Great Film overall

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I didn't expect to like the movie as much as I did Anastasia and I was right. They chose the character I didn't care much for, but as I said in my Anastasia review he was very appealing to the kids. So when it comes to Bartok the magnificent, this cartoon is more for just children. So the drawing is not as beautiful, there are less details of Russia and songs are not as great.Also, as somebody who grew up over there and had a lot of Baba Yaga in my childhood, I really didn't like the portrayal of her or her house, was so different from what it was in my childhood. This of course wouldn't make a difference for most viewers and kids but this is where movie lost some points with me. I wish it was her old house with chicken legs in the middle of a beautiful Russian forest.It is still not a bad movie for kids. And I personally liked to have more of Kelsey Grammar in it who now had a bigger part as Bartok's friend the bear.

Well, I never thought for once that they would make a show about the little white bat from Anastasia but they did it and I have to say, it was a little bit annoying but overall OK. The story seems to take place many years before Anastasia happens which makes me wonder how old Bartok really is. He seemed the same age as when he was in Anastasia but yet we see Ivan Romanov as a little boy. This boy pretty much has a knack for having bad advisors. Both advisors he had were trying to overtake the thrown. I know that it's a simple thing to want to fall on advisors overthrowing the thrown as the bad guy but they could have done something else. Ludmilla just seems like she is over charismatic and has no real potential as a enemy. It's only near middle of the movie that she seems to have something going for her. The bear Zozi pretty much has no real character but to push Bartok into doing what he's doing and spout play quotes. He had nothing more then to be a layed back side character with no real meaning.The artwork was rather disappointing. I would have thought that it would be better coming from Don Bluth and how nice Anastasia was compared. It just felt like it was rushed to get out the studio with its sort of odd scenery. Sometimes it was well done with lots of detail but other times, it felt like they used the wrong colors for some things and took way little time with them. The world outside the city of Moscow was very disappointing because it looked like a fantasy land rather then the landscape of Russia.The voices were pretty well done though seem to be rather downcast next to the artwork. Each character was what I would imagine them to sound like. Sadly, Bartok, the very center of the movie, was really annoying. He was good as a sidekick for a villain but when he gets his own show, the whole movie suffers from his raspy voice. I don't have anything against the voice actor but just like Iago from Aladdin, this was one of those characters that shouldn't be singing. The songs and music were sub standard and not really memorable so it doesn't even feel like I should bring them up.

1st watched 2/2/2013 – 3 out of 10(Dir-Don Bluth): Disappointing follow-up to very well done 1997 film "Anastasia" by Director Don Bluth and Producer Gary Goldman. This straight-to-video release takes one character from the previous mentioned film, Bartok, voiced by Hank Azaria, and places him into an older setting where the Romanov's still reign and Bartok is a traveling entertainer in Moscow with his bear friend voiced by Kelsey Grammar. He fakes the crowd into thinking he has powers – so when the current Prince appears to be kidnapped – the people want Bartok to rescue him from the clutches of a strange witch. Technically this movie looks very good, and the animation holds up against the 1997 film. The music was created by the original team from "Anastasia", but the songs do not hold up, and are not memorable at all. The main problem with the movie, though, is the story and screenplay – which is not funny, and seems like it was pieced together. Bartok is irritating at times and pretty much all of the secondary characters are pretty lame(although the bear voiced by Grammar isn't bad). One of the villains of the piece is a strange witch that turns out to be very un-scary even though the initial music makes it seem like she's just the opposite. She hands out three simple tasks to Bartok before she supposedly hands over the prince, and then ends up not having him?? What was with this plot twist?? It was done primarily to reveal the real villain which ends up being the backup person to the Prince's throne(how original was this??). Sorry about the plot revelations, but if you watch this movie you won't really care about this anyway. If you think the movie is OK for kids, it's not…it's a little too creepy in some scenes and has some adult humor. So basically, this movie is definitely a flop in many ways. Avoid it.

As an earlier commentator noted, "Bartok the Magnificent" is a prequel to "Anastasia". I guess animated bats live for a REALLY long time. But if you are going to quibble about dates then just what will you say about the existence of talking bears, musical witches and a huge animated riddle asking skull—just go with it. For all the sequential fuzziness, I find this film a real joy.The voice talents of Kelsey Grammar as the Russian Dancing (and classical theater loving) bear Zozi is wonderful as are also Tim Curry's, as the Huge Talking Skul and Jennifer Tilly's role as Piloff. I have no idea what Piloff is, She looks life a living fur boa some women might wear around their necks. Whatever she is, Tilly's voice makes her seems gentle and funny (and a little ditsy but in an attractive kind of way) while also being impervious to whatever Bartok does to get her off the bolder (and a strange looking bolder it is too—looks more like a construction girder) as demanded by Baba Yaga. Indestructible gentle femininity is a good thing. Of course Bartok (voiced by Hank Azaria) is himself a hoot. Also Kelsey Grammar's voice in song is as full of life and warm as is his speaking voice. I love to listen to him even when he's the bad guy as in "Toy Story 2" as Stinky Pete. This film is one of the straight to video ones which should have been given a shot as a theatrical run. Both the video and the DVD comes with the songs separate with sing along lyrics--nice touch.