I was prepared to cry during EVER AFTER, the newest version of the classic Cinderella fairy tale. Everyone knows that it's a sad story about a sweet girl whose father dies, leaving her enslaved to her evil step-mother and step-sisters. That is, until her fairy godmother intervenes, and there's magic, and glass slippers, and a hunky prince and a fancy ball and a pumpkin turned into a carriage. Well, this version, set in 16th century France, doesn't have fairy godmothers or magic, and guess what? I didn't cry. I was too busy smiling; I grinned like a fool throughout this sweet, smart, sweeping period piece. Sure, parts of it are really sad, and I thought I might cry and smile at the same time, but I didn't. I just grinned and sighed.

EVER AFTER opens with a woman called the Grande Dame (the wonderful French actress Jeanne Moreau) meeting with The Brothers Grimm. She has summoned them to set the story straight about the girl they wrote about as Cinderella. That sets the story in motion, and we head back in time to the beautiful French countryside to meet a girl called Danielle (Drew Barrymore). Danielle's beloved father dies, leaving her in the hands of her evil step-mother Rodmilla (Angelica Huston). Danielle waits on her step-mother and step-sisters Marguerite (Megan Dodds, a very evil blonde) and Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey, from HEAVENLY CREATURES). It's all very sad and very familiar.

But as soon as the familiar structure of the Cinderella story is established, this flick deviates from the characters we knew so well. Turns out that Danielle is a bookworm, a smart, scrappy, tree-climbing girl who is very concerned about justice for her dear servant friends and quite disapproving of the monarchy. She happens to meet Prince Henry (cheesily hunky Dougray Scott--watch out, Kevin Sorbo, this guy could easily be the next Hercules!), first pelting him with an apple, then arguing politics with him. Of course, he falls head over heels for her (she is the luscious Drew, after all), and since he first spies her in the act of pretending to be a noblewoman in order to free a servant, the whole mistaken-identity thing is underway.

Cleverly, this version of Cinderella keeps the best of the traditional tale (evil step-mother, dashing prince, girls vying for the prince's hand in marriage, a masked ball) while adding a few twists to liven things up (the prince is a bit of a confused dope who evolves into an interesting guy; Danielle is a clever, sword-fighting, punch-throwing action heroine who has a sweet, buck-toothed boy for a best friend). Another notable twist is the presence of Leonardo Da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey); he is worked in rather awkwardly, but once you get used to him in the sort of fairy godmother role, he's rather endearing.

The only real misstep in this revision is that the screenwriters (director Andy Tennant, Susannah Grant, and Rick Parks) have encumbered the characters with lengthy speeches on heavy topics like the freedom of slaves and the role of the monarchy. Both Danielle and the prince are saddled with several ponderous political monologues. Bad move! Neither Drew (who is as adorable as always, but also as Southern California as always, kind of like Kevin Costner playing Robin Hood) nor Dougray (who is very cute, and wow, is he packing something in that cod-piece!) can handle delivering these speeches. And, of course there's the issue of the accents, which range from real French and British to on-again-off-again fake to meet-you-at-the-mall valley girl.

Still, these are minor distractions in an otherwise sweeping, fun, sad, dark, and romantic fairy tale. Drew is a great girl-power heroine; she's lovely, but she’s also earnest and normal. Angelica Huston is devastating as the evil step-mother (though my Mom wants to know how come this story is always being updated, but the step-mother remains as evil as ever--step-mothers’ rights!); she manages to be both beautiful and horrid.