Ever After

Barrymore manages just fine in carrying this Cinderella update - updated, that is, in terms of feistied-up characterisation rather than period, which is 16th century France. This Cinderella, named Danielle, is a daddy's girl, jealously guarding the copy of More's Utopia her father (Krabbé) gave her before his death reduced her to wench/farm labourer under an envious stepmother (Huston) and self-deluding stepsisters. She's something of a Renaissance woman, too, in her independent way, knowledgeable in arts both martial and liberal. And something of a paragon: loyal, stoic and true. Given that this is adolescent romance, never straying far from traditional stereotypes, its 'progressive' feel-good aura is mainly down to Barrymore, whose limitations are only exposed in big love scenes.