5/5 very surprised
  by Tom Trails (Arizona)
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.

4/5 A pleasantly surprising twist
  by Manny Hernandez (Bay Area, CA)
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.

3/5 Twist in Classic Plot, Moral Makes "Cinderella III" a Pleasant Surprise
  by Anthony G Pizza (FL)
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.





4/5 Can't compare to the original, but still a worthy addition to the Disney archive...
  by C. Crockett (Indiana, USA)

The tale of Cinderella, with her kind beauty and rags-to-riches storybook ending, will stand the test of time as one of the most beloved children's stories. While Disney's attempt at "Cinderella II" was a nightmare, the new story put forth in "Cinderella III: A Twist in Time" is much more imaginative and satisfying for all.

Quick Synopsis: Cinderella has been married to her Prince Charming for almost a year, and has never been happier. Unfortunately, her evil step-mother and horrible step-sisters aren't so lucky. After Anastasia accidentally gets ahold of the Fairy Godmother's magic wand, Cinderella's step-mother uses it to turn back time and change the outcome of the tale! Instead of Cinderella's foot fitting the glass slipper, it is Anastasia who squeezes on the slipper and steals the Prince! Luckily, Cinderella has her trusty animal friends to help her set things right...but her wicked step-mother isn't going to make it easy...

This direct to DVD movie does a good job at creating an imaginative new story with such beloved characters. It even has beautiful new songs, and plenty of twists and turns in the plot. Just when you think everything is as it should be, and the story is about to get it's happy ending, Disney throws another wrench in the mix and keeps on going. While it's probably a good thing it went straight to DVD (it's not quite good enough for theatres), I think Disney-lovers will still find it an enjoyable film for the whole family.

There are a few fun special features available on the disc as well, including an interactive game wherein the viewer goes on a miniature scavenger hunt around the castle and tries to fix magical blunders created by that cranky cat, Lucifer, and those mischievious mice. There is also a CD-ROM for your home computer! These are mostly special features to entertain the children, but as Disney is always reminding us, you don't have to be a child to be young at heart.

Bottom line, it's a fun new story, and it's worth the addition to any Disney library.


4/5 Not A Classic, But Better Than #2
  by Kevin R. Haughn (Azusa, CA)
I watched Cinderlla 3 last night. There was a lot of hype surrounding the film, but I thought it was pretty good.

The first Cinderella - the timeless classic - attracts audiences of all ages. As we already know, the story is perfect and has the ultimate culmination: "...But I have the other slipper..."

The second Cinderella is just three mini-stories woven together to make an hour and a half movie. The stories are best suited for children under age 9. (These are the kinds of featurettes that would appear on a Saturday morning cartoon series, for example - the plots are simple, the dialogue is pretty cheesy, and nothing is really accomplished at the end.)

Cinderella 3 obviously does not compare to the classic first, but in all truth, it is a legitimate film that will extract all the emotions you had pulled from the first film. On that topic, however, the level of "emotion pulling" has changed, probably in an attempt to keep the movie viable in today's market.

For one, the wicked step-mother is now about ten times more wicked. The first movie played her as a cold antagonist with a more slithery approach to her wickedness. In Cinderella 3, that same step-mom now conducts open acts of evil (and only a few slithery actions).

Why is that important? Because an overwhelmingly evil step-mother dwarfs the emotion of feeling sorry for Cinderella. In the classic film, one could not help but feel so terrible for poor Cinderella as she worked so hard and was not rewarded.

Now, Cinderella is punished for being nice. This changes the whole concept of the "Cinderella Story." Now you just want that old haggard step-mom to get drug from the back of a horse-drawn pumpkin carriage - you could care less if Cinderella won the prince back or lived happily ever after. That is, the irony that is bound to happen (good defeats evil in a Disney film) is not as spectacularly fantastic as the classic film when Cinderella produces the second, missing slipper. The irony of Cinderella 3 is that the step-mom merely gets her comeuppance.

But this movie also plays on the personality and feelings of Anastasia, which I generally find kind of weird. It separates her from Drizzella which to me is awkward. I appreciated the dueling sisters who only acted in concert to harm Cinderella's interests. Now the movie pulls out the possible good in one of the three main antagonists.

Cinderella 2 explored this the most, however, but I thought it was brutally done. Basically, Anastasia is a "good trapped inside" dumb-dumb, as one would be left to think. Anastasia basically wants things but doesn't know how to get them, but somehow manages in the end, usually from revelation or help from Cinderella.

Sure, that makes Cinderella seem even more like the saint that she is for helping her sister (who apparently still hates Cinderella, even when she helps). But it draws so much focus away from our one true star: the lady who went from rags to riches and defined a brand new storyline for others to coin or imitate.

To give Cinderella 3 a side credit, albeit minor, is that it "follows the rules." Namely, the rules regarding "bippity boppity boo," magic, and the animals and their interactions. The talking mice, the effects of the magic on the animals, and the history of each character (including whatever may have been grotesquely altered in Cinderella 2 with Lucifer falling in love, Anastasia desiring and finding love, or Cinderella being conflicted with her new title in royalty) made amends for Cinderella 2's near-fatal depictions.

That was a hard challenge, but these Disney movie-makers got it right in Cinderella 3.

To close, Cinderella 3 is best suited for children age 12 or under per my review. It will not reach out to the hearts of ad ults like the original classic did, and it won't draw the emotions you'd expect from the classic Cinderella Story that Disney founded back in the day.

Due to its simple storyline and re-focus of characters' significance and portrayals in the film, I can only recommend this film if your child actually liked (or was entertained by) Cinderella 2, or if he/she really still loves the characters since his/her last viewing of the original Cinderella.

Don't expect much from Cinderella 3 (especially its replay value) so that when you do watch it, you won't be disappointed when you compare it to the monumental classic.