1998
Cast- Drew Barrymore, Dougray Scott, Angelica Huston
This is a romantic retelling of the fairytale Cinderella as the great great great granddaughter of the real Cinderella wants to set the record straight. Danielle was a tomboy who never knew her mother and loved her father, and was excited by the prospect of a new mother and sisters. When her father dies she becomes a servant to her new family. After a few chance encounters with the Prince of France Danielle begins to hope that there could be a future for her that did not include cooking breakfast for her evil stepmother.
Why I love it – I am a sucker for romance and this one touched me when I first saw it at the theater and again when I dragged my husband to see it too (we were newly married and I probably would not try that now 11 years later 🙂 ) I thought Drew Barrymore was wonderful as Cinderella. She was sweet, sympathetic, fiery, and brave. And Angelica Huston as the evil stepmother was fantastic! The casting of these two was perfect as was the rest of the supporting cast. Prince Henry was a cutie and he won my heart when he took Danielle to a library for a date.
The casting was great, but I equally liked the retelling of the fairytale, full of strong women and the magical Leonardo da Vinci. Although Danielle was the servant, it was Henry who would have to make sacrifices to marry her and the only power she had was over own mind. She was a tough and vulnerable Cinderella.
Why did I watch this last night? My husband and I watched the season premiere of House this week (yea, he’s back!) and his doctor was very familiar to me. I didn’t know who she was but I kept waiting for her to turn evil. About halfway through I yelled out, “That’s the evil stepsister!” And it was, Megan Dodds. As I watched the movie again I was amazed by how good she was at playing crazy.
Stacy's Books 
This is one of my favorite movies as well. You hit all of the reasons on why it is such a great movie. Good review!
So glad we both have such great taste!
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since this movie first came out! I remember loving it the first time I saw it in theaters for all the same reasons you listed, especially because Danielle was feisty and strong. I watched it again a couple months ago and it still has it’s charm.
Drew really was a great Danielle.
Though I’ll admit I am NOT a fan of 98% of chick flicks that hit theaters, I really enjoyed “Ever After” because of the way it subverted so many fairy tale ideas, particularly the idea of the hapless woman waiting to be rescued by a gallant prince. Drew Barrymore did a great job giving Danielle wit, smarts and pluck.
M. Carter @ the Movies
http://mcarteratthemovies.wordpress.com/
I love romances and it’s nice to know that non-romance lovers like this one too 🙂
It’s funny because I am not much of a romance reader, but I love a good romance movie. This one is definitely one of my favorites too. 🙂
I’m loving how many other gals love this movie!
I LOVE Ever After! I didn’t see it on big screen (I think I was too young), but I remember watching it for first time when I was 12 at a friend’s sleepover. I convinced my mom to buy it, and she, me, and my sister watched it all the time!
I actually own the VHS tape and have been known to watch it on occasion 😉
I LOVE this movie too, I’ve seen it at least 10 times but I do think that Prince Henry was a little dumb 🙂
He was, but I actually liked that Cinderella was smarter than him even though he was the powerful one. Sounds like many realtionships I know 🙂
I watched it recently and loved it. Can you believe it, I made my mom watch it too?!
I especially liked the Da Vinci portions.
I think Da Vinci really gave it some humor and depth.
I loved this movie too and couldn’t get enough of it.
It’s all about girl power.
I love this movie. Drew Barrymore was awesome in it. Loved the nice step-sister.
Wasn’t it funny to see her turn up as Rose in 2 1/2 Men?