Nah man

Depends on what villain they use to replace him. Magical zombie Rasputin probably works better in a G movie than trying to insert something about Russian communists.

>>78195744
Does it need a villain at all?

>>78195489
It would be different. What would be the replacement menace trying to stop their journey on the train and ship?

>>78195836
I don't think there would necessarily need to be a replacement menace. The story is dramatic enough on its own, you know?

Though, I suppose, if you removed the idea of a direct villain trying to ruin things, the film would just be the Ingrid Bergman movie but animated and with pretty music.

>>78195943
Perhaps.

However, Bluth has a boner for scary villains, and has yet to make a movie without one.

>>78195489
I think so. I don't mind the part where he's a wizard or a zombie, I just find it a little irksome that the movie solely blames him and his dark magic for causing the revolution and act as though everything was peachy with the country before he showed up and present the Romanovs and royal class as poor purely innocent victims of his evil dickery. I don't even know shit about Russian history and that doesn't sit well with me.

>>78196291
>act as though everything was peachy with the country before he showed up

To be fair, the film does say that there was unhappiness in the country. It just says that Rasputin's curse is what fanned the flames and made everything happen immediately.

>>78195744
I'm with >>78195777. Having a clear villain isn't necessarily important to the Anastasia story. Politics can just be presented as a natural force that stands in for a villain. Look at, for example, the story of Anne Frank. To do that, you don't even need to really say anything about the nazi party or the political mechanics. Just that there's this family that is being targeted by a powerful group due to circumstances so they have to hide.

Another example: it's the same basic thing in American Tail. As a kid you may figure that the mice are immigrating because there are cats trying to eat them, but when you grow up you realize they were fitting it in with the history behind it and the cats were Cossacks. You didn't need to get that as a kid because you understood that bad things made the family move and got the story going.

The Anastasia story can be the same thing, except in this case she's also a princess.

>>78196393
You're right it does say that. Technically. Very briefly, in the narration. You don't really get a good sense to that being the case because there isn't a whole lot of effort put into it. It's something you're more told than shown, while Rasputin's hand in it gets a big focus. So I still think it's pretty bad even though I admit I did forget that particular line.