Review: Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

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Ever After: A Cinderella Story

Rating

Director

Andy Tennant

Screenplay

Susannah Grant, Andy Tennant, Rick Parks

Length

2h 01m

Starring

Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Patrick Godfrey, Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey, Timothy West, Judy Parfitt, Jeroen Krabbé, Lee Ingleby, Kate Lansbury

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Basic Plot

A modern spin on a classic fairy tale.

Review

What happens when you take away the fairy godmother, the mice that become horses and the pumpkin that turns into a carriage? You get one of the most sensational retelling of a classic Grimm fairy tale.

The opening scenes are of two brothers who arrive in the presence of a Grande Dame (Jeanne Moreau), but for what reason? She has called these fairy tale writers to her so that she may tell them the real story of the cinder girl.

Her name is Danielle (Anna Maguire – Young, Drew Barrymore – Grown). Her father (Jeroen Krabbé) had recently re-married and brought with him his wife and her two daughters. All is well until her father suffers a heart attack and dies before her eyes. She grows up with only a book her father gave her, “Utopia.”

Her stepmother (Anjelica Huston) makes her to a servant girl and forces her to work in her own home while her stepmother and two stepsisters, Marguerite (Megan Dodds) and Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey).

One day, while she is picking apples, Danielle spies a thief trying to get away with one of the family’s horses. She beams him with an apple, which dismounts him. She continues pummeling him with apples calling him a thief until he reveals his true nature. He is a prince (Dougray Scott) and she immediately falls to the ground groveling.

He pardons her from death and gives her 20 farthings to keep her silence, for he has recently run away from home so he does not have to go through with his arranged marriage to a princess from Spain.

She returns home and dresses as a Courtier so she may go into town and purchase an old man from slavery. An old man who was their slave, sold by her stepmother when she couldn’t pay her taxes. While there she encounters the prince again, though he does not recognize her. She exchanges barbs about the lack of conscience in royal circles as he listens carefully.

So begins a long romance between a fictional Countess who is merely a slave girl and a prince who doesn’t want to be one.

The story is quite a bit different than it was originally. One of the stepsisters, Jacqueline, is instead a good-natured girl who actually feels compassion for Danielle. Instead of meeting at the ball, the Prince and “Cinderella” meet in a courtyard and fall in love outside of the palace. The fairy godmother is none other than master artist Leonardo Da Vinci.

What makes this retelling superior is that it doesn’t make the women of the story subservient idiots who know nothing of what’s going on in life and merely exist to make a man happy.

Barrymore gives an outstanding performance and lives up to her familial heritage. Since her rebirth in Scream two years ago, she has shown what a talented actress she truly is and continues on a path that could take her to the heights of her predecessors.

Huston is a pale charicature of her deliciously evil witch in “The Witches,” but gives us enough evilness to make her villainess effective. Lynskey is also a delight. Jacqueline is one of the most intriguing characters to come out of a Cinderella-esque story in a long while.

Richard O’Brien, as the disgusting man who wants Danielle for his own, Le Pieu, has done many a villain. He is effective, but appears all too briefly in the film. His performance in “Dark City” eclipses his performance in this film.

Scott is a beautiful sight on screen, but too often succumbs to witless dialogue and the occasional bit of bad acting.

Overall, “Ever After” is a wonderful retelling of that classic fairy tale. It is perfect for small children who will be surprised at how little violence, nudity and foul language are in the film. This is a fun film that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys medieval literature or motion pictures and especially those out there who love fantasy.