Right from the first shot, you can tell that Three Wishes For Cinderella isn’t your normal take on the fairy tale since the landscape is covered in snow. This isn’t the green pastoral version, but a harsh chill that seems to match Cinderella’s stepmother’s cold-cold heart. This variation does need the fridge elements since the stepmother is extra cruel. But at least the Cinderella has a bit of magic in her bleak life.
Cinderella/Askepott (Astrid S) visits her father and mother’s grave, but can’t really reflect on them because her nasty Stepmother (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) knows the King and Queen along with the Prince are cutting through the town and this is her one big chance to secure an invitation to the royal ball. She has plans for her daughter. Cinderella isn’t a part of her plan. The girl is too wild since her dead husband taught her to While they are getting primped up for royalty, Askepott sneaks off into the wild. That’s where she meets the Prince (Cengiz Al). She hasn’t a clue who he is and she won’t give him her name. He is a bit excited to meet a woman who can hang with him in the snowy woods. She skips out on him and discovers things are getting worse at home. In the midst of this depressing chaos, Askepott finds three acorns that allow her to tap back into the legacy of her parents. Can she use this magic to secure a love connection with the prince?
Three Wishes For Cinderella doesn’t fall back on elements in other versions. She doesn’t have a Fairy Godmother that pops out of nowhere to get her into the ball. She leaves the ball for a reason other than the clock striking midnight. The ending is much more action packed as the Stepmother comes up with an evil scheme to dupe the Prince into marrying her daughter. Cinderella doesn’t have to run down the stairs and show off her foot to get the glass slipper. There’s an icy chase, jeopardy, dangling and weaponry. This is the kind of Cinderella story that you can watch with your kids during the upcoming holiday season. The tweaks on the story remove the feeling that you’ve seen this story hundreds of times before. Three Wishes For Cinderella alters the elements of the classic story without losing the love at its core.
The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer reflects the whiteness of the snow. You might need a sweater before pressing play. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 in both English and Norwegian. You can brush up on what to say when in Norway. The movie is subtitled in English.
Trailer (2:08) gives us a snowy telling of Cinderella.
Shout! Factory presents Three Wishes For Cinderella. Directed by Cecilie A. Mosli. Screenplay by Anna Bache-Wiig, Karsten Fullu, Kamilla Krogsveen and Siv Rajendram Eliassen. Starring Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Ingrid Giæver, Bjørn Sundquist, Anne Marit Jacobsen, Nader Khademi, Thorbjørn Harr, Nasrin Khusrawi, Sjur Vatne Brean & Arthur Hakalahti. Rating: Not Rated. Running Time: 87 minutes. Release Date: October 18, 2022.
