This movie is every thing you'd expect of a sequel to be. It takes from the original but builds character traits in Cinderella and Anastacia and advances this cherished classic.
The movie starts out a year after the magical wedding of the Prince and Cinderella. They're still in marital bliss and are about to celebrate their one-year anniversary with just Cinderella's closest friends, including the mice and the fairy godmother.
At the same time, Drusilla and Anastacia are at the old house doing the chores that Cinderella once did and enduring the scorn of their mother.
After the siblings fight, Anastacia stumbles upon the soiree in a field not far from where she stands. This is the turning point in her life as well as Cinderella as the magic wand which the fairy godmother wielded with compassion found its way into the hands of the wicked stepmother.
There are many extraordinary twists and turns, and in so, we are treated to a new take on the real power behind Cinderella and The Prince's relationship. Issues of honesty, self-evalution, hope play a much more prominent role than "magic." And, these traits are particularly fleshed out in Cinderella, much more than anyone else, but also Anastacia. The Prince is still a somewhat dim-witted clod that, under the impression of the stepmother's spell, defines his relationship with his "true love" initially by looks--he sees Anastacia and is repulse at the sight of her; he immediately dismisses her despite the premise that his "true love" would wear the Glass Slipper. Cinderella, on the other hand, is not disillusioned and measures her relationship by the moments spent together. It's these moments that continually drives her to take matters into her own hands and not the dependency on anything outside of herself. Cinderella 3 elevates our heroine into a worthy contemporary version worthy of this sequel and worthy of family discussions.