded by a riddling skull voiced by Tim Curry! Hey, if its got Tim Curry in it, how bad could it be! :-) Has some great lines from Bartok and good, even if not the excellent artwork and animation of "Anastasia". I think this is also the first direct to video production made by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and their team.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written and Very Colorful
Review: Get this movie for kids and adults. It's very funny and charming. The animation has the quality of a feature, not a direct-to-video. The cast is first rate: Hank Azaria, Kelsey Grammer, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara.

Rating:
Summary: Bartok the Magnificant
Review: Great movie! Sure, it wasn't the same as the original Anastasia, but oh well. The songs in Bartok are catchy and enjoyable (esp: Someone's in my House, which is sung by the witch Baba Yaga). The overall visual style is much like that of Anastasia (only brighter!) so it's familliar to the eye. The story line was innocent and appealing to older people too. Hats off to Don Bluth! I hope Bartok takes the same route as The Land Before Time (multiple, and enjoyable, films) because I want more of Bartok!

Rating:
Summary: This was not a sequel!
Review: How the hell can you call this awful mistake for a movie a sequel? Anastasia and Dimitri and other main characters weren't in it! This movie totally [stunk], it is not worth how ever the hell many minutes of your life or the money.

Rating:
Summary: PLEASE DON'T RUIN THE ORIGINAL MOVIE!
Review: I am such a BIG FAN OF THE ORIGINAL ANIMATED MOVIE ANASTASIA, I haven't seen this one yet of course, but the cover looks really stupid! I HOPE IT DOESN't RUIN THE ORIGINAL!

Rating:
Summary: Great movie. The colors and the animation are wonderful
Review: I got this movie thinking it was going to be one of those saturday morning cartoons and was very impressed with the quality of animation and the colors of it. It's very entertaining and funny. My kids absolutely loved it. I hope they make another Bartok movie. He became one of my favorites characters and my kids too.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written and Very Colorful
Review: I would never have expected, even with family sequels so prevalent nowadays, that anyone would think of making a movie to track the life of Rasputin's tiny sidekick in Anastasia. I guess I'm not alone in what character traits appeal to me, however. Interestingly enough, some days before I saw Anastasia I woke from a dream in which the villain and sidekick from Disney's Aladdin, Jafar and the parrot Iago, were floating on an abandoned raft during a nighttime lightning storm and lamenting their mistakes together. It seemed foolish when I woke, because those characters were nothing like what my dream made them to be... but when I saw Anastasia, I was amazed at how well Rasputin and Bartok fit the bill. I didn't think anyone else would be so charmed at how the helpful bat-like creature offered sensible advice to his evil liege even while dragging back his fallen-off body parts and displaying a general sort of affection. What a great little guy, I thought, and what a pity he's fallen into such bad company. It was heartwarming to see him turn to the aid of good at the end. All that is why Bartok the Magnificent charmed me so much. It's certainly not a sequel to Anastasia, and I'm sorry the previous reviewer was expecting it to be. It's a spin-off, rather, for anyone curious whether that little whitebat managed to make anything of his life after abandoning his master. What fun to see that he's pursued the life of street showman, which seems oddly appropriate. This movie is casual and makes little effort to establish a setting, which groups it with other sequels/spin-offs and is why I give it only four stars, not five. Chronologically, the characters shown on the Russian throne make no sense and beg the question of what happened to Princess Anastasia. Yet, when we view this Moscow as something of an unreliable fairytale land (and the movie does follow certain tenets of fairy-tales), it seems quite believable. Bartok is obviously the hero of his movie, and he lives up to the role well. He is immodest, an unusual trait among genuine heroes, but it works on him. Of especial note is the fact that while his integrity is questioned at times, hardly anyone ever points out that Bartok is quite small--so how could he make anything of himself? Naturally, this issue itself has been explored time and again in children's movies and books, and is properly treated as a sidenote here. For his part, Bartok is all the more inspiring by how he resourcefully makes use of the physique he has. He is never shown doing anything unrealistic for his size or strength, and neither is there much of the inordinate luck small characters in movies like this often have in besting those larger than them. In my opinion, that implicit honesty makes this movie a real treasure. Bartok is more than just an amusing voice and more than just another unlikely hero--he is an inspiration for those who must confront tasks they know appear far beyond their means to carry out. The tools at hand are determination, perseverance, and ingenuity, all of which are put fully to the test in Bartok the Magnificent, and all of which succeed.