Anastasia is a Disney movie

I have gotten a lot of criticism over the years for occasionally calling Anastasia a Disney movie. It's always accidental, of course, but the response of others to this apparently egregious error tends to include a terrible, fiery lashing out of "that is NOT a Disney movie, it is TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX movie and we are NO LONGER FRIENDS."

*quickly goes to check and make sure that Anastasia is, in fact, a 20th Century Fox movie so that the internet doesn't break on account of this post*

Anyway, the point is, Anastasia is really a Disney movie. Here is why:

1. There is a princess (Snow White, The Lion King, Aladdin, I'm not going to list all of them)
2. There are songs (every Disney movie ever)
3. There is a funny sidekick (often fat) and a handsome guy who she ends up with (The silly fat mouse/Prince Charming, The three funny fairies, especially the fat one/Random Unnamed Prince, again, not going to list all of them)
4. There is a cute animal pet figure (the magic carpet, the squirrel who pops the balloon in the forest with all the jaguars, etc)
5. An old wise parent figure who never does anything goofy (King Triton, Mufasa, Tarzan's gorilla parents, etc)
6. A bad guy who is kind of ridiculous (Izma, Edgar, Cruella DeVil, etc)

Now, you might say, well, this happens in every movie! Every kids movie, anyway. In that case, let's take a look at the songs in Anastasia:

1. A Rumor in St. Petersburg (the song where the whole town dances where you get to know the setting of the movie: "Belle," "One Jump Ahead," etc)
2. Journey to the Past (a song about the main character's dream, or the "I want" song: "Part of Your World," "Go the Distance," etc)
3. Once Upon a December (the main character's token song that is unusually pretty and recurs often during the movie, often a love song: "Colors of the Wind," "When you Wish Upon a Star," etc)
4. In the Dark of the Night (catchy bad guy song: "Poor Unfortunate Souls," "Be Prepared," etc)
5. Learn to Do It (the fun song where things look like they will pick up: "Hakuna Matata," "Something There," etc)
6. Paris Holds the Key to your Heart (the last song sung by characters the movie, usually attempting to be cool because the moviemakers know that at this point, most of the songs that people actually care about have already happened, often mixed in with the previous type of song: "Good Company," "A Star is Born," etc)
7. At the Beginning (random song at the end sung by some token famous artist: "True to Your Heart," "You've Got a Friend in Me," etc)

Now, it's getting more difficult to distinguish Anastasia from the average Disney movie. Yes, the animation is slightly different, but it's very formulaic. If that's not enough, however, let's look at a specific song from Anastasia and this Disney classic (Anastasia came out a year after Hunchback of Notre Dame).

A Rumor in St. Petersburg

Topsy-Turvy

Even for "the song where everybody dances" songs, they are very similar. Rumor is a bit more melodic, while Topsy-Turvy is more chaotic, but they have remarkably similar refrains. They also both contain:
1. Character/plot development during breaks in the song
2. Huge crowds of people dancing, people dancing in circles
3. A cathedral in the opening, as well as a grand instrumental introduction



So anyway, I am quite certain that the makers of Anastasia deliberately followed the structure of a Disney movie in hopes that it would make this movie more successful (which it did, IMO), and if that is your method, then you deserve to have your movie occasionally mixed up with whoever you're copying. You could even see it as a compliment. Imitation is the best form of flattery, right? And no offense, Fox, but based on the sheer number of successes, Disney is much better at this kind of thing than you, even if you did get this one hit.  But since it is so obviously based on a Disney classic formula, then I see nothing wrong at all with people occasionally mixing it up with a Disney movie. If they wanted to make it different, they would have made it different.

But they didn't, and in not doing so, they cursed themselves forever. Point is, if I mix them up, it's not my fault, it's theirs. Because Anastasia is, in essence, a Disney movie.