Cinderella 3 was interesting because it involved time travel where the evil step mother gets a hold of the fairy godmother's wand and turns back time and magically makes the glass slipper fit the evil stepsister. It's like an alternate reality. Rather bold material for a D2V Disney sequel in my opinion.
That reality for it was that it had a higher budget then the other DTV sequels. The animators were given extensive model sheets and live-action references. The guy who directed it also did the Tinkerbell movie, which I heard was pretty good for a DTV release.
Go Tink Go!
It is ironic that someone from a company that specializes in CG animation is helping to bring Disney back to its 2D animation roots with Princess and the Frog.
I read somewhere, when the movie was still in pre-production phase, that the Pixar President asked the directors from the Little Mermaid and Aladdin to help direct the movie. From what I've seen in the trailers, it looks great. They basically take the original fairy tale and flip it on it's head, which isn't new.
BTW, Maleficent is the best Disney villain, ever.