Anne Frank's Diary

Released 23rd February 2000, Anne Frank’s Diary follows the infamous story told by Anne Franks’ real-life diary as she spent over two years in hiding from the Nazis. To the films’ credit, it generally follows the events told by Anne’s diary through the narrative and does an especially good job of highlighting the treatment of Jews in Central Europe during World War 2. With that said… this film is a cinematic disaster. I have watched hundreds and hundreds of films of varying quality and attributes in my life, however, the voice acting of this film stands out as the worst I have ever heard. While there is occasionally emotion attached to dialogue, it is the below the bare minimum that could be imbued. If your characters sound like they are just reading lines from a script, you have failed to direct them. Unfortunately, I cannot say that anyone is a highlight in the cast as everyone is equally lacklustre from Marissa Davison as Anne Frank to Peter Wallasch as German soldier.

While the animation itself is perfectly fine (with some shots looking particularly beautiful) it feels very static with many frames are completely still. Take into account that The Aristocats made sure to animate its water back in the 1970s; this 2000 film does not make the effort that a 1970s film took! Finally, the soundtrack is surprisingly mixed; Carine Gutlerner implements a couple of motifs which are somewhat memorable and serve a sustained purpose across the narrative. However, the sheer amount of melodrama in the soundtrack is absolutely abhorrent and failed spectacularly; if your soundtrack is making the audience laugh at Anne’s sister being called upon to go to a labour camp, you have monumentally upturned your tone. Anne Frank’s Diary is a cinematic disaster in so many senses and is only remotely redeemed by fleeting moments of competency in its artistic adaptation of one of history’s most harrowing objects and its subsequent story.