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Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
| image = Cinderella III cover.JPG
| director = Frank Nissen
| producer = Margot Pipkin
| writer =
| starring =
| editing = Lisa Linder Silver
| music = Joel McNeely
| studio =
| distributor = Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
| language = English
| budget = $8 million
| released =
| runtime = 70 minutes
| country = United States
}}
'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' is a 2007 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by DisneyToon Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Directed by Frank Nissen from a screenplay written by Dan Berendsen, Margaret Heidenry, Colleen Ventimilia, and Eddie Guerlain, it is the third installment in Disney's 'Cinderella' trilogy, and a sequel to 'Cinderella' (1950) and 'Cinderella II: Dreams Come True' (2002). Set one year after the first film, 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' follows Lady Tremaine who steals the Fairy Godmother's magic wand, using it to reverse time and prevent Cinderella from marrying the Prince. The film's voice cast consists of Jennifer Hale, C. D. Barnes, Susanne Blakeslee, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor, and Andre Stojka, most of whom continue to replace the 1950 film's cast by reprising their roles from 'Cinderella II: Dreams Come True'.
'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' was completed over the course of two years, from 2004 to 2006. Inspired by Anastasia's romantic subplot introduced in 'Cinderella II: Dreams Come True', 'A Twist in Time' expands upon her reformation into a more sympathetic character, while the writers updated Cinderella and the Prince's personalities to be more appealing to modern audiences. Although none of 'Cinderella'
'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' was released direct-to-video on February 6, 2007. Unlike most of Disney's direct-to-video sequels, it received generally positive reviews from critics, who deemed it a vast improvement over its immediate predecessor, and praised the character developments of Cinderella, the Prince, and Anastasia. 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' has grossed nearly $93 million in home video sales since its release.
Plot
Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, Jaq, and Gus host a picnic to celebrate Cinderella and the Prince's first wedding anniversary. Since marrying the Prince, Cinderella's stepmother, Lady Tremaine, has been forcing her stepsisters, Drizella and Anastasia, to perform Cinderella's old housework. Anastasia grows distracted while daydreaming about finding love and stumbles upon the picnic, discovering that the Fairy Godmother's magic helped Cinderella meet the Prince at the ball. When the Fairy Godmother drops her magic wand, Anastasia retrieves and shows it to Lady Tremaine, who is only convinced once Anastasia accidentally turns the Fairy Godmother into a statue.
Reveling at the opportunity to restore her own fortunes at Cinderella's expense, Lady Tremaine uses the wand to travel back in time to the day the Grand Duke fitted the glass slipper on Cinderella. With Cinderella still locked in her bedroom, she enlarges the slipper to fit Anastasia's foot, forcing the Grand Duke to declare her the Prince's bride. When Cinderella finally escapes, Lady Tremaine destroys her other slipper, hence eliminating any remaining proof that she had danced with the Prince. Jaq and Gus remind Cinderella that the Prince would remember her from the previous evening, and the trio pursues Cinderella's stepfamily to the palace.
When the Prince and Anastasia are finally introduced, he initially insists a mistake has been made. Lady Tremaine magically tricks the Prince into forgetting about Cinderella and he proposes to Anastasia, leaving Cinderella hurt and confused when the Prince fails to recognize her a few moments later. Having seen Lady Tremaine use the wand, Jaq and Gus tell Cinderella the truth. Delighted to meet Anastasia despite her unrefinement, the King gifts her a seashell that belonged to his late wife, and Anastasia begins to feel guilty about deceiving them. Meanwhile, the Prince starts to doubt his feelings for Anastasia, and can't help but feel drawn to Cinderella.
Disguised as a palace maid, Cinderella steals the wand from Lady Tremaine's bedroom, but she is seized by guards before she can reverse the spell, briefly grazing the Prince's hand while she is apprehended. The Prince begins to recognize Cinderella, who Lady Tremaine has ordered be exiled from the kingdom via ship. Jaq and Gus explain the entire ordeal to the Prince, eventually showing him Cinderella's repaired glass slipper, which finally restores his memory. Despite his father's protesting, the Prince pursues the ship and professes his love for Cinderella, who agrees to marry him.
Upon returning to the palace, the Prince and Cinderella explain Lady Tremaine's deceit to the King who orders the Tremaine family's immediate arrest, but they escape with the wand. As Cinderella prepares for her wedding, Lady Tremaine returns with Anastasia, who despite being visibly reluctant has been magically transformed into a Cinderella doppelgnger. Lady Tremaine traps Cinderella and the mice in an enchanted pumpkin carriage driven by their cat, Lucifer. Cinderella, Jaq, and Gus defeat Lucifer, freeing themselves before the carriage rides over a cliff.
Cinderella returns to the palace on horseback just in time to see Anastasia refuse to proceed with the wedding at the altar, deciding she would rather earn her own true love without robbing it from someone else. Enraged, Lady Tremaine transforms the King and various guards into animals as they pursue her; the Prince uses his sword to deflect a spell cast at Cinderella and Anastasia, turning Lady Tremaine and Drizella into toads. After returning herself to her true form, Anastasia offers to return the seashell to the King but he refuses, reminding her that everyone deserves a chance at love. Cinderella and Anastasia reconcile and together restore the Fairy Godmother. She offers to undo Lady Tremaine's change of events, but sees that Cinderella and the Prince's love has grown stronger thanks to the adventure and decides to leave them be.
During the credits, Cinderella allows Anastasia to move into the palace, where she falls in love with the Baker once again. In a mid-credits scene, Drizella and Lady Tremaine are placed in the cellar and restored to their human forms, but are both now dressed in Cinderella's old rags, much to their horror.
Cast
Cast and order of credits adapted from 'Variety' and the British Film Institute:
*Jennifer Hale as Cinderella
**Tami Tappan provides Cinderella's singing voice
*C. D. Barnes as the Prince
*Susan Blakeslee as Lady Tremaine
*Tress MacNeille as Anastasia Tremaine
*Russi Taylor as Drizella Tremaine and The Fairy Godmother
*Andre Stojka as the King
*Holland Taylor as Prudence
*Rob Paulsen as the Grand Duke and Jaq
*Corey Burton as Gus
*Frank Welker as Lucifer
Production
Development
Adhering to Disney's then-popular strategy of releasing direct-to-video follow-ups to some of their classic animated films, 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' is 'Cinderella'Some critics and Disney fans protested the announcement of another 'Cinderella' sequel. Addressing the debate surrounding the perceived inferior quality of direct-to-video Disney sequels at the time, Nissen believes the challenge is always attempting to expand upon the original in a meaningful manner: "in the case of Cinderella, she gets the prince, so what else is there to talk about? ... how do you make an equally interesting and equally strong story, an equally satisfying story, when everybody kind of knows who the characters are and what's supposed to happen". Nissen opted to ignore the studio's negative reputation, and focus on simply making the best film he could possibly make. Nissen maintains that Disney executives allowed him much creative freedom to fulfill his vision. Despite essentially being an alternate re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale, the director was not influenced by other revisionist fairy tales of the time. Although 'A Twist in Time' was produced around the same time as 'Twice Charmed', a Cinderella-inspired stage musical hosted on the Disney Cruise Lines, Disney insists that the film is not a spin-off of the production, despite sharing songwriting team Michael Weiner and Alan Zachary. As such, 'A Twist in Time' does not intentionally borrow elements or characters from the stage production, with Nissen explaining that any similarities between the two are merely coincidental. 'A Twist in Time' was Disney's first direct-to-video sequel to officially contain "'III'" in its title, despite not being Disney's first direct-to-video sequel to be a franchise's third instalment.
The voice cast consists of a roster of established voice actors Disney typically re-hires to voice their older animated characters, re-using most of the cast from 'Dreams Come True' for continuity. Despite understanding that these character's voices would need to be mimicked based on previous performances, Nissen concerned himself little with the voice acting, trusting "that the actors had the skill and the craft to recreate the voices". Instead, he focused on providing the actors with material that felt authentic to the original iterations of their characters.
Writing
'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' was written by Dan Berendsen, Margaret Heidenry, Colleen Ventimilia, and Eddie Guzelian. Dating back to as early as 1950's 'Cinderella', Anastasia had always been depicted as Cinderella's marginally less unpleasant stepsister. Inspired by Anastasia's burgeoning reformation in 'Cinderella II: Dreams Come True', the writers expanded upon the 2002 film's subplot about Anastasia becoming a more sympathetic, complex character, opting to continue her character development over Drizella's. Anastasia's character arc was the only recurring motif borrowed from 'Cinderella II', although the Baker (Anastasia's love interest in 'Dreams Come True') makes a cameo during the end credits. inspired the Prince's personality in 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.'The writers believed focusing on a supporting character would in turn offer a more interesting story, as opposed to solely highlighting Cinderella. Due to Cinderella's popularity as a character, Disney wanted to tell a different story that captured the original film's spirit nonetheless. Nissen commended the writers for crafting a compelling story, which granted them freedom to "fine-tune the emotional stuff within that structure, so we didnt have to worry about solving why something happened or the logic behind how someone was feeling" in order to focus on the more cinematic aspects of the film. He also credited producer Margot Pipkin with keeping the crew focused, resulting in few regretted cut scenes, although Nissen wishes the film could have been longer in order to accommodate new characters and concepts. A subplot revolving around Gus discovering a parallel universe inhabited by mice was storyboarded but discarded because they found it distracting from Cinderella and the Prince's relationship.There was some discourse between Nissen and the studio over wanting to update 'Cinderella'
Despite some early discussions about modernizing the stepmother in the vein of the musical 'Wicked' by providing her with her own song, Nissen insisted that Lady Tremaine, who he considers to be one of Disney's greatest villains, essentially remain the same. The film's dialogue also pokes fun at some of the 1950 film's ideas, such as the idea that no other woman in the kingdom can share Cinderella's shoe size.
Animation
Despite having some animation experience, Nissen himself did very little animating on the film, instead focusing on storyboarding and occasionally re-tooling challenging scenes. During the time travel sequences, several scenes that appear nearly identical to the original film were re-drawn for the new film. Nissen explained that the original scenes could not simply be reused in 'A Twist in Time' due to advancements in animation technology, such as aspect ratio, frame format and digitally cel-shading, otherwise colors "would be two or three generations removed by the time we processed it". Nissen decided that animating new material instead would help the revisited scenes appear more seamless in 'A Twist in Time'. Since much of the original film's creative team had passed away or retired by the time production began on 'A Twist in Time', the director referred to Disney's Animation Research Library for character inspiration and design continuity. Describing Lady Tremaine as the film's most anatomically realistic character, Nissen worked to preserve the character's non-cartoonish appearance in order to truly convey her evil, menacing nature.The film was completed over the course of two-and-a-half years, beginning in early 2004 and ending fall 2006, which the director described as much faster than a typical animated film. By June 2007, Disney announced that, under the creative direction of Pixar's John Lasseter, DisneyToon will abandon sequels in favor of producing exclusively original DVD content. It was initially unclear as to whether the 'Cinderella' sequel would be completed. Ultimately, 'A Twist in Time' was one of Disney's last direct-to-video sequels, shortly followed by 'The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning' (2008). DisneyToon Studios shifted their focus to franchises and computer animation shortly thereafter, with Nissen becoming involved in the 'Tinker Bell' film series.
'A Twist in Time' was DisneyToon Studios Australia's final film. The film studio was gradually closed while 'A Twist in Time' was still in production, but Nissen and Disney Toon Studios head Sharon Morrill commended the Australian animators for remaining determined to complete the film to the best of their ability, despite it being many of their last. Various departments were shuttered and their employees subsequently laid off once they completed their tasks. Once 'A Twist in Time' wrapped in July 2006, the studio was closed and remaining equipment was auctioned off. The film's end credits include a dedication thanking the Australian studio "for their many years of producing beautiful hand-drawn animation". The film was produced on a budget of $8 million.
Music
Michael Weiner and Alan Zachary wrote original songs for 'A Twist in Time'. They had also written the book and music for 'Twice Charmed', and previously served as musical consultants on 'Dreams Come True'. Composer Joel McNeely composed the film's orchestral score. He had previously scored several Disney sequels, including 'Return to Neverland' (2002), 'The Jungle Book 2' (2003), 'Mulan II' (2004), 'Poohs Heffalump Movie', 'Lilo & Stitch 2' (2005) and 'The Fox and the Hound 2' (2006). Cast as Cinderella's singing voice, Broadway performer Tami Tappan recorded several songs for the film. Actress Hayden Panettiere recorded the film's theme song, "I Still Believe", one of her earliest attempts to establish a music career. Panettiere's music video was heavily rotated on Disney Channel at the time and was included as a bonus feature on the film's DVD. A soundtrack released March 2, 2007 is available for digital download on Apple Music, which also features a cover by singer Laura Dickinson.Release
Some critics speculated that 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' would receive a limited theatrical release in Europe. The film was released direct-to-DVD on February 6, 2007. Available for a limited time, the film returned to the Disney Vault on January 31, 2008, alongside 'Cinderella' and 'Dreams Come True'. On November 20, 2012, 'A Twist in Time' was released on Blu-ray on November 20, 2012, as a double feature with 'Dreams Come True'.
'Variety' predicted that the film would earn "healthy if not quite humongous sales and rentals". 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' topped the national DVD sales chart during its first week of release, selling 80% more copies than its closest competition, 'Flags of Our Fathers' (2006). The film retained its top position and continued to outsell 'Flags of Our Fathers' the following week by twice as much. The film had fallen to second place by the end of the month, but still sold more than twice as many copies as the third-place entry, 'Open Season' (2006). By 2008, 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' had earned more than $80 million in home video sales. The film has ultimately earned over $92 million, with The Numbers reporting that 'A Twist in Time' has grossed $92,915,486 in-home video sales to-date.
The film was among the first several titles to premiere on Disney+ when the streaming service launched on November 12, 2019.
Reception
Direct-to-video Disney sequels typically do not have a good reputation among critics and fans of their original works. 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' performed better than its contemporaries upon release. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, who acknowledged its improvement over its immediate predecessor, and praised its cleverness and dignity. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 75% based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 6.03/10, significantly higher than 'Cinderella II: Dreams Come True'
Rory L. Aronsky of 'Film Threat' admitted that "At the very least, ['A Twist in Time'] was treated with a level of dignity and poise" they believe had not been offered to the 'Little Mermaid' (1989), 'Aladdin' (1992), and 'Pocahontas' (1995) sequels. Despite criticizing its character designs, action sequences, and script, David Cornelius of DVD Talk praised the animation quality and found the film a vast improvement over 'Dreams Come True'. Andrew Scharf of CHUD.com described the film as a decent but unnecessary sequel, criticizing Disney for continuing to "taint the goodwill of the mostly classic original films". Scharf also found the film's self-aware humor "out of place", comparing it negatively to 'Shrek 2' (2004). In a negative review, C. S. Strowbridge of The Numbers dismissed 'A Twist in Time' as predictable and cliched, while criticizing its animation as "terribly flat". Faulting the film for adhering to the Disney sequel formula too closely, Amazon contributor Jon Foster said 'A Twist in Time' "can't hold a torch to the original", despite being superior to 'Dreams Come True'.
Over time, 'Cinderella III: A Twist in Time' has developed a reputation as one of Disney's stronger direct-to-video sequels. Following Disney's decision to stop producing direct-to-video sequels in 2007, 'Slate'
Notes
References
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