Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
Year: 2007
Directed by: Frank Nissen
Starring: C.D. Barnes, Jennifer Hale, Tress MacNeille & Russi Taylor
Runtime: 70 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 29/08/22
Directed by: Frank Nissen
Starring: C.D. Barnes, Jennifer Hale, Tress MacNeille & Russi Taylor
Runtime: 70 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 29/08/22
In my review of Cinderella II: Dreams Come True I stated that despite it being underwhelming it wasn’t outright bad. The episodic nature of the film was what really let it down, and in particular the middle segment was completely unnecessary. The third segment however was one I felt had potential to be fleshed out further and was constrained by the film’s episodic nature.
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time takes that third story segment and gives it some depth, some unpredictability, and of course a lot more time to breathe in a sequel that feels radically different from your usual Cinderella tales, yet also strangely fitting as a sequel to the original 1950 film.
Picking up approximately a year after the original film, Cinderella (Jennifer Hale) and Prince Charming (C.D. Barnes) are living happily ever after in the palace, meanwhile Cinderella’s evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Susan Blakeslee) and her daughters Anastasia (Tress MacNeille) and Drizella (Russi Taylor) are more miserable than ever without Cinderella doing all of their cooking and cleaning. But when Lady Tremaine comes into possession of the Fairy Godmother’s (also Russi Taylor) wand, she turns back time to make the Prince fall in love with Anastasia instead.
With the Prince set to marry in less than a day, Cinderella faces a race against time to win his heart all over again and put a stop to her stepmother’s nefarious plan.
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time takes that third story segment and gives it some depth, some unpredictability, and of course a lot more time to breathe in a sequel that feels radically different from your usual Cinderella tales, yet also strangely fitting as a sequel to the original 1950 film.
Picking up approximately a year after the original film, Cinderella (Jennifer Hale) and Prince Charming (C.D. Barnes) are living happily ever after in the palace, meanwhile Cinderella’s evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Susan Blakeslee) and her daughters Anastasia (Tress MacNeille) and Drizella (Russi Taylor) are more miserable than ever without Cinderella doing all of their cooking and cleaning. But when Lady Tremaine comes into possession of the Fairy Godmother’s (also Russi Taylor) wand, she turns back time to make the Prince fall in love with Anastasia instead.
With the Prince set to marry in less than a day, Cinderella faces a race against time to win his heart all over again and put a stop to her stepmother’s nefarious plan.
I went into Cinderella III with very low expectations, I mean let’s face it I’ve done dozens of these Disney straight to DVD reviews now and very few of them are any good. So once again I was surprised to discover that A Twist in Time is actually pretty decent. Does it live up to the illustrious heights of the original film? Of course not. But it is good fun, and especially for children who are princess mad this film will certainly go down a treat.
Time travel is not a plot I would have expected from Cinderella, but A Twist in Time handles it extremely well. This combined with Anastasia’s love life being put front and centre once again as it was in Cinderella II’s third story is a recipe for success. Lady Tremaine’s plan is wicked and devilishly dark, more so than I would have imagined for a Disney film and re-affirms why she is one of the most chilling villains to have ever been created by the studio.
The film also doesn’t rely on the usual trappings found in the Disney Animated Sequels of having the comic relief characters be the driving force of the film. Whilst Jaq (Rob Paulsen) and Gus (Corey Burton) do return, they are no more present in the film than they were in the 1950 original, and their contributions to the plot are meaningful and warranted.
Cinderella III also looks the part with an animation style very reminiscent of the original film. I did notice some inconsistencies relating to Cinderella’s hair colour (Is she blonde or ginger Disney? Make your minds up!) but overall the character models and environments are highly detailed and pack a real pop of colour. There’s also a couple of musical numbers thrown in for good measure, and whilst they’re certainly not up to Renaissance Era calibre, they’re fun and catchy without being irritating.
The film does feel a little on the long side though; coming in at seventy minutes, it did feel as though things were getting all tied up around ten to fifteen minutes before the credits actually rolled. Perhaps some tighter pacing was necessary, but it’s not a total dealbreaker.
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time is one of the better Disney Animated Sequels. I wouldn’t consider it a must watch, but I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at watching it again when coming off the back of the original film. The story was well written and took the Cinderella property in an interesting new direction without feeling like it was betraying the source material; the animation was slick and polished, and most importantly I had fun whilst watching it. It was also the last film created by DisneyToon studios, and one of the very last direct to DVD Disney films. A true surprise, but a pleasant one nonetheless.
Time travel is not a plot I would have expected from Cinderella, but A Twist in Time handles it extremely well. This combined with Anastasia’s love life being put front and centre once again as it was in Cinderella II’s third story is a recipe for success. Lady Tremaine’s plan is wicked and devilishly dark, more so than I would have imagined for a Disney film and re-affirms why she is one of the most chilling villains to have ever been created by the studio.
The film also doesn’t rely on the usual trappings found in the Disney Animated Sequels of having the comic relief characters be the driving force of the film. Whilst Jaq (Rob Paulsen) and Gus (Corey Burton) do return, they are no more present in the film than they were in the 1950 original, and their contributions to the plot are meaningful and warranted.
Cinderella III also looks the part with an animation style very reminiscent of the original film. I did notice some inconsistencies relating to Cinderella’s hair colour (Is she blonde or ginger Disney? Make your minds up!) but overall the character models and environments are highly detailed and pack a real pop of colour. There’s also a couple of musical numbers thrown in for good measure, and whilst they’re certainly not up to Renaissance Era calibre, they’re fun and catchy without being irritating.
The film does feel a little on the long side though; coming in at seventy minutes, it did feel as though things were getting all tied up around ten to fifteen minutes before the credits actually rolled. Perhaps some tighter pacing was necessary, but it’s not a total dealbreaker.
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time is one of the better Disney Animated Sequels. I wouldn’t consider it a must watch, but I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at watching it again when coming off the back of the original film. The story was well written and took the Cinderella property in an interesting new direction without feeling like it was betraying the source material; the animation was slick and polished, and most importantly I had fun whilst watching it. It was also the last film created by DisneyToon studios, and one of the very last direct to DVD Disney films. A true surprise, but a pleasant one nonetheless.