Three Tales of Terror

We’ve looked at a few sequels for the Disney PrincessesReleased in 1937, Disney's Snow White was a gamble for the company: the first fully-animated, feature-length film ever created. It's success lead to the eventual creation of the Disney Princess franchise, which has spawned 13 main-line films and multiple spin-off movies and shows., and the general trend has been, “why does this movie exist?” By and large the story that needed to be told was told in the first film, and whatever sequel is brought out has to have a flimsy excuse to exist. “Oh, Ariel has a daughter and the daughter goes on the same adventure… but in reverse!” or “Belle had things to learn from the Beast during their time at the castle… during Christmas!” It’s not often that a princess has much else in their story once their main adventure is over, primarily because all the magic that motivated their adventure has ended. Once the Beast becomes human, the story of Beauty and the Beast is done.

Cinderella is, curiously, the rare exception. While magic does motivate her story, eventually helping her find her happy ending, her story isn’t really about a magical adventure. Despite a fairy godmother and (in the Disney version) talking animals, Cindy’s tale is actually pretty grounded. It’s about a girl that has an evil step-family who beat her down and treat her like a slave. But the girl is able to sneak out for one night, steal the heart of a prince, and then find true love and happily ever after all on her own. That story is very much grounded in a girl and, depending on how you spin it out, could lead to further stories about the heroine down the road.

That’s actually something that Cinderella II: Dreams Come True proves pretty well. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a very good movie, not in comparison to many of Disney’s own theatrical princess releases. It’s cheaply animated and has a very contrived narrative to make the whole thing hang together. But what this film gets is that Cindy is a character worth exploring, that she had a life before and after her magical dance at the ball, and that there could be further stories to tell about her once she became a princess and had a new life to explore. That alone makes this film far more interesting than any Return to the Sea or Enchanted Christmas Disney might have shoved out over the years.

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True is an anthology film, not unlike Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World. It provides three short stories about Cindy, and her world, set after the events of her main film. None of these stories are particularly thrilling, mind you, but they do help to flesh out the characters and setting, giving further needed depth to a world that was, at least in the first film, pretty narrowly rendered. I do wish the stories were more interesting, but I appreciate the effort in at least trying to add depth to what was previously a shallow story.

The first tale, “Aim to Please”, follows Cindy (Jennifer Hale) on her first day back at the castle after her honeymoon. The King (Andre Stojka) and the Prince (Christopher Daniel Barnes) are both called away on business, leaving Cindy to play out the upcoming ball on her own. She has help from staff, but those staff are very set in traditions. “The king likes things a certain way,” is their common refrain. They also feel that Cindy isn’t very good at being a princess, too stuck in her past and rather hopeless at being royalty. But when push comes to shove, Cindy decides she’d rather do things her way than the traditional way and, in the end, everything works out as the guests, and the king, love the new style of party.

This is the best story of the three tales in this film, especially because it delves into Cindy as a character. Despite being the main character of her first film, Cindy wasn’t really an active participant in her adventure, with things happening to her and not because of her. Here, though, Cindy quickly decides not to be passive and, instead, take hold of her own agency. She bucks tradition, changes so many things, and even invites in the commoners (who we learn here she is friends with, a detail we could have really used in the previous film) to the party. This version of Cindy is great, and I wish we got more of her not only in the previous film but in this one as well.

The second tale, “Tall Tail”, focuses on Cindy’s mouse friend, Jaq (Rob Paulsen). When they lived at the old manor, Jaq and his companions helped Cindy out with everything. Here, though, Jaq doesn’t have much of a purpose. Cindy has assistants and servants that take care of everything for her, and Jaq feels left out. Unable to help, he makes a wish to be human, which the Fairy Godmother (Russi Taylor) grants. But Jaq soon learns that being human has its own complications, and sometimes it’s better to embrace who you are than wish for something more.

There are two issues with this story that hold it back. The first is that its plotting is very basic, with a simple, “be careful what you wish for,” theme holding it together. Jaq turning human could be a big deal with huge ramifications. It could also be creepy, because now that he’s human his helpful feelings for Cindy come across as… something else. The film doesn’t explore this, and you wouldn’t a Disney kids film to do so, but there’s an underlying message the film ignores that those of us in the audience really can’t set aside. My wife looked at me at one point, after Jaq’s mouse girlfriend felt jilted because Jaq went off to help Cindy, and she said, “he loves Cindy more.” Then he becomes human and… yeah. It’s a tad disturbing.

But there’s also the fact that Jaq makes a wish and the Fairy Godmother grants it, but she does so only to teach Jaq to learn to accept who he is and, in effect, not wish to be something more. Except in the previous film Cindy wished for something more, to be not just a servant to her stepfamily but to have a night out and meet the prince, and the godmother granted it, no strings attached. Why is it okay for Cindy to want more but Jaq has to learn to make do with who he is? These stories sit in conflict with each other, and the film never addresses that flaw, either. I’m not saying this short was going to be great either way, but it shouldn’t directly conflict with the message of the first film quite so clearly.

And then we get on to the third story, “An Uncommon Romance”. Here we learn that the palace will be having another party (as Cindy comments at one point, “we sure do have a lot of parties,” and I’m glad the film realizes this point), and Lady Tremaine (Susanne Blakeslee) wants her two daughters, Drizella (also voiced by Russi Taylor) and Anastasia (Tress MacNeille), to get nice dresses and make themselves up so they can attract a rich duke or baron. But as they’re running their errands, Anastasia catches the eye of the local Baker (also voiced by Rob Paulsen). The two quickly become infatuated with each other, but Lady Tremaine won’t stand for it. He’s a commoner! Can Anastasia, with maybe a little help from Cindy, get the true love she wants despite what her mother demands?

This story is interesting for a couple of reasons. The first is that it actually shows Cindy having any contact, whatsoever, with her evil stepfamily. She’s a better person than the rest of us because I think any of us would have had that family thrown into prison once we had the royal tiara on our heads. Instead she continues to talk to them, even trying to be helpful in their lives. It leaves the potential open for further adventures with the family, as well as broadening them out to be more than jerks and assholes.

Which is another thing this specific story does. It tries to make Anastasia into a more sympathetic character. We really need a longer version of this story than what “An Uncommon Romance” provides (especially because half the runtime of this tale focuses on a B-plot about the family cat, Lucifer, falling in love with the royal cat, Pom-Pom, and that storyline goes nowhere), but we do see Anastasia become a somewhat nicer person, not just to the Baker but also to Cindy. Perhaps, we could deduce, there’s more to Anastasia and she just needs to get out from under her mother’s influence to be a real human being? That’s worth exploring, even if we don’t get enough of it here.

So yeah, overall this is a flawed collection of stories that don’t really explore their themes as well as they could. Some tales make stabs for something more, like Cindy gaining her own agency or Anastasia not being a total bitch, and I appreciate those moments. But what we need is a longer version of those stories without all the padding and fluff that gets thrown in here. There’s a kernel that’s interesting in Cinderella II: Dreams Come True that I like, and that kernel alone makes this one of the better direct-to-video princess sequels. But “better than awful” is still a low bar, and Cindy’s sequel only barely clears that. It’s a film where you can appreciate it exists and, at the same time, never want to watch it again.