Cinderella III – A Twist in Time
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
Bibbidi…Bobbidi…Boo! And like magic, Disney has produced yet
another interesting straight to DVD sequel of a classic tale. The last two sequels Disney released straight
to DVD (The Fox and the Hound 2 and Air Buddies) were mildly entertaining
and obviously targeted a much younger audience.
Where in the past Disney feature films could be enjoyed by people of all
ages, it seems the recent straight to DVD releases are somewhat lack luster for
adults. Disney now focusing on CGI
animation techniques with its Pixar cohorts has left some of the old fashion,
paper and pencil styles back in the old vault seemingly. Nevertheless, Cinderella III does shape up to be one of the better straight to
DVD sequels in recent Disney history, taking an interesting spin on the classic
tale, much like Lion King 1 ½. Putting the ‘What if?’ into classic stories
has been very profitable lately, such as with the book and musical Wicked. Cinderella III picks up where Cinderella
II left off. For those fans that
missed
Cinderella II, no worries, the story mainly
centered on the wedding of the slipper toting bride and her charming
prince. Cinderella III starts a few months after those magical festivities,
where Cinderella’s two ugly step sisters and evil step mother live strangely
close to the castle in a small cottage in the nearby woods. The former captors of Cinderella are very
disgruntled about their less than extravagant living situation, and will do
anything to climb the societal rankings.
In a bout of what can only be considered stupidity, Cinderella’s fairy
Godmother loses her magic wand, only for it to fall into the hands of
Cinderella’s evil stepmother. From this
moment the evil stepmother sets out to ruin Cinderella’s happily ever after.
The story
is just detailed enough, the voice acting is good, and the music is adequate
but forgettable. Disney seems to be
getting better at this straight to DVD productions, and soon we may see true
inspiration arise in this format. The
story taking a bit of a dark twist is refreshing from the normal fluffy, warm,
feel good animation that has become pointless and lacks depth.
The DVD
presentation is quite good with few major problems. The picture is presented in 1.78 X 1 anamorphic
Widescreen enhanced for 16 X 9 televisions.
The picture quality is clear and color balanced, but the problem remains
in the animation being too clean. With
the advent of computers we have seen the loss of old techniques, which in turn
leaves the picture quality lacking a certain depth and grittiness that is
necessary to truly embrace the art. The
sound is clean with a balanced voice and music quality in its DTS 5.1 Digital
Surround Sound, sounding better than a lot of DVDs recently released but not
perfect. This reviewer has always
complimented Disney on having great bonus features, but this release was
lacking to a degree only containing a Music Video, a less than impressive Game,
and a few more features that don’t hold too much interest.
In the
end, a great movie for the kids that adults won’t find
too disappointing either.
- Michael P Dougherty II
