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83 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
very surprised, February 13, 2007
This review is from: Cinderella III - A Twist in Time (DVD)
I was surprised that my wife bought this DVD for our kids, because Disney direct-to-DVD sequels are usually poorly animated, poorly written flops. I was surprised again when I happened to come into my kids' room while they were watching it, and I found myself getting pulled into the film and watching the rest of it with them. I vaguely remember seeing part of Cinderella II, enough to recall that it was rather poor.
It seems that some reviewers here will hate the film no matter what, because they are Disney purists and feel that no sequel could ever possibly do justice to the original. And then it seems that other reviewers want to love the film so much that they will rate it highly even if they movie is a stinker.
I have neither of these mindsets. I don't have any deep devotion to original Disney features, and I don't really care about the sequels. What I can say is that this movie has very good animation. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a direct-to-DVD production, because it looked so good. As for picky details like what Cinderella's foot looked like, I guess I've got too much of a life to keep replaying the movie over and over to focus on things like that. As alluded to above, the story was good enough to pull me in when I had other things to do. In fact, I agree with some other reviewers that Cindrella and the prince were both more engaging characters in this movie than in the original. The only characters in the original that were really entertaining were the stepmother/stepsisters, the king and duke, and the animals. The star couple were rather boring to watch, but not so in this sequel.
I gave this 5 stars not because it is worthy of any awards, but rather because among other direct-to-DVD releases (especially sequels), it really stands out.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasantly surprising twist, January 28, 2007
This review is from: Cinderella III - A Twist in Time (DVD)
Many of us grew up watching Cinderella, Bambi, Dumbo and other Disney classics. As such, they developed a very special value in our memories, one that is hard to challenge by means of sheer technological updates or attempts to revive a succesful franchise.
In past times, Disney unsuccessfully attempted fairly often to revive the memories that some of its classics evoked, but in the past 2-3 years a number of Disney titles have broken the "spell" of failed sequels that surrounded the studio for many years. "Bambi II", in 2006, and "Cinderella III", in 2007, are the two most recent examples of this trend.
"Cinderella III" breaks out from a point in the legendary fable, that we are all familiar with: empowered with the fairy godmother's magic wand, Cinderella's step-mother rewinds time to make the glass slipper fit the foot of Anastasia, one of her daughters. From that point on, a completely new alternate story is spin off, one leading Cinderella out of her royal life and Anastasia in her spot.
The twist works surprisingly well, resulting in movie with a Cinderella determined to regain her spot back while Anastasia, her sister and their evil mother pull in the other direction. While predictable, the animated flick is very enjoyable and memorable.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Twist in Classic Plot, Moral Makes "Cinderella III" a Pleasant Surprise, February 3, 2007
This review is from: Cinderella III - A Twist in Time (DVD)
No company anywhere in popular culture extends and stretches its intellectual properties like Walt Disney Pictures. Its beloved characters appear in film after sequel after straight-to-DVD after TV show after stage production, their stories told live and drawn from nearly every conceivable angle. This, plus the studio's diligent protection of its intellectual property, has led to the world seeing its folklore through Disney's lens. (Quick, think of Snow White, or Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, stories told for hundreds of years. Whose images do you see?)
If Disney doesn't retell its sequeled stories with quite the grandeur and reverence of Walt Disney's supervised originals (think "Fantasia 2000," "Jungle Book II"), it respects them enough to honor the original's spirits while approaching them from modern sensibility. So it is with "Cinderella III: A Twist In Time," a pleasant, occasionally thought-provoking successor to Walt Disney's 1950 original.
This variation of the tale involves a stolen wand getting into the hands of Cinderella's evil stepmother, rewinding Cinderella's story to where her lost glass slipper didn't fit. The Prince, dashing and noble as in Disney movies for 70 years, could thus be misled and manipulated into marrying Cinderella's sister, Anastasia. While no classic Disney princess, Anastasia (voiced by Tress McNellie) provides the film's heart in her sentimental scenes with the king, and her song yearning for the love Cinderella had and their wicked stepmother (voiced by Susan Blakeslee in classic Disney villainess mode) seemed determined to steal for her.
Other favorites return from the original. Helpful mice Gus and Jaq sing the film's highlight song clueing the prince in on what happened to his "Cinderelly." The mischievous, near-Cheshire cat Lucifer nearly steals the show in a funny food fight scene.
The paltry extras are highlighted by a behind-the-scenes look at a Cinderella stage show on Disney's cruise line, and an overlong, simplistic DVD game young children will tire of quickly. "Cinderella III"'s animation isn't at the theatrical classics' level, but still above traditional TV animation. At 74 minutes (near perfect for young children), the film gently and effectively points out the "perfect year" Cinderella sings of in the film's first scenes came not just from a foot fitting a glass slipper, but two hands and hearts reaching for the same thing and finding it together. This modern twist in moral, fitting into a modern twist in a hoary fairy tale, makes "A Twist in Time" a pleasant, recommended surprise.
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