Review of Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) by Stephanie H — 01 Aug 2007

"Cinderella II: Dreams Come True" suffers the unflattering reputation of being one of Disney's very worst direct-to-video sequels. There's two things I can say in response to that: for one thing, I've seen much worse, and for another, this wasn't quite as bad or disappointing as I remembered it.

I saw it originally on Disney Channel many years ago, and I was not impressed. Revisiting it a second time in its latest DVD release, I sat down to watch it knowing what to expect and turning off any prejudice or hostility.

It's actually quite cute and harmless. The animation itself is quite nice for television animation standards and the background art is colorful, detailed and pleasing to the eye. The majority of the characters were drawn in a manner that recaptured those from the original Cinderella (1950), with the exceptions of Lady Tremaine and Drizella, whom to be honest, appear as if they'd contracted a serious, thinning disease (Drizella's hair is noticeably incorrectly colored as well).

Three unrelated stories make up the plot, and though I wasn't particularly entertained by Jaq's adventures as a human, Cinderella's difficulty adapting to the strict ways of the palace and Anastasia's struggles with love were rather fun.

So, remembering to lower one's expectations and keeping an open mind does help to enjoy these unnecessary, but harmless, direct-to-video sequels, which are undoubtedly aimed at younger audiences.