Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True is the first direct-to-video anthology film sequel of the 1950 Disney film Cinderella. It was made between 1999 and 2001 and released on February 26, 2002. It was followed by Cinderella III: A Twist in Time in 2007. It consists of three segments featuring Cinderella planning her first party, Jaq the mouse being turned into a human, and one of Cinderella's brutal stepsisters reaching her redemption through falling in love with a young baker, a low-class man of whom Lady Tremaine and Drizella do not approve. Estimated to cost $5 million to produce, Dreams Come True was Disney's top selling animated sequel that year, grossing approximately $120 million in DVD sales, but received negative reviews.
==Plot==
The movie begins with the Disney logo fading into its animated counterpart, giving the viewer the sense of an actual film. Inside, Cinderella's mice friends Jaq and Gus go to a chamber where the Fairy Godmother is reading the original story of Cinderella to the other mice. Much to their disappointment, Jaq and Gus arrive just as the Fairy Godmother states that "Cinderella and the Prince lived Happily Ever After".
With the Fairy Godmother's help, the mice set off to make a new book to narrate what happens after the Happily Ever After, by stringing three segments of stories together into one narrative.
===Aim to Please===
(Cinderella's story)
Cinderella and Prince Charming return to the royal palace from their honeymoon, Cinderella is greeted by her mice friends and her dog Bruno. She is soon put in charge of the royal banquet while the King and Prince are away and made to wear a uncomfortable dress (with a frame underneath) along with a new hairstyle. The lead maid, a sharp and snobbish woman named Prudence, also introduces Cinderella's new ladies-in-waiting: Beatrice and Daphne. As Cinderella is taught on how the royal banquet should be run, it becomes more of a ordeal for her and she eventually falls over during the dance rehearsal. After Daphne helps her up to her feet, Cinderella retreats to her room and sobs quietly on her bed. Jaq, Gus and Mary find her and comfort her, knowing that she has gone through a hard time. After using Mary's handkerchief to dry her eyes, Cinderella realizes she should be herself and run the banquet her way rather than sticking to the old traditions. She proceeds to do so, much to Prudence's dismay (at one point she exclaims: "It simply isn't done!" with Jaq imitating her and dancing in circles with Gus afterwards). Cinderella goes to the village and hands out invitations to the villagers, Prudence tells her that she should only be inviting dukes and aristocrats with Cinderella explaining that she is doing that along with everyone in the village being invited as well. She also removes prunes from the dessert menu, opens the palace curtains, and even allows everyone to dance more freely. When Cinderella asserts that she has to try things her own way, Prudence reluctantly lets Cinderella go ahead with these changes, remarking that she only hopes Cinderella knows what she's doing. Once the royal banquet is underway, the King and Charming arrive, and although the King is initially outraged at finding peasants in the palace, he is delighted at the changes (after Daphne accidentally drops chocolate pudding on his head). Satisfied with the changes she's made, Cinderella tells Prince Charming about her hopes of getting the "princess thing" right someday, and her husband reassures her that she already has. The segment ends as the two share a kiss.
The mice add Cinderella's story the book as Jaq gets some magical help from the Fairy Godmother opening a bottle of ink. Proclaiming that he does not like "that magic stuff," Gus reminds him of his last encounter with it. Looking to impress Mary, Jaq allows the Fairy Godmother to tell his story.
===Tall Tail===
(Jaq's story)
One of Cinderella's mouse friends, Jaq, thinks he's too small to help Cinderella in the palace like he did in the first movie. The Fairy Godmother shows up to help him out, and he wishes for her to turn him into a human so he can help out Cinderella like everyone else. However, this does not stop Pom-Pom, the palace's snobby cat (who became the mice's new nemesis as soon as they moved to the palace along with Cinderella and becomes Lucifer's crush in the third segment) from chasing Jaq around (Pom-Pom thought Jaq in human form was worth approximately seven mice). Mistakenly taken for "Sir Hugh", after an incident with an elephant at a fair, he learns to be happy for who he is. It is also made evident that Jaq is in love with another mouse named Mary and that Pom-Pom belongs to the same woman who was terrified of Jaq.
In a magic mishap, one of the mice spills magic dust onto the art supplies, causing them to become animated. The supplies begin to wreak havoc on the nearly completed book until the Fairy Godmother puts a stop to it. As the mice survey the mess, they reminisce about how they've seen worse, and Jaq tells them of the time Anastasia fell in love.
===An Uncommon Romance===
(Anastasia's story)
Anastasia, Cinderella's younger stepsister, falls in love with a baker whom her mother and sister disapprove of. Her mother and Drizella still want her to marry a rich man, and convince her to forget about the baker and say that everything in the baker's shop is inferior; thus, Anastasia has to go against her mother for the first time. At the same time, Lucifer (who was believed to have died at the first film's end) starts chasing Cinderella's mice and Anastasia is kicked by a horse when she and the baker meet, causing her to be left in rags by getting bread and eggs all over herself and breaks into tears when she crashes into the baker's shop, realizing she had fallen for the baker. To make her feel better, Cinderella takes Anastasia to the palace, and gives her a huge makeover, changing her looks for the better. Cinderella encourages Anastasia to follow her own heart, and Anastasia agrees to meet Cinderella in the village the next morning to see the baker. During the process, Lucifer enters the palace and continues to chase Cinderella's mice, but during the chase, he falls in love with Pom Pom, despite her disliking him. The mice help their old nemesis Lucifer fall in love with Pom Pom, that is, if Lucifer promises to stop chasing mice. When Lucifer and Pom Pom get together, Pom Pom goads Lucifer into breaking his promise and helping her catch the mice. In the ensuing chase, the mice push a bucket of water on Pom Pom, and she dumps Lucifer out of spite.
Meanwhile, the next morning, Anastasia buys a garland to give to the baker, only to find out that the baker bought one for her and shows it to another woman, and the baker asks that woman if she thinks Anastasia would like the garland, but Anastasia thinks that the baker has formed a relationship with that woman and runs again to the fountain in tears. The baker, meanwhile, follows Anastasia to the fountain and asks her to the upcoming ball, which her mother and Drizella are very unhappy about, and Drizella tells her mother that Anastasia's become a disaster and that she (Drizella) and her mother will become the laughingstock of the entire town. Anastasia remembers Cinderella's advice, stays with the baker, and falls in love.
With a sigh, the mice finish their book. They sing a reprise of "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" as they chase after Cinderella in an attempt to give her the book. When they catch up with her, she asks them what it is, and Gus tells her that it is a book about them all. Cinderella thinks it's wonderful, and asks if the mice would like to read it together to which the mice give a resounding "Yes!" They gather in front of the fire and Cinderella begins to read the book, "Once Upon a Time..."
==Soundtrack==
The songs for the film were performed by Brooke Allison, and while a full soundtrack was never released, all the songs were included on the compilation album Disney's Princess Favorites, which was released shortly before the film. Apart from a short reprise of "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", none of the characters in the film performed a song for the soundtrack.
Songs include:
*Put It Together
*Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo
*Follow Your Heart
*The World is Looking Up to You
*It's What's Inside That Counts
*A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Instrumental only)
==Reception==
While the movie did sell extremely well (surpassing the $120 million mark), critical reception was mostly negative. Many critics agreed that it looked like pieced together remains of a rejected television series (akin to Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World and Atlantis: Milo's Return). It currently holds a 11% approval rating from All Critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while the User section has a 32% rating. IMDB has a 4.6/10 rating for the film.
==Voice Cast==
Because nearly five decades had passed since the original Disney film, a new cast of voice actors was used for this sequel and subsequent media, since all of the first film's cast was deceased, retired or otherwise unavailable. Particularly, Ilene Woods, who provided the voice of Cinderella in the original, was still alive at the time this film came out but was deemed too old to be able to produce the sweetness needed for the character, hence Jennifer Hale was selected to take over as the voice of Cinderella in this film, a role that she had already performed on House of Mouse. Several of the cast had also provided voice work for the game Cinderella's Dollhouse a year before this film.
*Jennifer Hale as Cinderella
*Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Charming
*Rob Paulsen as Jaq/The Grand Duke/The Baker/Sir Hugh/Bert/Flower Vendor
*Corey Burton as Gus/Mert/Stable Hand
*Holland Taylor as Prudence
*Frank Welker as Lucifer/Pom-Pom/Bruno
*Tress MacNeille as Anastasia/Pretty Woman
*Russi Taylor as Fairy Godmother/Drizella/Mary/Beatrice and Daphne/Countess Le Grande
*Susanne Blakeslee as Lady Tremaine
*Andre Stojka as The King 
===Additional Voices===
*Jeff Bennett 
*Bob Bergen 
*Susan Blu 
*Rodger Bumpass 
*Jennifer Darling 
*Paul Eiding 
*Sherry Lynn 
*Mickie McGowan 
*Phil Proctor
==Release==
Cinderella II: Dreams Come True was released on February 26, 2002. It was then re-released on December 18, 2007 as a special edition DVD. All details were posted at UltimateDisney.com. The film was re-released on Blu-ray/DVD in a 2-Movie Collection with Cinderella III: A Twist in Time on November 20, 2012, and reprinted as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive (including a Digital copy) on June 25, 2019.
===Features===
*Race to the Royal Banquet Game
*Musical Magic Featurette
*Cinderella Storybook
*Cinderella's Enchanted Castle Activity
*"Put It Together" Music Video By: Brooke Allison
*Deleted Scenes
==Trivia==
*Because Anastasia and the baker fell in love in the third segment of the film, and at the end of Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, Anastasia is seen in a picture falling in love with the same baker (during the end credits), and because during the song "Perfectly Perfect", Drizella and Anastasia mention that they have not been invited to a ball (although they were in An Uncommon Romance) it looks as if the third segment takes place after A Twist in Time. However, since Lady Tremaine and Drizella are not maids in the segment, it is not for sure, and this could still be before the third movie, but its exact place in the overall story remains unclear.
**It is also speculated that the producers of A Twist in Time may have simply chosen to ignore the events of this movie, as Lady Tremaine is seen forcing Anastasia and Drizella to do many of Cinderella's old chores in her absence. This could be seen as a rewrite of the first film's aftermath, where neither of Cinderella's stepsisters were able to escape.
**It is also possible that Anastasia broke up with the baker after the events of this film but got back together with him after the events of A Twist in Time, and inbetween, the Tremaines fell into poverty and disrepair.
*This movie is narrated by the mice and occasionally by the Fairy Godmother.
*In this adapted sequel, the castle is red, despite being white and blue in the original. It is possible that the castle has been repainted by the events of this sequel.
*The An Uncommon Romance segment, centering on Anastasia, is similar to the movie Kronk's New Groove (the sequel to The Emperor's New Groove) centering on Kronk, both stories being centered on characters that in the previous film acted as secondary antagonists. Also in both stories they both end up finding love.
*Jaq's name was pronounced "Jack" by certain characters in this film. This is because the kingdom in which Cinderella is highly inspired by France and Jaq is a variant of "Jacques", which is the French equivalent to Jack.
*All the three segments of the film were originally episodes of an unsuccessful, cancelled TV series named "Cinderella Stories".
*As with many direct-to-video sequels, the film is minor in terms of financial progress and major storyline progression, but nonetheless furthers character development.
*In trailers, Cinderella's gown is power blue instead of pink and white.
*Logo Variation: At the beginning, fireworks flies up and explodes to reveal the castle, rather than the original light in. When the fireworks cleared out, the "Walt Disney" signature signs in (similar to how the "Walt Disney" signature signs in on the Walt Disney Home Video logos), before cutting to the rest of the actual logo. After the arc dims out, the arc and the signature disappears and "PICTURES" fades out, leaving only the castle, in which the background fades and the castle dissolves to the opening shot.
*Despite having moved out of the Tremaines' chateau and therefore no longer works as a scullery maid, Cinderella is still wearing her scullery maid outfits from her peasant days while in the castle as her regular outfit most of the time for some unexplained reason, though it's most likely possible that she's accustomed to wearing these outfits for years, as revealed in the Aim to Please segment.
**In the An Uncommon Romance segment, the reason why she wears her maid outfit when going to the marketplace is as a disguise.
*It is revealed in this film that Cinderella's signature ball gown from the original film does come in more than one color aside from the classic silver one, such as pink (in the Aim to Please segment), greenish-blue (again in the Aim to Please segment) and gold (in the Tall Tail segment), implying that Cinderella does has a wardrobe full of these ball gowns aside from the original one the Fairy Godmother gave her in the original film once she moved into the palace.
*This is the only Disney-made Cinderella movie that doesn't show a glass slipper scene.
*Cinderella is supposed to be set sometime during the 1870's or 1880's. However in the Tall Tail segment, a Ferris Wheel is depicted. The first Ferris Wheel was not invented for another decade.
*The idea for An Uncommon Romance comes from the original Perrault book that the first film was based on, in which Cinderella forgives her stepsisters and lets them live in the palace, and on the same day matches them with two great lords of the court.
==Gallery==
Cinderella 2 DVD.jpg|2002 Original DVD Cover
Cinderella 2 VHS.jpg|2002 Original VHS Cover
Cinderella ii poster.jpg|2002 Poster
CinderellaIIDreamsComeTrue SpecialEdition DVD.jpg|2007 Special Edition DVD Cover
Cinderella 2-3 movie collection.jpg|2012 Special Edition Blu-ray/DVD Cover
Cinderella II & III - 2-Movie Collection.jpg|2012 Special Edition DVD Cover
Cinderella II Dreams Come True.jpg|2012 Special Edition Poster
Cinderella II and III 2019 DMC Blu-Ray.png|2019 Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Cover
Cinderella dreams 1.jpg|Cinderella and Prince are back at the castle
Cinderella dreeams 2.jpg|Cinderella makes changes in the castle
Cinderella dreams 3.jpg|Cinderella's organized ball
Cinderella dreams 4.jpg|Cinderella was coronated as a Princess
Cinderella dreams 5.jpg| Cinderella and the prince look at each other adoringly.
Cinderella dreams 6.jpg|Jaq's transformation into a human
Cinderella dreams 7.jpg|Jaq's first ride on a horse
Cinderella dreams 8.jpg|Lucifer swoons Pom Pom
Cinderella dreams 9.jpg|Anastasia's first love
Cinderella dreams 10.jpg|Cinderella and Anastasia now living happily ever after
Cinderella dreams 11.jpg|Fairy Godmother and mice making the story book
===Screenshots===
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-439.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps com-743.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-2221.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-2223.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-2230.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-2253.jpg
Cinderella with rose.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-2303.jpg
Cinderella & Prince Charming - Dreams Come True (6).jpg
Cinderella & Prince Charming - Dreams Come True (7).jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-2499.jpg
Cinderella2-disneyscreencaps.com-7968.jpg
Jaq and Mary (1).jpg
Jaq and Mary kiss 2.jpg
Jaq and Mary kiss.jpg
===At the premiere===
Jennifer Hale C2 premiere.jpg|Jennifer Hale at the Cinderella II premiere in February 2002.
==See also==
*Cinderella
*Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
==External links==
*Cinderella II: Dreams Come True - The Official Disney DVD Website
*
*
da:Askepot 2: Drømmen bliver til virkelighed
es:Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
fr:Cendrillon 2 : une vie de princesse
it:Cenerentola II - Quando i sogni diventano realtà
ja:シンデレラII
nl:Assepoester II: Dromen komen uit
no:Askepott 2: Drømmen blir virkelighet
pl:Kopciuszek II: Spełnione marzenia
pt-br:Cinderela 2: Os Sonhos Se Realizam
ro:Cenușăreasa II: Visele se împlinesc
ru:Золушка 2: Мечты сбываются
zh:仙履奇緣2：美夢成真
Category:2002 films
Category:Direct-to-video films
Category:Cinderella
Category:Disney Princess films
Category:Disney films
Category:Animated films
Category:Films
Category:Sequel films
Category:Traditionally Animated Films
Category:G-rated films
Category:Disney Vault Movies
Category:Disneytoon Studios films
Category:Anthology films