petra_ste I have a special affection for Disney's classic Cinderella (1950), but I acknowledge its main message is problematic, with a female protagonist passively enduring a lifetime of abuse only to be rescued first by magic, then by marriage. I can understand the purpose of a version with a more proactive heroine. Which is what EverAfter attempted to do... except it's garish, tone-deaf and poorly cast. Looking at director Andy Tennant's uncannily bad resume, it's hardly a surprise.Drew Barrymore is appealing in a girl-next-door kind of way but, with her tomboyish look and feel, she comes across as a teenager playing dress-up. Far worse is Dougray Scott as the prince. Scott is a handsome chap, I guess, but there is something cold, almost reptilian about his glare, which made him ideal as the anti-Cruise villain in Mission Impossible 2 - not so much as a romantic lead. Anjelica Huston at least is better cast as the baleful stepmother.Tennant glues scenes to each other with no regard for build-up or coherency. In a twist worthy of a soap opera, the heroine is sold into slavery (?) to some evil ruffian. Once inside his castle, she grabs a sword and orders him to unchain her. You now expect some kind of narrow escape sequence, evading guards and so on... except, the movie just cuts to her walking out of the castle with a satisfied smirk. Wait, what? Did the evil guy turn to stone? Did he live all alone in that huge fortress? It defies not just logic, but also the basic rules of storytelling; it's grotesquely anticlimactic.Even visually, here's an example of how little thought went into EverAfter. During the final confrontation, the stepmother is dressed in the same shade of deep green as the nice stepsister, while the wicked stepsister wears red. It doesn't make sense! You want to VISUALLY ASSOCIATE the two evil characters and make the good one STAND OUT. It may be a nitpick, but the movie is littered with this kind of sloppy choices.The movie features Leonardo da Vinci as a secondary character. The Italian genius has not been lucky as far as his cinematic appearances are concerned: between this, the Bruce Willis bomb Hudson Hawk, a cretinous potboiler like The Da Vinci Code and Paul W. S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers, it's ironic how a man of such legendary intelligence tends to be referenced only by stupid movies. His most enjoyable cameo may be in the comedy Non Ci Resta Che Piangere... where he is portrayed as dumb. Go figure... poor Leonardo.5/10

Wuchak "Ever After: A Cinderella Story" (1998) stars Drew Barrymore as Danielle, the daughter of a wealthy commoner in 16th century France. When her father unexpectedly dies, Danielle becomes the servant girl of her arrogant stepmother (Angelica Huston). When she runs into the prince of the kingdom (Dougray Scott), he becomes captivated by her honesty, humility, wisdom and beauty. Meanwhile, her stepmother schemes to have her shallow daughter (Megan Dodds) marry the prince. Melanie Lynskey plays the younger stepsister while Patrick Godfrey plays Leonardo Da Vinci and Lee Ingleby plays Danielle's guy-friend from her youth.This is a quality costume dramedy/romance. Shot entirely in France at no less than four châteaus (castles), as well as some sweet wilderness areas, the film is awe-inspiring just to look at. The story is a little convoluted, so you have to pay attention to keep track of what's going on. Drew shines as the protagonist and Scott is great as the prince. The movie proves that you don't have to have overt sex scenes and nudity for a film like this to be effective or successful (which it was at the box office). I also like the message concerning the idiocy of societal classes and how one of the stepsisters is actually a quality soul.The film runs 121 minutes.GRADE: B+

audicappy Without a doubt, one of the best renditions of the 'Cinderella' fable. It is a story of love, devotion, loyalty, and, yes, betrayal. Ultimately, it is redemption and forgiveness that come to the fore, with Prince Henry finally realizing who his life's match truly is and Danielle, who forgives the prince for his egregious reactionary behavior.I particularly liked the 'modern' nuances to the fairy-tale magic: Leonardo Da Vinci as the surrogate fairy godmother (genius in lieu of magic dust and spells), and Danielle's childhood friend and confidante Gustave (a nod to Disney's Gus-Gus), as well as her servant friends Paulette, Louise, and Maurice (rounding out Disney's mice friends).One interesting aspect of the film that impressed me was that not all of the 'evil' characters were that. Films that make villains linear and two-dimensional are just boring. That the baroness showed an all-too-brief vulnerable, human side gave her an added dimension that has always been missing the other iterations. Also that stepsister Jacqueline turned out to be a secret ally was a very clever plot twist to the third act.However, I would have given a different punishment for the stepmother and her nasty Marguerite: 'compensation' (in the amount of 20 gold FF apiece) and banishment to the Americas... Either French Canada in the north, Hispaniola island in the Caribbean, or parts of Brazil in the south... They could choose...

axel_e_svensson The fairytale movie Ever After you get to experience the early 1500s. It takes place in France that they understand when they say King of France. It's easy to believe that it is England, it takes you in for they speak British English. The film is an adventure film based on a fairy tale.The main character in the movie named Danielle de Barbarac that is Cinderella. Danielle gets to withstand many problems during the movie. It disrupted the problem is love problem of Henry. It becomes difficult to meet Henry that she is lying about her is noble that is much finer than the valet as she really is. She also lying about her name is Nicole de Lancret who is her mother's name. Since it is not acceptable that a prince marries a servant during the time it is set in, it becomes a problem when Henry and his parents discovers that Danielle's servant. The problem gets solved when Henry understands that he has power over himself because he is the prince and Fragrance X there fore Danielle if she wants to marry him. Danielle say yes and it will be a big wedding and and everyone will be happy, except Rodmilla and stepsisters who may start working as a connoisseur that Danielle was before.Cinderella's father was married to Cinderella's stepmother Rodmilla the Gent but died when he had a heart attack. She is very cruel to Danielle and treats her like a servant and not a daughter or someone in the family. Rodmilla also has two daughters named Marguerite and Jacqueline de Ghent who is very spoiled. Danielle's best friend named Gustave. They've been best friends since bard omen when Danielle often used to wrestle him in the mud so they both became dirty and wet. Gustave always helps Dannielle when she is in trouble and make her happy when she's sad.Danielle's inner qualities is that she's kind and think about how others feel. Her external qualities is that she is beautiful that makes Prince Henry immediately falls in love with her.Prince Henry is a typical teenager who has no plans to become king. He wants to explore the world outside the castle walls and can accommodate therefore often away, but a stolen horse and return to the castle when he feels like it. Henry is also the person in the film that goes through the biggest change of all. At the beginning of the film is Henry is not someone who thinks of others but only himself and the people he lives with. When he meets Danielle who is thinking very much about how others feel so Henry can not understand quite how she thinks. But the more they get hit Dannielle him think '' right ''. At the end of the film, he has become a very wise prince who thinks of others and not just yourself.My favorite person in the film is Leonardo Da Vinci for his help and is fun in the way he behaves. You also get to see another side of Leonardo Da Vinci, much more fun than what he thinks when he sees and his paintings in books and online.The film's ending is that Danielle has been captured by Le Pieu. Because her father taught her swordsmanship, she uses a sword, forcing Le Pieu to give her the key to his castle so she can get out of there. The film's end was as I expected so I did not get any special feeling. But the music during the movie was well suited to what happened so you got the feeling that you were there when it took place.Because there is always something new happening so it was never so bored in the movie that made the movie was better than expected. I would recommend the movie for those who want to see some other versions of the original films. What age you are, so suits the film. For adults, it can be fun to see a version of the movie they have seen so many times and for children it can fit to the holders of love, princesses, princes and castles. The message of the film would be that love wins over everything and that you should never give up.By: Axel Svensson