Cinderella III: A Twist in Time

After watching The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, I found a link to this movie. I heard about the first sequel being bad. I actually have it on my DVD rack, but never had the chance to watch it. When I saw the link, I thought, why not.


Although Cinderella is the most popular and famous Disney character of all, I personally am not so fond of it. Maybe it is because she is so helpless and portrays the image that a woman's life solely depends on the guy she meets. I know that the first Cinderella movie was made in 1950, but this sequel was made in 2007, way after Ariel and Belle came along. Maybe that is why I expected Cinderella to be more active and independent, seeking some personal development.

Well, the movie did the exact opposite.


Here goes my very sarcastic summary and review of the movie.




The movie starts with Fairy Godmother trying to throw a nice dinner party(?) for the newly wedded couple. In the middle of her usual 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," she somehow manages to toss the wand. Yea, because she is that old and have shaky hands. And guess what, one of the sisters, Anastasia picks up the wand and bring it home.

Lady Tremaine: "Oh yes, the wand!! I'm the ultimate villain now!!!!"
Sisters: "Yay~"

Lady Tremaine: "Anastasia, since you brought the wand, I will let you get married to the prince."
(Here, she is being reasonable and kind to let Anastasia be the one instead of Drizella, because she is the one who found the wand.)

Anastasia: "Thanks mom!! Will the prince really love me? I always wanted someone to love me."

(Here, we see that she is a helplessly romantic person.)

Cinderella: "You can't do that. Prince will know that I am the one he wants to marry as soon as he sees me. And my shoe size is 4 and 1/2."
(She is being very confident that her beauty captured the prince's heart entirely. She is implying that she shall marry no one but the prince.)

Cinderella: "Sister, let me handle this with this wand our mother stole from my fairy godmother. Obviously, you have no right to have happily ever after because I will get married to the prince and be a princess."

Cinderella: "Now I finally will have Prince Charming!! I knew it would end like this."
Prince: "You are so beautiful...unlike your ugly sister that I did not feel anything by touching hands. I will marry you though I didn't even know your name two minutes ago."
(Here, if you look carefully in the picture, Cinderella is smirking. As if to say, I've won the battle b***h. And also, you can tell Prince Charming obviously wants her as a trophy wife.)

Well, at the end, Prince Charming and Cinderella get married and live happily ever after again. One question about the picture below: I thought Cinderella was the main character in the movie? Why did she turn her head to the right to kiss? She should have turned left to show more of her face? I don't know. I'm weird.

I understand that the whole theme is supposed to be "true love is the greatest thing of all." But what I don't understand is, why does Cinderella have to act like a gold digger? And other thing, why did Disney have to draw her as a blonde with blue eyes? I guess the original movie was indeed made in 1950.

In my view, her sister Anastasia is more genuine and considerate. She believes in true love and have a heart to yield and wish Cinderella the happiness. From what I have read, the Cinderella II is about Anastasia finding her true love. I am kind of glad that I watched this sequel first, because it would be more chronologically correct.


I have read this line from somewhere (it is not exactly how it was worded):
Rich, smart and good-looking men do not want girls with pretty face, sexy body and an empty brain. They would rather get married to smart, ugly girls and spend a small part of their fortune to make them beautiful. You can hide and improve your looks, but an empty brain cannot be hidden in any way.

What I am saying is, if you dream about fairy tale and the prince coming to rescue you from all misery of life, you probably won't get it. It is not likely to happen in real life, anyways. Why do you think Disney and other TV shows make so much money out of "happily ever after"?



My final comment is, I am just glad that Ariel and Belle came along to change the image and role of heroines, and hope that the trend continues.

And here is one thing that Cinderella got right in the entire movie (there is a reason why 'fantasy' is called 'fantasy').

"I've always dreamed, that my life could be like a fairy tale, a perfect fantasy. 

But it was nothing more than a dream."

-Cinderella in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time -

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Wondering around YouTube, you can find a lot of "weird" stuff. Anyways.

I love corny Disney movies. I love their princess stories and fairy tales. What I really love, however, is not how they meet their Prince, fall in love and live happily ever after. What I really enjoy watching is their life. What really goes on besides the pursuit of true love.

Well, until today, I never realized that this prequel to one of my favorite Disney movies was even made. I was so excited and started watching right away!!....although I really shouldn't have....



The movie starts when all princesses were only little kids. Queen Athena who is King Triton's wife and Ariel's mother appears in the movie. She looks very much like grown-up Ariel, except for the hair and tail color, I guess.

Here are the baby mermaid princesses!!! But I have one question: how did brownish-haired King and auburn-haired Queen have children with seven different hair colors?? Hm...maybe it's the fish thing??

 

Anyways, this is what they grew up to be. You can see more of each sister's personality and character in this movie, which I enjoyed a lot. I think they are all kinda cute. :]

 

I didn't realize that they have rainbow color coded tails.... Now that I think about the tail color, both King and Queen's tails were deep blue..... Only Ariel and Aquata appear reasonable to be their daughters. Maybe other five different merman unknowingly fertilized eggs that Queen laid? They are fish, after all. (Sorry, nerd joke)

By the way, do you know what their names are?(hint: all names start with 'A')

Highlight to reveal the answer: from the left, in the grown-up version, Arista, Attina, Adella, Ariel, Alana, Andrina, and Aquata.

Anyways, what is the fun without one bad person? Her name is Marina Del Rey. Her tail is purple and so is her hair and outfit. Well, her hair...kinda can change colors depending on what she feels like. You will understand her hair secret if you watch the movie. :]

Obviously, Marina was jealous that Ariel got to have some fantastic scenes like this in the original movie: 

So as a diva she is, she had to have a dramatic "I'm on a rock with my mouth open and the peacock tail made out of water is behind me" moment.

Another new character in this movie: the green blob(?) massaging Marina is Benjamin. He is a manatee. Well, my favorite little mermaid character has been, undoubtedly, Ariel. After watching this prequel, now cute green Benjamin is my new favorite.

Oh my gosh, look at that round body and cute eyes..... The voice actor did a wonderful job of portraying his character. 

And this is Benjamin in real life... The tail looks exactly the same as in the movie.

Anyways, this movie is really great. I kind of wished that they added in more stories, like how Ariel got to meet Scuttle or how she started to have interest in the human world, etc. But overall, the movie is well-made and fun. Now I need to go watch The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.

After thought: Now that I watched the prequel, I wonder if they can add in Benjamin to the other movies as well.... He makes the movie so much cuter and better!! Oh, and he kindly gives us what the main lesson in the movie was. :]

"Let's think about what we've learned here. 

You just can't hurt people. Hurting is mean. We don't wanna be mean, do we?"

- Benjamin in The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning -