1. The Magic Riddle is an iconic Australian movie from the '90s.
2. It is basically Australia's answer to Disney princess movies. But it's the only one of its kind, so the creators somehow managed to cram ALL THE FAIRY TALES in there.
Including Cinderella...
And Little Red Riding Hood...
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves...
Pinocchio...
The Three Little Pigs...
And even The Ugly Duckling.
3. This is achieved by having an old lady tell the story and blaming her bad memory on the mish-mash. She's basically like "screw it, I'll do it MY WAY".
4. The time period is all mixed up too. Like, Cindy, the heroine, wears jeans and a crop top.
And the evil stepmother wears this cleavage-tastic red dress and flashes her knickers constantly.
But the hero, Phillippe, wears this decidedly old-fashioned get up.
And there's no cars.
5. It was created by the people behind Blinky Bill and Dot and the Kangaroo so it has the same crappy look that makes you nostalgic.
6. It's also voiced by some of the same actors. So all the characters have incredibly jarring Australian accents, which somehow makes it more delightful.
8. In fact, none of the actors have particularly good voices, but that doesn't stop them from singing through the whole damn movie.
9. Including the stepmother, who belts out a number about being a mean person and DGAF.
10. She IS very mean, often wearing a weird disguise to trick others. Here she is dressed as the Big Bad Wolf dressed as Cindy's grandmother.
And here she is pretending to be Pinocchio's mother.
11. The best song of the movie goes to Phillippe.
12. He is totally dreamy in a badly drawn way.
13. There's a pretty, somewhat trippy dream sequence where Cindy fantasises about dancing with him.
14. And then she actually gets to dance with him and it's even better.
15. That's Cindy at the ball, btw, wearing Pinocchio's slippers and a mask made of snow, courtesy of her dwarf friends.
16. Cindy on the whole is a bit dense but incredibly sweet, and pretty of course.
17. Her step-sisters include the incredibly thirsty Bertha.
18. And the troublemaker Ertha, who falls in love with Pinocchio and transforms him into a real boy when she proposes to him.
19. The movie is full of slapstick humour.
20. There's one part where they all get lost in the House of 100 Doors and it's odd. When they escape they all pile on the one horse which is even weirder.
21. Aaaand then there's a happy ending and all the weird little threads are tied up rather neatly and they all live happily ever after.
22. Except the dwarves, who get turned into wood coz they've outlasted their usefulness.
23. And the evil stepmother, who has to do the dishes.
