Albino bat Bartok – former sidekick to the wicked Grigori Rasputin – ventures to prove his true worth on a new quest to defeat the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga.
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Reviews
Too much of everything
Good concept, poorly executed.
Excellent but underrated film
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
I had seen Bartok The Magnificent several years ago and I recently re-watched it. Along with The Pebble And The Penguin and A Troll In Central Park, Bartok The Magnificent is not as good as An American Tail, All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Land Before Time, and especially The Secret Of NIMH. While re-watching it, I expected to be really corny but it's by no means awful and there are actually some good things about it. The animation is quite nice and there are some pretty cool characters. Baba Yaga is suitably menacing, Pilaf is adorable, and Zozi and the skull crack me up. On the flip side, the script/story suffered from being somewhat predictable and I don't care for the songs. Also, Bartok is kind of annoying but is actually less annoying here than he is in Anastasia. Not the best movie ever but nowhere near as bad as it could have been. PS: The way Baba Yaga reacts to being hugged is absolutely hilarious.
Anastasia is my personal favourite Don Bluth movie, but this film actually does it justice if not as good.The animation is mostly good, bright and colourful, that falls a tad flat in the scarier bits. The story is a bit noisy, but well told, considering that the film itself is too short. The dialogue is good, the best coming from Zozi, and the morals are admirable.The songs are quite good, but not as beautiful as Anastasia. All of them are lively, and atmospheric, but could have been better timed. The voice talents are impeccable, Bartok is a little annoying but Hank Azaria voices him well, but Kelsey Grammar is perfect as Zozi. Andrea Martin is convincing as Baba Yaga, and Catherine O'Hara is a suitably over the top villain, a bit too OTT perhaps. Tim Curry is also very good as the skull who was brilliantly animated, and Jennifer Tilly is great as Pilaf .An entertaining movie! Look out for it! 7/10. Bethany Cox
In this follow-up to ANASTASIA, the title character (and most of the others) are gone, so I can only suppose that BARTOK THE MAGNIFICENT portrays the future of the Romanoff family (Prince Ivan looks like he could be Dimitri's grandson or something). Bartok, after the demise of Rasputin, now works in his own two-man circus act that reinacts his fictitious heroic deeds. After Prince Ivan is kidnapped by the evil witch Baba Yaga, the gullible people of Moscow force Bartok (whom they totally believe to be the real McCoy) and his supposedly dead bear friend, Zozi, to rescue him from the evil witch.When I first saw this on the shelf, I was dismayed. I was horrified that they were going to ruin ANASTASIA. Thankfully, my fears were dispelled as soon as I heard and saw the opening sequence telling the tale of Baba Yaga. The animation is smooth, flowing, and the lip-synching actually works. The voice of Kelsey Grammer for Zozi fits like Mickey's glove; you can tell Zozi is Frasier. The use of CGI in certain places, normally backgrounds and inanimate objects, is a good touch. The story isn't quite as poignant as ANASTASIA: this time 'round, Bluth and co. have opted for a comedy in the form of BARTOK THE MAGNIFICENT. If you liked ANASTASIA, certainly watch BARTOK THE MAGNIFICENT, if you didn't like ANASTASIA, watch it anyway! It will be worthwhile.
the skull dude (played by tim curry) is really cool.... the songs r awesome! and who says cartoons can't be good??? The witch is awesome.. first off~ zozie is an AWESOME name... second bartok has the COOLEST accent EVER!! (all of the characters do... ) but i gotta say.... the best character is piloff.... she's.... 'a.... thing... after my own heart' *sigh* ok, well... see it. And there's my review.