Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

Ever After is inevitably a chick flick because it has the whole princess thing going on, and girls and women everywhere go crazy over it. But it's also a great family movie (real-life fairy tale, lots of action and humor, no sex) and men who have a romantic side will find they love it too. I'm a big fairy tale and romance fan and I think this is the best Cinderella movie ever made (though I haven't yet seen Three Wishes for Cinderella). Drew Barrymore is a plucky, resourceful young woman with a strong back story that explains her character, yet she continues to surprise right to the end. She speaks up to the prince and sets him straight in matters of social justice and the heart, and he is taken with her. Anjelica Huston is a master of the imperious then the preening then the fawning schemer who gives noblewomen a bad name. Her daughters are inventive characters in their own right. The scenery is resplendent, the wardrobe is exquisite, the script is intelligent, and the pacing is bright. The special features include only the trailer, which inexplicably plays to the tune of Loreen McKennit's The Mummer's Dance. Four stars.