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1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
DTS 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, Spanish, French)
Subtitles: English; Closed Captioned
DVD Release Date: February 6, 2006
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
Disney sequels are universally trashed by anyone who considers themselves a Disney animation fan. However, as I’ve shared before I try to take each movie on their own merit and not pre-trash before I’ve seen the actual film. Setting aside the moral/spiritual/ethical question of whether the Disney company should suck every last drop of revenue from their movie franchises, is it possible to make a decent sequel that will be entertaining and honoring to the original films? Would Cinderella III be that magical movie? My interest in seeing the DVD was roused when my kids started mentioning the ads for it on the Disney Channel. “Mom, most sequels are lame, but this one looks kind of interesting” commented my twelve year old. “Mom, we HAVE to see this” confirmed my ten year old. I’ll have to admit; a few 21-year-old Disney marketing execs should be patting themselves on the back for their brilliant promotional push for Cinderella III. Even kids who are blasé about direct to DVD sequels perked up their ears at the whole twist in time theory.
The movie
The story starts one year after Cinderella and her prince have been happily married, when the evil stepmother steals the Fairy Godmother’s wand. The Stepmother uses the wand to go back in time and transforms the glass slipper so that it fits the red-headed Anastasia . The “twist in time” is successful and Anastasia is slated to marry Prince Charming (the original Cinderella did not bother to give the poor prince an actual name.) It’s up to Cinderella and her friends to un-do the Stepmother’s plans and get things back as they should be. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by reporting that true love prevails.
©Disney.
There are a lot of positive aspects to the movie. The music is Broadway-style; upbeat, engaging, and reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. Gus and Jaq have a very cute song (“At the Ball”) where they explain to the prince that Cinderella is indeed the girl he loves, that I have caught myself mumbling around the house. The plot is unique to any Disney sequels I have seen, though it vaguely reminds me of a “Kim Possible” episode. There are too many endings to the story that drags out the inevitable reunion between Cinderella and her prince, but there’s plenty of humor and silly situations that will be sure to keep younger fans entertained.
The downside is the quality of the animation, which is where all direct-to-DVD sequels fall short. It appears they tried to approximate the colors and style of the original, but it’s cheaply made and looks it. Some of the voices do not match the original; Anastasia’s in particular. Her voice has been transformed from a comic screechy mess in Cinderella to someone suspiciously sounding like Jodi Benson of Little Mermaid fame (it’s not–but I had to check to be sure.) I realize they were trying to make Anastasia more sympathetic but her voice is completely out of character and context. I can better deal with the changes Prince Charming underwent in this film. In the original film he’s barely heard and rarely seen, so it’s natural they would add some quirks and hipness to his character. I did cringe a bit, however, when he quips “yeah…I got nothin'” to the mice in response to their attempts to communicate with him. Hipness only goes so far for a guy wearing a white double breasted jacket with gold braiding on the shoulders.
Goodies
As expected, the extras are pretty scarce. “I Still Believe,” the music video of the song which plays over the closing credits is included and features the very golden and very pretty Hayden Panettiere from the current TV show Heroes and from past Disney movies such as Ice Princess and Tiger Cruise. This video is getting a lot of play on the Disney Channel right now, so it will likely be old news by the time your kids get around to playing this on the DVD.
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Choose is the standard remote game we’ve come to expect on direct-to-DVD releases. This one is hosted by Jaq and Gus and involves guessing which object was changed by which character from the film. It will appeal only to very young children—and even they will find the whole thing pretty pointless after about five minutes. Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: A Kingdom of Kindness is a short clip of the Sleeping Beauty section of Princess Tales, a new series that will debut on DVD in September of this year. It looks just as cheaply made as Cinderella III and not enough of the story was shown to be able to judge anything else.
Another extra, entitled Twice Charmed, is a look at the Disney Cruise Line’s own version of a Cinderella sequel; it’s basically a five minute infomercial on the merits of taking a Disney Cruise. My kids were all over it and it almost had me contacting my travel agent. Keep the credit cards far away when watching this segment. Finally, Cinderella’s Ballroom DVD-ROM enables kids to decorate their very own ballroom, invite guests, and print out their own party invitations for a non-virtual party. It’s a little more involved than the typical DVD-ROM offerings, and kids under 12 will find it interesting.
©Disney.
Audio, Video and Interface
Cinderella III is presented in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1. The standard Dolby Digital sounded great on my television. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen did a nice job with the colors, and aside from my quibbles over the quality of the animation itself, the DVD looks beautifully sharp and bright. The interface on the main menu page is very detailed and inviting with a clip of the score and the Stepmother’s voice in a short loop. As there are not many extras on the disc, kids will find navigation extremely easy.
The Final Evaluation
It’s not the greatest thing to ever hit the DVD shelves, but I don’t have it in my heart to dismiss Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. I’ve sat through much worse with my kids in a movie theatre. I suppose the key is not watching the original and this sequel back to back—the artistry, voice work, and timelessness of Cinderella would make any sequel look terrible, especially the lovely Platinum Edition that came out in 2005. I beg you not to pay the ridiculous retail price of 29.99; otherwise, Cinderella III is one of the better direct to DVD sequels I’ve seen in a while.
