Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True is the first direct-to-video film sequel of the 1950 Disney film Cinderella. It was made in 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 a 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 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. 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. Once the royal banquet is underway, the King and Charming arrive, and although the King looks 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 made, Cinderella tells Prince Charming about her hopes of getting the "Princess thing" right someday and her husband reassures "that day is is today". 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 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 ten 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 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 common baker, who 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, follow 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 true soundtrack was never released, all the songs were included on the compilation album Disney's Princess Favorites, which was released shortly before the film. 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

Reception
While the movie did sell extremely well (surpassing the $120 million mark), critical reception was mainly 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

 * 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

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 is also included in the October 2012 Cinderella Trilogy.

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 Romanc) 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 still could be before the third movie.
 * This movie is narrated by the mice and occasionally by the Fairy Godmother.
 * In this adapted sequel, the castle is red, despite being white & blue in the original.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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, before cutting to the rest of the actual logo. After the arc dims out, the arc & the signature disappears and "PICTURES" fades out, leaving only the castle, in which the background fades and the castle dissolves to the opening shot.