This film has a, to quote Bugs Bunny: "iiinnnteerresssting" history.
This is the only "sequel" to one of Don Bluth's films that DON BLUTH himself actually directed.

I've got to say I did not expect much when I saw preview and stuff on TV. I thought it would be just another low-budget sequel and I was quite suprised when my dad, being a professional animator himself and having worked on An American Tail for Mr. Bluth, brought this home.

Boy was I wrong about it being low quality. The animation is feature film quality and it turns out, this movie WAS going to go into theaters but the distributors decided to scrap it.

It's not the animatoin that fails about this movie however, it's the story. But heck, what do you expect from a Bluth film?

Now it's not that bad, it certainly one of Bluth's better films, but the story is fairly weak and certainly does not live up to his best feature film: "The Secret of Nihm" (one of my favorite animated movies btw).

So I'm giving this movie a solid three stars for the animation. That alone makes this worth a rent.

Um, a sequel to Anastasia? No way?

And it's actually good? OMG, it's true!

Yes, thanks to the recent 2-disc release of Anastasia (which now includes this film in its entirety on the second disc), I was able to watch this film for the first time. And I was surprisingly impressed by the quality.

Bartok the Magnificent tells the tale of Bartok (Rasputin's familar from the original film) who tells of his many brave adventures to the townspeople of Moscow. But when the young Prince Ivan is kidnapped, people believe that the witch Baba Yaga took him into her realm in the Iron Forest. The people call upon Bartok to face the witch and rescue their prince.

Sounds basic, right? I would go into more detail, but I'll let the movie surprise you as it had me!

The art style is very true to the quality of Anastasia, but it's obviously low-budget yet still good! The storyline is basic, but it has its share of surprises (that are quite unexpected). The music and songs aren't too bad - very Disney-esque but not bad. (And this is clearly a Bluth film too. Why do I find this oddly amusing?) The characters are likeable, well-voiced, and quite good in their debut film. Bartok is just likeably great. He maintains his humorous and "brave" demeanor, except at times he can be a bit annoying. Other than that, quite good!

Okay, so this sequel is no way connected to the original (except for the fact that Bartok is the main character and it still takes place in Russia). It's good enough to stand as its own film . . . that's the way I see it anyway. It's short and fast-paced, but it goes through a great story of revealing the hero within yourself, no matter how small you are. This isn't the best "sequel" ever, but this feels better than some of the recent Disney DTV releases.

A must-see at least - three and a half stars!

This is a rather nice sequel to Anastasia,with Bartok,Rasputin's bat servant,as its star.

Bartok proves to be as likeable in this as he was in Anastasia. Zozi is a fun sidekick,Baba Yaga is rather reminiscent of Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone,Ludmilla is an okay villainess,and Prince Ivan is an appealing child character.
However,my favorite character in the movie is
Pilof,Baba Yaga's familiar,who looks like something from a Bosch painting.

This is more of a kid's movie than Anastasia was,but it has some amusing scenes in it that older viewers will like.