Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer

Story

Prince Alex (voice of Chris Niosi) sacrifices his human form and is transformed into a mouse to save Ella (voice of Geri Courtney-Austein). Ella vows to do whatever it takes to break the spell and set him free. With help from the apprentice sorcerer, Crystal (voice of Ashley Bornancin), and her faithful mice friends, Manny (voice of Bob Klein) and Walter (voice of Tony Azzolino), Ella sets about trying to transform Alex.

When Crystal’s spell goes wrong, Ella and friends set off in search of the Guardian of the Forest (voice of Nisa Ward), who’s rumoured to possess a Life Stone with incredible restorative powers. Unfortunately, the evil Desert Queen (voice of Monica Young) has stolen the stone for her own wicked purposes, so the unlikely heroes set off to find her.

Meanwhile, Olaf (voice of Billy Kametz), a cunning and vindictive prince, tries to deceive everyone for his own personal gain. Will friendship prove strong enough to conquer the forces of evil? Will Alex ever get a second chance for a human life?

Themes

Corruption; greed; good versus evil; identity crisis; magic quests; curses

Violence

Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer has some violence. For example:

Alex drinks a potion that flings him across the room. He hits a wall and falls to the floor.
Manny and Walter are kicked out of a door.
Crystal tries to hit a cloud with her magical staff but knocks her head on a tree. She tries to fight the cloud and falls back towards Earth. She eventually succeeds in hitting the cloud in the head. The cloud gets angry and tries to get back at Crystal with thunder and lightning.
Someone throws a dart at Ella while she sits in a chair.
Manny and Walter hide in a chest of drawers, where they’re repeatedly hit at with hammers.
Ella is trapped in a cage while cats chase Manny and Walter. The cats want to eat them. Manny is strung up on a hook while Walter is about to be served. When Walter eats his garnish and truly enjoys the vegetables, the chef cat lets them go.
Olaf traps Ella and the mice in a force field.
Crystal puts a force field around Olaf.
Crystal is forced to shoot spells at Ella, and she hits Ella in the chest. Ella falls backwards off a steep, stony cliff, and Crystal believes that she has died. Ella turns out to be fine.
The Desert Queen slams Manny into the side of her staff and turns Crystal into a doll.
The Guardian of the Forest and the Desert Queen have a magic battle. They shoot spells and conjure rocks. They blast at each other while Ella and the mice try to get the Life Stone.
Olaf and Ella fall off a cliff. Ella is saved by a cloud.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer.

Coarse language

There’s some mild name-calling and insults in Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer, including ‘silly little wench’, ‘riff-raff’, ‘liar’ and ‘cheat’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer is an animated adventure, in which the princess is the hero who must save the prince. Other than this, it has a predictable plot. This is a family movie for all but the youngest of viewers, with particular appeal for children aged 5-8 years.

The main messages from Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer are that if you don’t try you’ll never know what you’re capable of. And the most important thing is to keep trying, even when things are hard.

Values in Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, helpfulness, courage, kindness, determination, selflessness and sacrifice.

Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer could also give the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of behaviour like:

listening to people who just want to use you and trusting people you shouldn’t
setting out on your own to do something that you could do better with help
using violence to solve conflict
giving in to the destructive forces of greed and corruption.