Cinderella

Really, I didn't have too much of an interest in seeing Cinderella. Believe it or not, I actually did see Maleficent and I was a little bit unimpressed. So much so that I didn't even finish a review for it. Eventually maybe I will, but back to my point, I was not impressed with Maleficent and Cinderella isn't my favorite Disney take on a fairy tale anyway so I wasn't opposed to skipping it.

However, what I am more interested in is the future of Disney live action films. There is a long line of classic Disney fairy tale cartoons being remade into live action. Some of them I'm really excited for, like Beauty and the Beast with probably the best cast I've seen of a movie in a long time. Others I'm not incredibly interested in, like Dumbo or another Alice in Wonderland (both helmed by Tim Burton). Regardless, Cinderella, to me, seemed like the start of this long line of live action films and while I wasn't jumping out of my seat to go see the film, if given the opportunity, I would take a look. On top of everything, I'm a fan of Kenneth Branagh and had the idea that regardless, things would be well directed.

Well that opportunity came in the form of my girlfriend and her family so I got to go to Cinderella.

The prologue of sorts of this movie starts when Ella is a young girl and actually goes into what her life was like before the classic cartoon actually started. It shows how she had this incredible childhood, her and her parents are both alive and just the happiest of families.

I kind of get the feeling that the movie was trying to set the beginning of this film up with an Up style prologue, showing them all happy, then showing it all tragically crash down when the mother dies. Unfortunately, for me it just didn't feel that way. Sure it was sad that the mother died but something about the set up didn't feel incredibly real or relatable so, yeah it was sad, but its not Up sad.

Anyway, the mother dies and Ella's father eventually marries again when Ella is older (played by Lily James). And you know the story, he of course marries the evil step mother (played by Cate Blanchette) and she brings along her evil but not too bright step sisters (played by Holliday Granger and Sophia McShera).

Now when I say evil, that's just a matter of setting up that they are the antagonists of the story. They're really not evil, at least they're not set up that way. They're just privileged and unkind. I'll talk more about the step-mother because she's actually done very well.

The nice thing about the film is that the decline Ella faces becoming a slave to her step-mother and step-sisters is not a sudden one. Its gradual and it makes sense in the context of the story. At first its just Ella being kind and helping out, and that kindness is abused until she's no longer a daughter, she's a slave. And its only made worse by the death of Ella's father.

And the circumstances only exacerbate the situation. When Ella's father dies, the Step-Mother realizes her family is in financial trouble. Suddenly, pawning her daughters off to the Prince isn't just pawning her daughters off to the prince, there's reasoning behind it. The Step-Mother is not longer the ominous villain, she has a motive and doesn't see herself as the bad guy. And if the story can make you almost feel bad for the villain, that's the mark of a good story.

But let's talk about Ella.

I'll be honest, when I first saw the trailers for this movie, I wasn't totally sure this was the Cinderella I was familiar with. The cartoon from 1950 is really kind of iconic and I just didn't really feel she was the right choice for the role.

However, I ended up really liking her. Cinderella's big thing in this film is that she is incredibly kind and courageous. That's her thing.

But the thing about her is that she's not all happy go lucky, you can tell she's a person just like anybody else and she's just incredibly kind. You see her trying to do the best she can for herself but at the same time putting others in front of her. And to top it all off, I kind of felt that this isolation had an effect on her. At first she's talking to the mice like they can talk back. Its played off as though she's kind of an imaginative little girl. But when she's isolated and alone and she starts talking to mice, it kind of seems like she's going a little bit crazy being alone like this.

It really makes you take a second look at the story and realize that there's a little bit of nuts in Cinderella.

I mean I know its a fairy tale but being abused by your family for that long has to have to negative effects on her. Its not incredibly noticeable but its kind of an interesting element to the character.

Now she does have her moments where she's a little bit too perfect. There's a point where her father is like, "I'm going away, but what do you want as a present when I get back." Of course her step sisters are like, "I WANT A PARISOL! I WANT STUFF!" But our second coming of jesus over her gives probably the weirdest answer ever. She says she wants the first branch that graces your shoulder. I mean its a cute little way of telling her father she wants to be with him but its a little too perfect.

Speaking of perfect, eventually Cinderella actually runs away and accidentally meets...

God almighty, gift to all women and men from here to the ends of the earth, Richard fucking Madden.

Seriously though, my god, would you look at that smolder!

Well Cinderella and Prince Charming (Or Kit as they call him) meet in the woods and Kit doesn't tell her that he is the Prince. They immediately are attracted towards one another.

The secret point of all of this is to make it so there is some kind of interaction between Cinderella and the Prince. In this modern age of Frozen romances, people can't fall in love at first sight. They have to have one conversation, dance a little bit, have another conversation, THEN fall in love with one another.

I liked what they did here honestly. I didn't feel like it was too love at first sight but at the same time, since it was so little of a time actually knowing each other, there is a little bit of an element of them falling for one another right away which I think shouldn't be lost in Disney Fairy Tales, its what they're kind of known for. Call me old fashion but I kind of like it.

Furthermore, they develop Kit as a character rather than just a guy she meets. Do you remember the Prince's name in the cartoon? No? Well there's a reason, its because he never had one.

They also have real conversations between Kit and his father the king (played by Derek Jacobi).

Its done pretty well and it doesn't feel like they're adding unnecessary stuff.

The kingdom is very small and the king is dying. The king and his counsel are worried that the Prince will not have what it takes to take on the throne and they need a princess from another kingdom to come and give the kingdom strength.

Its not exactly Game of Thrones politics, but it does add a little bit of intrigue to the plot and gives Stellan Skarsgard the opportunity to be a slimy conniving bad guy in this which I kind of enjoyed.

I also liked the relationship between The Prince and his father. Despite the fact that Derek Jacobi does look like the animated king from the cartoon, he's a really good actor and the two compliment each other very well.

And apart of me is pretty glad that this wasn't cut throat Game of Thrones politics, its nice to see Richard Madden get a happy ending and a real wedding...

It still hurts...

The story goes on exactly how you would have expected it to go. The king holds a ball to get the Prince a wife. Cinderella's step-mother refuses to allow her to go, Cinderella is visited by her fairy god-mother (played by Helena Bohnam Carter). She gets her dream dress, carriage, and perfect night out at the ball to meet her Prince Charming. After midnight she loses the dream and she must flee the ball as her gifts go away. But of course she leaves her glass slipper and the Prince looks high and low for her. Happy ending, yada yada yada.

The thing that I liked about this film was how close it held to the original story and the original 1950 cartoon.

In an age of Frozen, which don't get me wrong is a good film, every movie for kids is politically correct. The female lead can't be "the princess" anymore.

Now don't get me wrong, I think its good to have stories that provide a good example for women because let's be honest, as great as the classic disney cartoons are, they do have their morals that can be skewed if the wrong audience takes them too seriously.

For example, the original Cinderella could be seen as a message to young girls as if you wait long enough, your man will come and you'll be set for life. There are a lot of worse lessons that if you really look into certain Disney films closely you'll be appalled. Here are some people who look WAY too into it, here are my examples.

Now, while I think the video has some points about the portrayal of women, and how we've kind of progressed since, I do think there is some merit to the stories of old. There is some romantic about Cinderella and the Prince falling in love almost at first sight. There is something romantic and old fashioned about the tale as a whole.

And that's where I think bringing in Kenneth Branagh in was a brilliant choice.

The man has been able to show us that he is able to tell a story in a fantastic story. He's a Shakespearean trained actor and he just knows how to tell as story with that Shakespearean flair to it. And that's the fun part about this movie.

While its very much a live action version of the same cartoon you watched when you were a kid, it hold the flair and mood of a Shakespearean style play. The characters are more developed, the way the movie is shot is done really well, and the use of special effects just makes it very well done.

But while the story does feel like a Shakespearean play, the costumes and feel of the story gives the feeling of a fairy tale as well. The mix of Branagh's storytelling and that fairytale flair gives the movie a really entertaining and familiar feel to it.

Branagh's take on the story really kind of negates any criticism I heard of the film not being totally great because it was missing the musical elements that were in the original cartoon.

The reason Branagh's storytelling make it so the lack of music doesn't bother me is because most Shakespearean plays don't have music in them. That's just how he does his storytelling and its good to have that differentiation.

On top of that, I would ask the hardcore fans who believe that the movie needed music to ask themselves one question.

Think back to the Cinderella cartoon. Take out Bipity Bopity Boo and can you name one song from the original Cinderella cartoon?

I mean if you can, I think you're in the minority. The music from that movie is not exactly memorable and its not as well known as the other cartoons that were musicals from the classic Disney flicks.

Now if Beauty and The Beast didn't have music, I might be a little bit concerned. I'll still see it but I don't know if the story is as iconically Disney without that music.

And then you ask the question, could they have used the music from the Broadway musical? Personally, as someone who has seen the musical, I would have been fine with that, but that music is not nearly as iconic or memorable. Not to say the cartoon is, but I don't think Cinderella was known for its music as much as it was known for the story and the characters.

And when I talk about characters that are more fleshed out, I obviously am talking about the Prince and his father because both of them do a very good job. But the main praise I'll give this film is the development of the evil Step-mother.

The Step-mother, or Lady Tremaine as she's called in this film does get more development in this story as it does start a little bit earlier and develops Ella's story as well.

There's a great scene where Lady Tremaine finds the glass slipper Cinderella kept and tells her her background on how she married once for love. And then when that love died all she focused on were her daughters despite the fact that they were not that bright. So while the actions of the step-mother are horrible and incredibly mean to Cinderella, you understand her actions and sympathize. Again it goes back to the villain being understood. She sees herself as the good guy and her actions, though inexcusable, are understood.

And I think she was done well as a villain because at no point did I say, Lady Tremaine is an anti-hero because of her backstory or because I understand her point of view.

Too often these days we run into the pitfall of just because a villain is understood, we call them anti-heroes. I think that is totally wrong. Someone can still be a villain but have a compelling story. You can still understand why they are doing what they're doing without calling them an anti-hero.

Anyway, I really liked Cate Blanchett's character and she played it nicely.

The one complaint I have with the movie is in one character...

Now to be fair, Carter was not bad in this film. I didn't go out of this film thinking it was absolutely ruined by Carter.

But the thing about it was, it wasn't Helena Bohnam Carter playing the Fairy Godmother, the Fairy God-mother was Helena Bohnam Carter. Its the same character Carter plays in almost every movie she's in. The quirky possibly crazy/possibly drunk British woman that I can only imagine Carter is in real life. I didn't feel like she separated herself from the character the Fairy God-mother.

Now, to be fair, all she had to do was narrate for the film and do a five minute scene where she turns everything into the stuff Cinderella needs to go the ball. She probably didn't need to put a lot of effort into it. But while everyone else was really taking this movie seriously in a good way, you just had Helena Bohnam Carter in a dress saying Bipity Bopity Boo because... you know... that's what the fairy God-mother says.

Again, not a deal breaker, it's fine. But again, it was just Helena Bohnam Carter in a dress.

But that is literally one of the complaints I have of the movie. Is it my favorite movie? No. Is it superb? No. But it is a well done movie and does give me a little bit of hope for the future of live action movies, especially if they are done with such care and thought that Kenneth Branagh put in this one.

But what did you think of Cinderella? Are you excited for all the Disney Live action movies coming out in the next few years? Comment and Discuss below! And if you liked this, follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews and to send me your thoughts and requests for future reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Here's the honest trailer for the 1950's cartoon. I've got a list of reviews to get through, I gotta keep moving. Enjoy!