The next morning, a proclamation is put up outside the castle summarizing the quest. Note to self: in the Disney universe, France consists of the royal castle and one town.
At the chateau, Lady Tremaine is calling for Cindy rather frantically. “Oh, where is that — “
"Yes?" Cindy asks as she enters the room. "Here I am."
"My daughters. Where are they?"
"I think they’re still in bed."
This does not calm Her Ladyship. “Well, don’t just stand there! Bring up the breakfast trays at once, and hurry!”
As Cindy leaves, Jaq and Gus wonder what Lady Tremaine’s problem is. They follow her upstairs, where she tries to wake her daughters without much success. “We haven’t a moment to lose. Hurry now! He’ll be here any minute.”
"Who will?" the stepsisters ask.
"The Grand Duke!" she answers while picking out their outfits. "He’s been hunting all night for that girl. The one who lost her slipper at the ball last night. They say he’s madly in love with her!"
"The Duke is…?"
"No, the Prince!"
Cindy has come up the stairs with breakfast during all of that. When she realizes that 1) she was dancing with the Prince and 2) he’s in love with her, she drops the tray.
"You clumsy little fool!" Lady Tremaine snaps. "Clean that up, and then help my daughters dress."
"What for?" they complain. "If he’s in love with that girl, why should we even bother?"
"Now, you two, listen to me!" Lady Tremaine says. "There is still a chance that one of you can get him." She explains the shoe fitting to her increasingly interested daughters and finishes by saying that if they find a girl who fits the shoe, "then by the King’s command, that girl shall be the Prince’s bride!"
"Bride?" all three girls exclaim. The stepsisters go nuts and start piling their laundry on Cindy, who just stands in the doorway daydreaming. “What’s the matter with her?” they wonder when they finally notice this. “Wake up, stupid! We gotta get dressed!”
Cindy, still in a daze, hands the laundry back. “Dressed…oh, yes. We must get dressed. It would never do for the Duke to see me looking like this.” She wanders back to her room, singing to herself and dancing all the way.
"Mother, did you see what she did?" Anastasia cries as they watch her go.
"Quiet!" says Lady Tremaine. She’s put two and two together, and as she watches Cindy go, she…well…she does this.
If looks could kill, this movie would’ve ended right here. Because Cindy would’ve spontaneously combusted or something.
But Lady Tremaine has something almost as horrid planned. Up she goes after Cindy. Jaq and Gus see this and use one of their shortcuts to get to Cindy’s room first. They try to warn her, but she’s too busy brushing her hair and doesn’t realize that something’s happening until she sees her stepmother’s reflection in the mirror. Lady Tremaine locks the door and shuts it, trapping Cindy inside. Despite Cindy’s pleas, she pockets the key and heads back downstairs.
"She can’t lock up Cinderelly!" Gus shouts. "I’m gonna — "
"We gotta get that key, Gus-Gus," Jaq tells him. "We just gotta get that key."
Meanwhile, the very tired Duke pulls up to the chateau in his carriage. “Now remember, girls,” Lady Tremaine tells her daughters, “this is your last chance. Don’t fail me.” She then opens the door to admit the Duke. “You honor our humble home, my Lord. May I present my daughters, Anastasia and Drizella.”
The Duke is so horrified that his monocle pops out, and the girls each claiming the slipper as theirs and fighting over it doesn’t help. He just wants to get this silly search over with, but he has to read the proclamation aloud before he tries the slipper on the girls.
As he reads, Jaq and Gus sneak into a teacup on the table that Lady Tremaine is standing next to. Jaq tries to get the key from her pocket, only to end up in her pocket himself. While he’s there, she reaches in to check the key and nearly touches him. She then picks up the teacup Gus is in and offers the Duke some tea. Gus only avoids getting a drop right on his stomach when the Duke refuses it.
Even though I know how the movie’s going to end, this scene still manages to be fairly tense. Until it gets to this next part.
Jaq gets the key and tries to have Gus pull him back to the table. Gus steadies himself by grabbing the teapot, but it tips over and splashes a drop of tea on him. He loses his grip, and the mice both fall to the floor. Luckily, the key falls with them. “Come on, Gus-Gus!” says Jaq. “Hurry! Up the stairs!”
…These guys have shortcuts in the walls that go all over the house. They easily outrun humans when using them, and they can carry objects through them without much trouble. Why the hell do they need to use the stairs now?
But use the stairs they do, for some reason. Eventually they make it to Cindy’s room, where Cindy is still just sitting in front of the door trying to pull on the handle. Perhaps she should have resorted to a battering ram by now? No thoughts of making a ladder from cloth? Forget it, the movie’s almost over.
Jaq and Gus are about to take the key under the door when Lucifer jumps out of nowhere and traps both the key and Gus. Jaq bites his tail which makes him let go of Gus, but he grabs him again. The other mice rush at him, but he knocks them all away. They wave a candle in his face, and he blows it out. The birds drop stuff on him, but he still doesn’t budge.
Cindy finally gets the idea to send Bruno after him. “Go get Bruno!” she tells the birds. They fly outside, wake Bruno up with the horse’s help and send him inside. He chases Lucifer out the window, where the cat falls and…it cuts away before the impact, which may or may not be a good thing. But Gus is free, and the key is finally gotten under the door.
Meanwhile, the stepsisters have been trying on the slipper. The only part of their feet that fit in it are their toes, so they keep trying to force it on. When Drizella tries this, it goes flying and the Duke barely manages to catch it. “You are the only ladies of the household, I hope…I presume?” he asks as he prepares to leave.
"There’s no one else, Your Grace," Lady Tremaine answers.
"Quite so. Good day — "
"Your Grace!" Cindy shouts as she comes down the stairs. "Please wait! May I try it on?"
The Tremaines tell the Duke to ignore Cindy, but insists that every maiden must have a go at the shoe. He sits her down and orders for the slipper to be brought. But Lady Tremaine, who apparently feeds off the misery of the kind and innocent, has one last plan; as the bearer of the slipper walks by, she trips him with her cane. The slipper falls and shatters on the floor.
"Oh no!" the Duke shrieks. "This is terrible. The King! What will he say? What will he do?"
"But perhaps, if it would help — "
"No, no! Nothing can help now! Nothing!"
"But you see, I have the other slipper," Cindy continues as she pulls it from her apron.
The Duke kisses it, Lady Tremaine gets to know what it’s like to have all your plans obliterated for once and we get that iconic shot of Cindy putting on the slipper even though the fact that she has it is proof enough. Yay! :D
Some time later, the town bells are ringing as the newly married Cindy and Prince come down the castle steps. Cindy loses her shoe again, the King puts it back on and she gives him a kiss on the forehead that makes him blush. The chorus starts up one last round of “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” as the couple rides off in their carriage with Cindy’s animal friends. As they kiss, we fade back to the book. Happily ever after, book shuts, THE END.
Phew! Another movie done. Well, almost. Stay tuned for the afterword!
