Cinderella III: A Twist in Time comes from Frank Nissen, a former animation designer for Disney whose previous directorial outing was Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005). The idea of an alternate version of the original Cinderella where events turn out differently is intriguing, if gimmicky. (The same basic concept, where Cinderella’s stepmother gains control of magic that allows her to alter fairytales and let the bad guys win was also used in Happily N’Ever After (2006), which came out two months before Cinderella III). Alas, everything transpires very predictably – once the premise is unveiled, the film works its way to its resolution in the straightest line possible. Thus Cinderella goes to the palace to get the wand back and reverse things, the stepmother does everything she can to make the prince marry Anastasia, the prince detects a wrongness, the stepmother tries to get rid of Cinderella while hurrying the date of the wedding up etc etc.

I have always maintained that Cinderella was one of Disney’s more overrated classics. It did create a fairytale, albeit in a ponderous and self-important way. Here fairly much everything that happens in Cinderella III is construed as slapstick – set-pieces with Cinderella chasing the mice through the palace kitchens, a frenetic fight through the halls to get the wand, the shrinking/enlarging of Lucifer the cat, even the king undignifiedly losing his pants as he races to prevent the prince going on his quest. The animation is routine and nothing standout. There’s also been the decision made to add banal songs over it all, which only serves to drag the slim 70 minute running time out.