Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a king with a daughter. She had lots of special powers, like healing, turning invisible, and being really good at hiding.
A witch heard about these special powers and wanted them for her own, so she snuck into the castle and stole the princess away! She turned the princess into a talking frog and put her in a tower, far away from the kingdom she had grown up in.
The witch told the princess that she had seven nights to figure out how to turn back into a human, or else she would remain a frog for all time, and her powers would belong to the witch.
The princess, on the first night, turned invisible and snuck out of the tower. She knew that if she made it back to her kingdom, she would return human.
Her journey home was fraught (my word lol) with danger.
She fought off a snake that wanted to eat her, but she escaped.
She was almost eaten by a crocodile, but she escaped.
She was almost eaten by a heron, but she escaped.
At long last, she made it to her kingdom.
The instant she crossed the border, she became human again, right before the clock struck midnight on the seventh night.
Her father was so happy to have her home once more.
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Suzy who was six years old and loved cats.
One day at recess, Suzy found a hole in the ground and fell in. When she got to the end, she was in another world! She knew it was another world because she could see the sky, and it was black, so she thought it was nighttime.
She walked over to a big glowing pink thing that looked like a tree. She sat down and started to think about how to get home.
Suddenly, a unicorn appeared. “Good morning,” they said. “What are you doing?”
Suzy was surprised that it was morning, considering it was dark. She replied, “I came from another world, and I don’t know how to get back.”
“Hmm,” said the unicorn. “How about you talk to the queen? She’s the most likely person to be able to help you.”
“Where can I find the queen?” Suzy asked.
“She’s normally in her garden. You just need to go straight until you see a fountain, and then turn left.”
“Thank you!”
The unicorn galloped off.
Suzy started in the direction the unicorn had pointed out. She walked for a long time before she saw the fountain. The garden was just beyond a hill to the left.
She was surprised that the garden was just like one on Earth, except for the pink trees. There was a figure that looked like a bee and had a crown on her head.
The unicorn was right that the queen would be in her garden! she thought.
Suzy greeted the queen with a curtsy. “Hello. Can you help me get back home? I’m from another world.”
The queen said, “Yes, I can help you, but first you must complete my three trials to show that you are worthy.”
“Anything to get back home.”
The garden seemed to shift, until it didn’t look like a garden anymore. It looked more like a training ground.
“For the first trial, you have to run around this bush until you catch yourself.”
Suzy wasn’t afraid, because she was really fast. But she was a little worried about out-running herself. She ran around for a while, and she couldn’t catch herself, but then she realized that she could outsmart it. She walked until the hologram of herself was right behind her, and then quickly turned around to touch it.
As that part of the training ground turned back into the garden, the queen said, “Good job. You completed the trial of cleverness. Next, you must cross a field of lava.” She gestured at a pit.
Suzy crept to the edge and saw the lava below. There were pillars of stone creating a path across the field, and they were slowly shrinking.
She had no time to lose!
Quickly but carefully, she anxiously jumped from pillar to pillar, until she suddenly remembered her age. She was only six! It was unlikely that the queen would put her in mortal danger, especially when holograms were available. The lava was fake. Hopefully.
This gave her confidence and courage to finish the trial.
As soon as she finished, the field of lava reverted to the garden.
“You have now completed the trial of courage,” the queen told her. “For your last trial, you must lift four weights: one on each shoulder and in each hand. This is the trial of strength.”
Suzy walked over to the weights that the queen had indicated. She had just shouldered two of the weights when she spotted a kitten in one of the pink trees. She couldn’t resist a cute kitten. Dropping the weights, she climbed the tree to rescue the animal.
When she got to the ground with the kitten, she heard the voice of the queen from behind her.
“Good job. You have completed the trial of kindness. I can now send you home. Close your eyes and turn in a circle three times.”
Suzy did what she was told, and when she opened her eyes, she was back in the playground at school. When she looked for the hole, it had disappeared!
After school, she told her parents all about the magical world she had discovered. Of course they didn’t believe her, but it was nice to tell them.
I talked to this cosplayer about the costume, and I’m not 100% sure I caught it all, but I think she said that she’s not a princess, but that she’s from an obscure fairy tale from Germany?
Today we’re talking about the 1998 film Ever After.
Story
An interesting twist on the Cinderella story that concentrates more on the meeting and courting before the ball of the lovers. It makes the love story feel slightly more real.
One of the few “realistic” takes on a classic fairy-tale that manages to work.
Score: 1
Characters
The evil stepmother was evil, the prince was handsome, and the Cinderella was spunky and kicked ass. I like that one of the stepsisters was nice.
I’m not super comfortable with the portrayal of the Romani in the movie. Showing them as brigands and thieves with a sense of honour and humour is very cliché and borders on racist.
I adore Da Vinci as an artist, inventor, and plot device but it made me sad that they had to remove a positive female role from the story to have him in there. Couldn’t they have made Gustave’s patron a famous female artist?
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
This is a movie with a lot of dialogue and a lot of subtext. It might be a Cinderella story but it takes a lot from modern romantic comedy banter and Much Ado About Nothing.
I’m not sure how quotable it is, but listening to the banter and dialogue is like listening to a good musical piece.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
This movie includes some beautiful locations and clothing. It was beautifully shot but everything was marred by a weird blue-green filter. It darkened the movie and made everything look wrong rather than stylish.
The music was lovely and unobtrusive but nothing special.
Score: 0.5
Fun
Watching a movie this long with a three year old and a fourteen month old isn’t very conducive to fun. The three year old liked the colours and movement but lost interest in the long conversations that were the heart of the movie.
Despite that, I enjoyed myself and look forward to watching it with them when they’re older.
Score: 1
Overall
The movie manages to strike the perfect balance between love story, fairy tale, and alternate history. It’s romantic and lovely without much to cringe at.