Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Cinderella II (2001) and Cinderella III (2007)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE BONUS

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

and

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time

Did you know there is a Cinderella Trilogy? It's ok if you didn't.  Cinderella II and Cinderella III are direct to video films released in 2001 and 2007 and didn't get much fanfare.  Walt Disney was notorious for not wanting to do sequels to his films, but times change.  In 1990 Disney Studios already released their first official sequel with The Rescuers Down Under, but in 1994 Disney discovered they can make more money with Direct to Video films with a newly created DisneyToons Studio.  So, 50 years after Cinderella hit theaters Cinderella II hit home video.  

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True has three short stories inter-cut with Cinderella's mice friends making a book for her.  The first short in the film picks up with Cinderella coming back from their honeymoon and the King tasks Cinderella with making a party.  Still not comfortable living in a castle she ends up rejecting a lot of what is considered appropriate for royalty and brings her own style to the event.  The second short has Jaq the mouse wanting to  help Cinderella. Finding that Cinderella doesn't need as much help now that she is a princess he wishes to be human.  The Fairy Godmother comes back to grant him his wish and things of course done go as he planned.  The last short has one of Cinderella's step-sisters Anastasia falling in love with a baker and having to stand up to her mother.  There is also a subplot in the last short where the cat Lucifer from the first movie falls in love with a cat living at the castle named Pom-Pom.  

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time is a time travel film that rejects everything that happened in Cinderella II (especially Anastasia's love story) and starts at the 1 year anniversary of Cinderella and the Prince's wedding.  After stealing the Fairy Godmother's magic wand Anastasia gives it to her mother who uses it to turn back time and make the glass slipper fit on Anastasia instead of Cinderella.  As wedding plans are started for Anastasia and the Prince to get married Cinderella must do whatever she can to stop the wedding from happening and make the prince realize it was her that he dances with at the ball. 

The quality of the films are what you would expect from DTV films.  It doesn't look great but not the worst either.  The stories are definitely more modernized.  In both films Cinderella has a bit more agency and needs to do things and make decisions to get results.  If you like your Cinderella with more action then I recommend Cinderella III.  There is a fun scene at the end where The Prince has to rescue Cinderella from a boat.  The weird thing that bothered me the most about both movies was the rules of the magic.  In Cinderella there was a finite time that the magic will work.   Neither one of the sequels addressed that.  Granted not much magic was used in part II but part III is just the evil Stepmother saying Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo every 10 minutes to get what she wanted.  I kept expecting some of the magic to wear off after a while but nope that never came up.  

OVERALL: Don't go in expecting much and you won't be disappointed.  This definitely plays to younger kids (both my kids actually like these films) but if you loved the original probably just skip these.  

Random Facts:

Cinderella II was made at Disney's Japanese Studio

Cinderella III was the last movie made by Disney in their Australian Studio.  

Christopher Barnes who did the voice for both of these films also did the voice for Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Cinderella (1950)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Cinderella

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

A new decade, a new princess, and a renewed Disney.  Disney hadn't made a feature length animated film since Bambi in 1942.  Many factors were the cause of that including WWII, the animators strike in 1941, and a lack of box office success.  Now over $4 million in debt Disney was on the verge of shutting down the entire feature film division.  By the end of the 40's there were two features in development Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.  Which ever could get their film done first would be the one that would try to save the feature film division.  In the end it ended up being Cinderella getting released in 1950 and Alice in Wonderland in 1951.  It's hard to imagine how much was riding on Cinderella and how many times a movie saved Disney from bankruptcy.  But the huge popularity of Cinderella reinvigorated Disney.  The film grossed over $4 million at the box office and because of the popularity of the songs Disney sold a lot of records. Not only was the feature film division saved but it gave him enough money to invest in his own studio and theme parks.  

Because the film needed to be made cheaply they relied heavily on Live Action Reference. This was done using actors who were recorded on film and the animators would use the recorded video to draw the animation.  This was not new to Disney as they had done it on previous films but never as much as they did on Cinderella.  Since they were essentially copying something that was already recorded it made the animation go quicker with fewer revisions.  While the animators felt like this inhibited their imagination it fast tracked the production.  For some examples of how it looked check out this link and this video.

I feel like even if you haven't seen the film pretty much everyone knows what happens in the film.  Cinderella lives with her evil step mother and 2 step sisters with birds and mice are her closest friends. She is forced to be a maid in her own home and birds and mice are her closest friends.  When there is a ball at the castle Cinderella wants to go but her step mother and step sisters make it impossible for her to go.  When she feels hopeless her Fairy Godmother comes to her rescue.  With a wave of her wand she turns a pumpkin into a carriage, mice into horses, a horse into a driver, and a dog into the coachman. Finally she gives Cinderella a beautiful dress for the ball.  But there is one caveat, the magic ends at midnight.  Cinderella makes it to the ball, falls in love with the prince, and then has to run off at midnight.  She leaves behind a glass slipper.  The Prince, desperate to find the girl he danced with, declares that whomever's foot fits the glass slipper he will marry.  Of course the step sisters try to stop Cinderella from trying on the shoe but Cinderella escapes and proves she is the one that danced with the Prince.  Cinderella and the Prince live happily ever after.  

It's easy to see why the film was a huge hit.  It's an enjoyable film that showcases everything Disney does well.  The Princess Fairy Tale films are what Disney would go on to be known for and Cinderella is probably his most loved.  The movie is well made although doesn't have the more detailed animation in Bambi.  Probably the weirdest aspect of the movie is how much time we spend with the animals.  There is a subplot with mice doing battle with an evil cat, Lucifer. This subplot is fun but it takes time away from getting to know the humans.  All the humans are one dimensional and it would have been nice to really get to know them.  The Prince for example is barely in the film and has no speaking parts (he does sing a little with Cinderella).  

One of the reasons I started this challenge is because I have not seen very many Disney films and the ones I had seen I wasn't impressed with.  I think one of the reasons might be the lack of character depth.  To keep things simple for children it's easiest to keep the bad guys pure evil and the good guys without any fault. Cinderella does that perfectly.  The animators convey a lot of information in the way people are lit or the way they look.  We instantly know the step mother is evil in the first scene we see her just by looking at her.   

Overall:  Lots of fun parts and a very enjoyable movie.  Would have liked less time with the animals and more character development from the humans in the film.  But since this is a kids movie keeping the characters simple is forgivable.  

Random Facts:

Not Disney's First Cinderella Movie.  In 1922 with his first company Laugh-o-Gram Disney made a version where Cinderella turns into a Flapper.  You can watch that one here. 

Helene Stanley did the live action references for Cinderella. She would also go on to do the live action references for Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, and Anita Radcliff in One Hundred and One Dalmatians

Disney's favorite bit of animation in the film was Cinderella's gown transformation.  

Cinderella was the first time Disney went outside the studio for music.  He enlisted musicians from "Tin Pan Alley" to write and perform the songs.  The film ended up getting three Oscar nominations Best Score, Best Song for "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" and Best Sound. 

Cinderella was also the first to have the songs released by Walt Disney Music Company. Another visionary company by Walt Disney.  Film studios did not usually release soundtracks but Disney realized it was another way to make money from films.  

In the song "Sing Sweet Nightingale" Disney had Ilene Woods sings on multiple tracks and sings in harmony with herself.  It is considered one of the first times it was ever done.  It would become common practice in music in the 60's. 

First production overseen by the "Old 9 Men" of Disney.    

Disney Movie Challenge: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr.Toad (1949)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

As we finish up the 40's we end with the last of 6 packaged films.  Disney's packaged film started a result of WWII when money and man power were in short supply.  Even after the war ended Disney kept releasing these short films.  In doing a bit of research for this film I came across something about Bank of America loaning Disney money with restriction that Disney could finish making whatever Features they had started but couldn't make any new features till the loan was repaid.  I wasn't able to find much else on this so not sure of the entire story but it would explain why Disney kept making Package Films even after the war ended.  Whatever the reason, Ichabod and Mr. Toad would be the last package film Disney released for a while.  

The film is similar to "Fun and Fancy Free" in that it contains two shorter stories in one feature film.  Both parts of the film are based on popular stories.  Mr. Toad is based on the book "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahme, and Ichabod Crane is based on the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving.  While I haven't talked about framing device much in the previous package films this film has one that I feels adds to the overall quality of the film.  The framing device in this one kind of pits a British literary character against an American literary character.  In keeping with that idea they had legendary British Actor Basil Rathbone narrate the Mr. Toad segments and legendary American singer Bing Crosby narrate the Ichabod Crane segment.  Keeping the introduction to each film short and concise works better than the weird transition that "Fun and Fancy Free" had.  "The Wind in the Willows" was originally going to be a feature film and production started in the early 40's.  But it was eventually pared down and was going to be released with "Mickey and the Beanstalk" but things got switched around and "Mickey and the Beanstalk" got released in "Fun and Fancy Free" with "Bongo the Bear".  Somehow I think this works better.  Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane don't have much in common but they work well as companion pieces.  

Overall: As far as the package films go they ended on a good one.  You can tell Disney is starting to get back to form.  The animation is more consistent and the stories are more interesting.  Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby are both really great narrators and bring their unique charm to the stories.  "The Legend of Sleepy Hallow" has always been one of my favorite short stories so I tend to like the Ichabod Crane segment better but the Mr. Toad segment is a fun story also.  As we head in to the 50's we start to see some more iconic Disney films starting with Cinderella in 1950 this was a good teaser of things to come. 

Random Facts:

Mr. Toad might be more well known to Theme Park goers for the ride based on him than the film itself.

 

Disney Movie Challenge: Melody Time (1948)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Melody Time

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

The late 40's packaged film trend continues in this feature loaded with 7 shorts. Similar to Fantasia and Make Mine Music each short in Melody Time is based on music.  There are stories about Johnny Appleseed, a tug boat named Little Toot, and another short with Donald Duck and Jose Carioca.  The last and longest short (at 20 minutes) has Roy Rogers and Trigger telling the story of Pecos Bill.  Felt like that was supposed to the main event and all the other shorts were the under card.  

The movie is mostly uninspired shorts.  I had a real hard time keeping an interest in any of the shorts.  Even bringing back Jose Carioca who was one of the highlights of previous package films didn't do anything to save this one.  The Pecos Bill short wasn't bad, just felt like Disney trying to capitalize on the popularity of Roy Rogers. Bumble Boogie is a fun short that has a jazz version of  Flight of the Bumble Bee.  It features a Bee trying to escape crazy instruments and is one of the few highlights of the film .   

Overall: Pretty boring film.  While most of the previous package films had a few highlights this one really only had one. After "Make Mine Music" I was wondering why Disney hadn’t made more shorts with modern music.  Then Melody Time comes along and now I know.  

Random Facts  

10th Disney Animated Feature Film

5th of 6 packaged films released in the late 40's.  

Pecos Bill has a few scenes of the main character smoking edited out on the original DVD release but the Disney + version has the full unedited short.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Fun and Fancy Free

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

Continuing the trend of the late 40's Disney released it's 4th packaged film.  This time it consisted of 2 shorts that were originally going to be feature films but both were deemed not good enough to be released on their own.  The first short in the film is "Bongo" based on the story "Little Bear Bongo" by Sinclair Lewis.  The second is "Mickey and the Beanstalk" which is a Disney take on Jack and the Beanstalk story. Each short has their own introduction. "Bongo" is introduced by Jiminy Cricket and "Mickey and the Beanstalk" was introduced and narrated by Edgar Bergen (father of Candice Bergen) who was known at the time as a comedian and ventriloquist.  He appears in the film with two of his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snead.  

"Little Bear Bongo" is about a circus bear named Bongo who dreams of escaping the circus and going to the wild.  When he finally makes it to the wild he has no idea how to survive but does find a female bear that he falls in love with.  But to make the relationship work he needs to figure out how things work in the wild.  For example getting slapped by a bear means they love you. The movie ends with them slapping each other and living happily ever after.  

"Mickey and the Beanstalk" has been repackaged a number of times and has had multiple edits including one in the 70's that has Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop narrating it.   The movie features Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as three farmers who end up planting a seed that takes them to a magic kingdom ruled by a giant.  They have to try to escape with a magic harp that will return their land back to a happy kingdom it once was.  

The two movies have nothing to do with each other and the live action stuff connecting them feels forced.  "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is the stand out here.  It's a fun story and probably could have been made into a descent feature film if more time and effort were able to be put into it.  May favorite part of the live action stuff was Edgar Bergen interacting with his dummy Charlie McCarthy who would always interrupt the story with sarcasm.  And more evidence that Jiminy Cricket is the worst.  After finding an invitation to a birthday party meant for someone else he just heads over uninvited.  He then proceeds to sit on a spoon, eats cake and drinks a cocktail (evidence below).  Who wants to eat from a spoon that a cricket was on? 

Overall: "Mickey and the Beanstalk" was a fun adventure short with three classic characters that had never been together on the big screen in a feature before. It must have been fun to see them together on the big screen.  "Bongo" was a mostly forgettable film and can't picture how that would have been a feature film.  

Random Facts:

One of the last times Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse. He would do the voice again for the original Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. 

First introduction of Willie the Giant

Disney Movie Challenge: Make Mine Music (1946)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Make Mine Music

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

Even though WWII was over by the time Make Mine Music was released Disney was still feeling the effects of the war. Make Mine Music continued the trend of packaging shorts to make a feature film. This film takes more inspiration from “Fantasia” than the previous two package films of “Saludos Amigos” and “The Three Caballaros”.

Similar to “Fantasia” the film uses music as inspiration for each short. Instead of using classical music it used contemporary music of the time. Some of the artists that contributed music to the film are The Benny Goodman Band, Dinah Shore, and The Andrews Sisters. It didn’t have a narrator like “Fantasia” but each short had a title card that introduced the style. For example before “Blue Bayou” there was a title card that said Tone Poem, and before “All the Cats Join in” we are told this is a Jazz Interlude.

I felt like I have actually seen some of these shorts before so some of them must have played on Disney Channel at one point. A few of the more notable ones are “Casey at Bat” and “Peter and the Wolf”. For the most part the shorts in this package film are decent. Only a few I didn’t enjoy at all. The last short "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" is a bit of a downer to end on.  The titular whale is harpooned and killed but does go on to sing in heaven so guess not a total bummer.  

The biggest controversy for this film was the first short in the original release called "The Martins and the Coys".  It's a take on the Hatfield and McCoys which include plenty of gun violence.  The short was removed on from the only DVD release because "graphic gun play not suitable for children". There was also a minor edit in "All the Cats Join In" where a girls bare butt is edited out. Both are now considered no-go for modern Disney films, and it is most likely the reason why the movie is not currently available on Disney+.   I was lucky enough to be able to get the edited DVD from my local library.  If you are so inclined you can watch "The Martins and the Coys" on YouTube. As far as the bare butt goes you can probably find that if you look hard enough but I did not try.  

Overall: As I have mentioned before each package film is going to have its hit and misses.  This one worked for me. I enjoyed "All the Cats Join In", "Casey At Bat", "Peter and the Wolf", and "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met".  I actually like the more modern take on "Fantasia" and wonder why Disney hasn't done something like this recently.  


Random Facts
Entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival

There is an uncut Japanese laserdisc version from 1985 and a Scandinavian uncut version was released in 2006 but they are very rare. In 2013 a U.K. uncut DVD version was finally released. No Blu-Ray was ever released. The uncut version is one of the hardest Disney Films to find and not even the edited version is available on Disney+. 

The U.S.' only DVD release was in 2000 and had the two edits previously mentioned. 

Disney Movie Challenge: The Three Caballeros (1944)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

The Three Caballeros

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020.  I will be watching each film in chronological order. 

With WWII still going on and manpower and money still in short supply Disney released “The Three Caballeros'' in 1944.  Coming two years after  “Saludos Amigos” this is another package film that aims to showcase South America.  

The film it’s based around Donald Duck’s birthday (which is Friday the 13th). He receives a big package and each present in that package takes him on a new journey.  The first present is a home movie set up and contains a few stand alone shorts. One is about a penguin that doesn’t like the cold and one about a flying donkey.  Then Donald opens a gift from Brazil and he reunites with his old friend Jose Carioca from “Saludos Amigos”.  Jose once again takes Donald on a journey through Brazil.  Finally Donald opens up a third present which is a pinata and he is introduced to a Mexican Rooster Panchito Pistoles. Panchito takes him on a tour of Mexico and teaches him some Mexican traditions and also introduces him to some female Mexican dancers.  

Similar to “Saludos Amigos” this film was made with the help of the U.S. Government which was paying studios to make propaganda films.  Once again this was made to help relations with South America.  While this film is better than “Saludos Amigos” it’s hard not to see it as just a continuation.  The short about the flying donkey was even originally conceived for “Saludos Amigos”. 

Like “Saludos Amigos” the best part of the film is the one that takes place in Brazil. The song “Baia” is a fun song and was written by Ary Barroso who also did the song "Aquarela do Brasil" from “Saludos Amigos”. The short about the flying donkey was funny and I did enjoy that.  I will be honest I had trouble paying attention to the film as the rest of the time the shorts didn’t have much of a story to them and I didn’t find it really interesting.  The one thing I did notice is that Donald Duck is a real horny bird in this film.  Everytime they are around dancing girls he gets all googly eyed and turns into a horn dog (guess him and Daisy were on a break).  There is a part of the film called “Donald's Surreal Reverie'' and it’s definitely surreal.  I went to the kitchen to get a drink and came back and there was some trippy stuff going on. I think I might have missed the part where Donald does some Peyote.  

Overall: I think this will be a common theme for the next few movies but each package film is going to have hits and misses.  This one is more enjoyable than “Saludos Amigos” but it just didn’t keep my interest.  It was nice to have characters like Panchito Pistoles and Jose Carioca to give Donald some fun interactions but wish there would have been more story about the three of them.   After watching this film Disney+ recommended the Three Caballeros TV series.  I didn’t even know that existed.  If anyone has watched it let me know what you think. These three characters could be a lot of fun in a series together. 

Random Facts:

Second of 6 package films to be released in the 40’s.

Last Disney animated film to be released during WWII

First feature film to mix animation with live actors.  While it might not be up to today’s standards it still looks pretty good.