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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"This is quite fun when it tries to be, and at the very least, better than the prior sequel." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- Pros: Animation MUCH better than the first Cinderella "sequel"; story based on already-popular stage play from Disney Cruises; final song sung by "Heroes" Hayden Panettiere. Cons: Diehard fans may not like modern Disney animators fooling with the original Cinderella story. Sebastian. Died. Deal. With. It! Cat lovers are apparently having their way with the direct to video Cindy sequels, in that Sebastian the cat is still alive and well. All we can say is: HUH? Look; maybe we're looking for too much logic in a fairy tale, but: the feline dork fell out a window just outside of Cinderella's room...as in: the room in the highest tower of the mansion. At the bare minimum this room was three stories up, since you had to go up two flights of stairs to get to it, as shown in the movie. Yet to look at the long trip by Jaq and Gus to go up those stairs; it would appear this room was at least five stories above ground level. There's no way around it: Sebastian would've been hog chow. That, and the fact that we just don't like mean cats. ----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
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Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time
Click picture to order this DVD Review by TechtiteAs always, a review of The Film and the DVD extras. Film Review: I don't mind modern animators having harmless fun with classic animated characters, provided that the result respects the original subject matter. Sure, nothing beats the classics, though sometimes a modern animator can make some pretty good stuff. Many kids were quite pleased with The Little Mermaid 2. I myself loved Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, even if it went totally off the rails from the original story. Yet the way it did was with respect to the original story's characters, and their fans. It's all anyone's matter of opinion. I say this, as a prelude to my review for Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time. Did they respect the subject matter? Well, they didn't the first time; that's for sure. Cinderella 2 totally stunk...though with the proper care, Cinderella 3 could deliver, right? For one thing the animation is better (no; not as good as the original classic; just...better). For another the story is better, as based on a popular stage play on the Disney Cruise ships. Yet the overall look and feel is better, as if someone really wanted to make a good sequel here...which, admittedly, is far more than can be said for Cinderella 2, which was horrible. Let's talk about the story. In short, it is a "What If?" parable, which begins when Cinderella and her Prince are celebrating their first wedding anniversary. They muse about how they met thanks to Cinderella's fairy godmother, and by sheer movie magic, one of the stepsisters just happens to overhear the tale. To make matters worse; you remember how the fairy godmother was looking everywhere for her wand in the movie? Well, she loses it again...and the evil stepsister steals it! That's actually the best of the bad news. The worst news is: she gives it to her mom, aka, Cinderella's Evil Stepmother. So Stepmom reverses time to just after that night at the royal ball. What's more; she "bibbidi bobbis" her stepdaughter's feet, so now the glass slipper fits! Egads! Jumping ahead: the eventual moral here is that true love conquers all, magic powers or no magic powers. That's a sweet, charming message, and it makes for some amusing moments. The Prince slowly learns that it wasn't just the gown or the slipper, or even the royal ball, though more importantly: he's in love with Cinderella...really. The way he learns this and eventually "Saves" Cinderella from the evil Stepmother's schemes is great, especially a boat scene which I won't spoil for you here. Other parts of the story are not as grandiose, largely because of continuity with the original sequel. I guess littler kids would've been too confused had stepsister Anastasia now been re-rewritten, as "totally bad" again. Well, she was sort-of-good in the sequel, so she's sort-of-good here, even if...seriously, huh? Yes, this is true to the (stupid) prior sequel. Yes, this is because of how cool this plot element looked in the live- action "Cinderella" film, Ever After. No; it makes no sense here. Anastasia treated her own stepsibling like a slave, ripped her original ball gown to shreds, then trotted to the ball and left poor Cinderella there, half-dressed and humiliated. Yet Cinderella 3's whole story begins with Anastasia singing about how she hates chores and longs for life with no chores. Yet she had no problem with Cinderella doing all her chores, did she? Cry me a river, dear. Let's forget all that and get to the fun parts of the story: specifically, the Prince and Cinderella. You may wonder why the prince is ready to marry a stepsister, just because the shoe fit. Well, much like Eric in The Little Mermaid, he has been placed under an evil spell. Yet this evil magic has a weakness, and therein is the best part of this story. We particularly like how, spoilers notwithstanding, "true love" overpowers the spell, and not simply because the wand broke, or something. That was sweet. Not that this film is anything like the classic; it's just better than the prior DVD sequel. While that isn't saying much, it says enough. Perhaps I'd be willing to say more, if just one or two bad scenes weren't present, including a very childish food fight between the stepsisters. The producers of this film clearly intended for this scene to be viewed by the fans of the "Noggin" cable network; aka, the barely out of diapers toddlers, who are less impressed with superior storytelling, and more happy with village idiot sponges who live in a piece of fruit under the sea. Let's just say there are moments this film seems less like "Disney," and more like...well, a direct-to-DVD sequel. Ask not why Drusilla and Anastasia have a food fight. Ask not why the King is chasing the prince straight outside the castle, in broad daylight, wearing pink undershorts. Ask not why even the most banal of direct-to-shelf animators thought that such scenes were respectful to the original film; a shame, really, because if not for such moments, this could've been a four-star film. True, this film may not be perfection, yet it is the first DVD sequel that's looked promising in years. Nobody could hope for the budget of a direct-to-DVD cartoon to lead to an exact likeness of a 1950's classic, though we must say the work here is as good as, say, Disney's best DVD sequels. When it comes to DVD, Cinderella 3 is as good as it could get.
The DVD Extras!: Extras include a "Bibbidi Bobbidi Choose" game, which allows kids to put the magic wand in various hands of various characters, and see how they use it. Fans of the hit superhero drama Heroes will enjoy the music video of the film's most memorable song, as sung by Hayden Panettiere. Parents might enjoy, most of all, a look at the stage show that inspired this Cinderella Sequel, aka "Twice Charmed," which was performed on the Disney Cruise Line for awhile. Computer users who put this DVD in their DVD disc drives can enjoy "Cinderella's Ballroom," which offers a look at the gowns, music, and dancing of a typical ballroom fit for a Princess. This computer game also allows young princesses to import their own photos and put them in the ballroom photos. They can also print these photos as well as party invitations for their own "royal ball." Unfortunately, this more or less rounds out the extras, though if this DVD is popular, maybe the inevitable Cinderella 4 would have more.
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