Heartwarming / Cinderella III: A Twist in Time

• Cinderella and Prince Charming's first meeting (after the Ball). Even with his memories being tampered with, it's just adorable.
• After making a complete fool of herself (as always), The Prince still acts like a perfect gentleman to Anastasia. Much to her shock, "He was ... nice to me."
• In the end, when it's revealed to everyone now that Anastasia is an imposter, she is still forgiven, particularly by Cinderella, and the king still shows the utmost kindness to her.
• During the climax, after Cinderella witnesses Anastasia refuse to marry the Prince, Lady Tremaine tries to turn her into a toad for revenge (and presumably try to take the Kingdom by force thereafter), showing what a genuinely loveless motherhood she and Cinderella have experienced. Cinderella desperately jumps in front of her stepsister to shield her from being turned into a toad, as even she can see how much Anastasia has suffered under Lady Tremaine. Whilst Cinderella has yet to declare her forgiveness, it's still a potent moment of solidarity.
• After her stepmother is defeated, Cinderella walks up to Anastasia, who made it possible for her and Charming to be together by refusing to go through with the wedding. The two have a sisterly snuggle, as Cinderella finally forgives her stepsister and repairs their strained relationship. Anastasia was only ever a jerk on the outside, as Lady Tremaine had suppressed her true loving nature. Cinderella understands this completely and is able to finally embrace Anastasia as a true sister.
  Cinderella: Anastasia...thank you.
• The King's speech about how he met his wife. If you look at the background, all of the portraits on all the walls are of his wife. To go more into detail, he calls Anastasia for a talk after her Epic Fail at learning to dance. The poor girl is near tears, certain she's going to be yelled at for not being good at princess-y things. Instead of being angry though, the king kindly tells her about how his wife wasn't what one would consider to be a conventional queen, but he loved her very much. "She trod on my feet too, but she took very good care of my heart."
  • The King then gives Anastasia his most prized possession: the seashell he and his wife found together. At the end, Anastasia tries to return it now that the ruse is over, but the King lets her keep it.
    Anastasia: (handing the shell back) Your Majesty, I don't deserve this.
    King: (smiling and closing her hands back over it) Everyone deserves true love.
  • And after that, Anastasia honestly looks like she's about to cry from happiness, before tackling him in a hug. Which he accepts.
  • The portraits reveal that the queen was a redhead, just like Anastasia herself. She probably reminded him of his wife.
• The start of the end credits shows the Baker from Dreams Come True giving Anastasia a cupcake while they sit in a garden together. The director said the animators made this drawing especially for viewers who would otherwise fear that the writers forgot about the Baker.
• The Prince tells his father (and the audience) that it was never about Cinderella's slipper, but the girl wearing it.
• Charming going after Cinderella. And, eventually, the King deciding to let him.
• After Jaq and Gus sing "At the Ball" to Prince Charming to explain what's really going on with him, Cinderella, and Anastasia, Charming leaves, and then returns a few seconds later to thank them and say he loved their song.
• By all legal grounds, Cinderella owns the Chateau and she could, if she wanted too, being a Princess, force her step family out - it was her father's and she'd have inherited it if Lady Tremaine hadn't forced her into servitude, after all - but she doesn't. She lets them keep it out of kindness and mercy. True, it lead to the events of the movie where Lady Tremaine tries to ruin everything. But all in all, it would be uncharacteristic of Cinderella to ever show cruelty, and it may, in fact, have made her stepmother even MORE dangerous, and liable to seek out Fairy Godmother herself.

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