Cinderella [G]

“Have courage and be kind.” Those were the words that Ella’s loving mother said to her before she died. Ella vowed to always keep this promise to her mother, but when her father remarries a wicked woman with two vile daughters, it becomes harder and harder for Ella to be brave and kind. When her father dies, all the light and happiness is stripped from Ella’s world as her stepmother and stepsisters reduce her to a slave in her own house. But with a little help from her fairy godmother, Ella’s faith in magic, courage, and kindness is rekindled… in the form of a glass slipper. 

We all know the story; it’s quite possibly one of the most celebrated fairytales in literature, having been adapted time and time again by Disney animation to Adelaide Yen Mah’s Chinese Cinderella, Drew Barrymore’s Ever After, Hilary Duff’s teen romp A Cinderella Story, and I seem to recall there was a version done with Brandy, Whitney Houston, and Whoopi Goldberg! Kenneth Branagh revitalises a classic, which in all honesty has never been in need of resurrecting, but nevertheless it’s a thing and here are my thoughts on it… 

“Have courage and be kind.” Those were the words that Ella’s loving mother said to her before she died. Ella vowed to always keep this promise to her mother, but when her father remarries a wicked woman with two vile daughters, it becomes harder and harder for Ella to be brave and kind. When her father dies, all the light and happiness is stripped from Ella’s world as her stepmother and stepsisters reduce her to a slave in her own house. But with a little help from her fairy godmother, Ella’s faith in magic, courage, and kindness is rekindled… in the form of a glass slipper. 

At the end of the day, I didn’t mind this movie but I didn’t really love it either. The danger with doing something like this is to try and make it fresh, but at the same time do a close adaptation and because the Cinderella story has been done so many times it’s really hard to make another version that stands out from all others. So kudos to Kenneth and everyone involved for giving that a red-hot go! 

There were two things that I really liked about this film. One was the fact that we actually get to see Cinderella’s mother, not only get to see her but see her and Cinderella’s relationship! The mother is a legitimate character here; not just a memory or omniscient presence and I felt that that was a really good move because it just brought greater depth to the character of Ella herself and stood a foundational building block for the moral story and the rest of the movie. 

The second thing I quite liked was the relationship between the king and the prince. In Disney’s Cinderella and in Ever After the prince and king are always butting heads and, this does happen to a certain extent in this movie, but ultimately there’s this really beautiful and real familial relationship between the two: one particularly beautiful shot is of the prince curled up with his head on the king’s lap weeping. The two men cease to be political figures and giant members of society and are just a father and son and it’s really quite beautiful. 

Despite the exaggerated lighting (highly exaggerated actually) and the incredible but at the same time seizure-inducing makeup, hair, and costumes, this movie is a good solid exhibition of believing in the genuineness of oneself and trusting that just you yourself in the world is enough. The good are rewarded as well as shown to be big enough to not punish the wicked and there is no doubt as to who has the moral high ground. 

On a bit of a disappointing note, although the cast was pretty damned brilliant, it didn’t feel as if anyone (except Lily James who stars as Cinderella) really inserted themselves into the roles. Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother, which I was so totally excited about was a bit of a letdown and Helena Bonham Carter as the fairy godmother… well I really don’t know what was going on with her, which is sad because I love her! 

Starring Richard Madden, Nonso Anozie, Stellen Skarsgard, Sophie McShera, Holliday Grainger, Ben Chaplin, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, and Derek Jacobi, Cinderella was a fine retelling of a classic, but not a wholly remarkable one. Filled with drama, much crying, magic, romance, and comedy, it was sweet; undeniably sweet and romantic and lovely, but it just fell short for me. At the end of the day, I feel it was quite hit-and-miss because there were some parts that were really lovely and moralistic and uplifting, but there were others that were silly or disappointing or just downright not needed. I have to admit I’m not quite sure what to think of this movie.