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Review by Captain Hook Cinderella is a classic Disney fairy tale, known as the incredible masterpiece that began Disney's second golden age. The story is full of charm, wit, amusing characters and enough substance to turn the familiar tale into a feature-length film. In every instance that Cinderella won, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True tried to destroy. The film is split into three segments, making the viewer wonder if this, too, was intended to be a TV series but was canceled. The movie is told as three "stories" which the mice and the Fairy Godmother remember happening when Cinderella moved into the palace (and then make a nice little scrapbook). Not only are all three stories boring, but they contradict what has happened in the original. The first story tells about the first few days Cinderella lived in the castle. Prince Charming (or whatever his name is) has to go on a business trip (contemporary, eh?) and Cinderella is left to run the castle. Some strange rules have popped up since the original, such as the King having a rule against commoners in the palace (wait – wasn't Cinderella a commoner when she went to the ball?). The king has become a ruling twit with nothing left of his fun personality from the last one. Cinderella livens up the palace by breaking all the rules, and of course everything ends out just dandy. The second adventure (if we can even call it such) deals with Jaq, who claims that he wants to help Cinderella, but that he isn't big enough. The Fairy Godmother turns him into a human, but of course Jaq decides by the end that he wants to be himself (another classic Disney moral all children should know). However, it's odd to think that this Jaq thinks he hasn't helped when through the entire first movie he helped get the key to save Cinderella, and was one of the horses who took her pumpkin coach to the ball. Our final segment deals with Anastasia, who has fallen in love with a baker (whom her mother strongly disapproves of). Cinderella helps her get a make-over and Anastasia is happily engaged to the man after a misadventure of usual misunderstanding. Lucifer also rids himself of his evil ways and falls in love with the castle's cat Pom-Pom, with opposite results. This segment got a few laughs, but somewhere back in your mind there's the picture of Anastasia ripping Cinderella's dress and always whining and screaming. Cinderella is certainly forgiving – perhaps that was what Disney was aiming for in this short? VIDEO and AUDIO Video is presented in in anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen. The colors are perfectly clear, though it's perturbing to see Cinderella turned into a Saturday morning cartoon. Does Disney have no pride? Available audio tracks include English (Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS), French, Spanish, with English subtitles. The audio is clear, though why this piece of work needs DTS is beyond me. BONUS MATERIALS The extras on this disc are so sickening that it is literally hard to get through any of them. In fact, I could not finish a single one without being ready to gag. "Put it Together" music video only can appeal to those who actually enjoy music videos, while "Cinderella Storybook" remains unreadable. "Musically Speaking", a featurette on the film's music, is tremendously boring for being a "featurette", and "Cinderella's Enchanted Castle Activity" did not even amuse the young girls in the room. There is a DVD-ROM activity: "Cinderella's Doll House Game", but there was no way that I was willing to try it. CLOSING THOUGHTS Another wretched sequel from Disney can be sure to please no one unless you can't tell that the quality of animation, story, and music has gone rock bottom. I don't even think this will please the little girls it was intended for, and what's more, this makes me long for the day that the Platinum Edition of the original will come on DVD, so I can enjoy the original and pretend that this never was made. Walt, I'm sure, is turning in his grave. Buy from Amazon.com Marketplace / Buy the Special Edition DVD