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Hello again from the Out & About couch, I'm Mike Stevens here with the Out & About review of Drew Barrymore (The Wedding Singer) in Ever After. This movie is the re-telling of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella. You know the one, evil stepmother, glass slipper, a prince, the whole nine yards. Well this does have most of the elements of the fairy tale, but a whole lot more as well. Ever After is a story set in the early renaissance period in France where a young Danielle, Drew's character, has just lost her wonderful, caring father and is then forced to live with her very recently acquired stepmother Rodmilla, played by Anjelica Huston. As in the original, Danielle is forced into hard labor and is completely mistreated by Rodmilla. Then comes along the crown prince who is lookin' for love in all the wrong places and a romance develops between Drew and Prince Henry, portrayed by Dougray Scott. But hold on to that crown because we have a new contender in Drew's bitchy stepsister Marguerite, who is played by Megan Dodds. What occurs next is an all out, battle royal between poor Danielle, with the house servants and Leonardo da Vinci in her corner, facing off against Rodmilla and Jacqueline, the step mother and daughter respectively, in a battle to become the future queen of France, which you may recall can be hazardous to ones head. The rest you'll have to find out on your own. But one last thing on the story is that there is NO magic. Yes that means no pumpkin coach, fairy godmother, or even a midnight deadline to get home. Well to start with I didn't want to go and see Ever After, but then when I agreed to go I expected to watch a Disney like boring and sugar coated kiddy flick. Let me set the record straight by saying that it is not a kiddy flick, and what's more is that I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the movie. Not only is the acting good and setting splendid, but it is actually a witty and funny movie as Drew and the prince exchange barbs, or Drew and Marguerite fight it out. Also this adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale to film actually works well and I even seem to like this film's version better than the Mother Goose edition. And what's more is that the cinematography is great and the feel of the film almost makes it seem just as you might picture all those fairy tales that you heard as a kid. Picture them in your head, not as Disney as made them over the years. This is probably due to the filmmaker's use of Super35 in shooting the picture, compared to your home movies shot in say super8. This all translates to a better canvas for the director to work with and then present to the audience. O.K. Enough of all that technical stuff and on to the Out & About rating. I enjoyed Ever After and am glad that I saw it so it gets a solid eight couches plus a TV tray. Which means it is a TV tray better than Saving Private Ryan, but with this one you can take the kids along without worrying about leaving deep psychological scarring on their malleable minds. Just for those wondering, there is no nudity. In the end the bottom line here is that this is not so much a fantasy film but a love story between Drew's character and the prince, and it works. And it's a feel good movie, one in which you guys out there can earn bonus points by taking your girlfriends to, and you don't even have to cry. So for the Out & About movie review I 'm Michael Stevens, see ya next time.
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:45:14 AM |