BUENA VISTA's newest "direct to video(dvd)" release, "Cinderella 2", even with its faults, is certain to please the young audiences it's aimed for.  While possessing little of the quality storywriting which made the original film so pleasing for the entire family, the plot is simple enough for young children to follow, and it's mildly amusing as well.

The short film, running just about 78 minutes, is actually three separate short films, connected by the mouse character of Jaq. 

The first film, "Aim to Please" captures Cinderella's efforts to take on her new role as a princess. While her advisor tries to teach her the rules of "princess" behavior, Cinderella has her own ideas, with funny results.

The next film, "A Tall Tail" details what happens when Jaq gets his wish to become a human. There's a bit of a moral to the tale, and the kids watching it loved the cat featured in it.

The last film, "An Uncommon Romance", is about Anastasia, one of Cinderella's stepsisters.  She is in love with a baker, someone her mean mother doesn't think suits her. Kids get to enjoy the animated cat from "A Tall Tail" here again.
 

The animation lacks the depth of Disney's full-length theatrical releases, but the quality is decent.  The colors are vibrant and there's no oversaturation or compression problems anywhere. 

Most impressive, is the fact Disney offers both a Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 mix here!  While there isn't an abundance of rear speaker effects, there are plenty of songs throughout the film, and there's great separation in the front soundstage for them.  The music has great fidelity and the dialogue and effects are always intelligible. The DTS mix offers a subtle advantage over the Dolby Digital mix in terms of definition. 

Disney also offers some supplements with this release, again targeted for only the youngest viewers.  A featurette about the film's music offers a great score and some very basic musical information about "scoring" a film.

There's also a storybook segment, and a game.