Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer

image for Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer

Short takes

Not suitable under 4; parental guidance to 7 (themes, animated violence)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer
  • a review of Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 19 April 2022.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 4 Not suitable due to themes and animated violence.
Children aged 4–7 Parental guidance recommended due to themes and animated violence.
Children over the age of 7 Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild fantasy themes and animated violence
Length: 91 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

When Prince Alex (voice of Chris Niosi) sacrifices his human form and is transformed into a mouse to save Ella (voice of Geri Courtney-Austein), she 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 two faithful mice friends, Manny (voice of Bob Klein) and Walter (voice of Tony Azzolino), the little band sets about trying to transform Alex. When Crystal’s spell goes wrong they set off in search of the Guardian of the Forest (voice of Nisa Ward) who is rumoured to possess a Life Stone with incredible restorative powers. Discovering that the evil Desert Queen (voice of Monica Young) has stolen the stone for her own wicked purposes, the unlikely heroes set off to find her. Meanwhile, Olaf (voice of Billy Kametz), a cunning and vindictive prince, attempts to deceive everyone for his own personal gain. Will friendship prove strong enough to conquer the forces of evil and will Alex ever get a second chance for a human life?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Corruption; Greed; Good versus evil; Identity crisis; Magic quests; Curses.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Alex drinks a potion that flings him across the room where 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. Crystal tries to fight the cloud and falls back towards Earth. She eventually succeeds in hitting it in the head which only makes the cloud angry and it tries to get back at her with thunder and lightning.
  • A dart is thrown at Ella while she sits in a chair.
  • Manny and Walter hide in a chest of drawers where they are repeatedly hit at with hammers.
  • Ella is trapped in a cage while Manny and Walter are chased by cats who are intent on eating 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 some sort of force field.
  • Crystal puts a force field around Olaf.
  • Crystal is forced to shoot spells at Ella. She hits her in the chest causing Ella to fall backwards off a steep, stony cliff and Crystal believes that she has died. Ella is 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 duel each other in a battle of magic, by shooting spells and conjuring 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.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Some young children may be distressed by a creepy black smoke that transforms into the evil Desert Queen.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • None noted.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Silly little wench
  • Riff-Raff
  • Liar!
  • Cheat.

In a nutshell

Cinderella and the Little Sorcerer is an animated adventure where the heroine must save the Prince. The film contains a predictable plot and storyline and is likely to appeal to younger audiences. This is a family film for all but the youngest of viewers and will likely be most enjoyed by children in the 5 to 8-year-old age bracket.

The main messages from this movie are that if you don’t try you will never know what you are capable of; and that it doesn’t matter if you stumble or fall, the most important thing to do is to get up and keep going.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Friendship
  • Helpfulness
  • Courage
  • Kindness
  • Determination
  • Selflessness and sacrifice.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Listening to those who would use you for their own gain and trusting those you shouldn’t.
  • Setting out on your own to do a task that requires assistance.
  • Using violence as a means to solve conflict.
  • The destructive forces of greed and corruption.