When I had heard that Disney was making a Cinderella III, I felt a tad bit sick to my stomach. After destroying the original 1950 classic with a lack-luster and craptacular sequel (*shudder* I try to pretend that it never existed. "Dreams Come True", my foot.), I thought that this was the worst idea that had ever come into existence.
But then, the whole "What if?" teaser trailers of the film came out, and I thought to myself, "Maybe this sequel will actually be interesting and good, unlike most previous (recent) sequels by Disney lately!" The idea of having the stepmother (AKA Lady Tremaine . . . although the credits still list her as Stepmother. Curses!) discovering how Cinderella was able to capture the prince's heart at the ball using her Fairy Godmother's magical wand is just . . . pure genius. I had thought that Lady Tremaine was evil in the first film, but after much anticipation, I watched Cinderella III and I loved the fact that the evil Stepmother had returned, out for pure revenge.
In this sequel, Cindy and her charming Prince (who still lacks a decent name) are celebrating their first year of marriage and blissful happiness together (and with no kids! Halliujah! I guess not all royalty has to have kids so soon after the honeymoon, right?), and wishing for many more years of happiness to come. Meanwhile, Cindy's stepsisters, Drizella and Anastasia, are sick and tired of doing the chores that their little maid (Cinderella) once did - and Anastasia envies Cinderella for finding true love with a Prince and wishes she could be a Princess.
Thus enters the "Twist in Time" part. Thanks to some curiosity, Lady Tremaine discovers the Fairy Godmother's wand, and learns the secret of its power. (I guess this is like one of those things when a "high-powerful item" is with a good person, good things come out of it, but when used by someone evil - in this case, Lady Tremaine - the worst things can happen.) Using the wand, the Wicked Stepmother rewinds through time, causing things to return to the way they were and splitting the happy couple apart . . . FOR GOOD!
Oh no. Will Cindy get back her Prince? Will Anastasia find her true love? Will Lady Tremaine ever be addressed by her real name instead of Stepmother? (Not a chance. *sigh*)
I would really like to spill some spoilers, but I'll let you be surprised for once. You'll like it, trust me. XD
Overall, this is what Cinderella II should have been. The characters were truer to the original film this time, and the animation was very fluid and beautiful. I loved the fact that the Prince (still quite charming, but really can someone give him a "real" name? Geez.) and his father, the King, got some huge character development time within the film's 74-plus running time!
*Major Plus!*
The songs, however corny, were a bit . . . okay. (However, I did love Jaq and Gus-Gus's song about three-fourths of the way through the film. Those little mice are just too cute for words!) The storyline IMO felt more original than most of the other sequels/midquels/crap-quels/etc. that Disney had recently released, and it felt like you could watch the original and then skip straight to this film (I did! I betcha most of you will too, right?) and not really miss a beat.
(Although there are a few things that viewers of Cindy2 might notice: the return of Prudence is a major one, and there are some other ones that may spoil the rest of the story for Cindy3, so I'll stop for now.)
Also, this sequel felt more adventurous, clever, and smart, and yet it still maintained that Disney magic and charm that the original had. (However, nothing is better than the original Cinderella. Really!)
In the end, "Cinderella III: A Twist in Time" is a HUGE improvement from the disasterous Cinderella II of almost five years ago. If you didn't like Cindy2, but still think the original Disney classic was pure gold, you have to give this third installment of the Cinderella storyline a try. Watch it and love it. Three-and-a-half STARS.
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Reviews for Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
