Cinderella (2015 film)

After my rather unpleasant experience with Maleficent last year (yeah, my thoughts compared to my review have changed & I really can't stand it thanks to how much it botched the characters & the source material), it's no surprise that I was also wary & pessimistic when I heard Cinderella would also be getting the same live action reboot treatment! But when I saw the first trailer, it surprised me because it looks like they haven't taken as much liberties in the story compared to other Disney reboots besides a few changes here & there to accommodate to contemporary audiences & the live action setting while keeping the same message & heart of the original 1950 movie. And ever since then, I was admittedly excited up to the point that I went to the Swarovski exhibit in London (you can see my blog post now) Directed by Kenneth Branagh & starring Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden & Helena Bonham Carter, can this modern retelling be faithful to the original, or is this another piece of the collection of mediocre & unecessary Disney reboots? Let's find out!

 

Story: Considering the other Disney reboots, you have no idea how worried I was about how they'd handle the source material, which in this case is the original 1950 film. However, the thing that really surprised me is that they actually respected the source material, keeping the basic elements of the plot while the changes made were to accommodate the live action setting & were only really minor. It's nice to see a proper fairytale on the big screen instead of them resorting to change things because other popular fairytale reboots are doing it & I must give credit to Kenneth Branagh with that. I also liked that they expanded the romance between Cinderella & Kit, except it reminded me a bit too much of Ever After (the historical version with Drew Barrymore) & it wasn't really as expanded as that movie, but it's better than them just meeting at the ball & him immediately deciding he wants to marry her. Another part which was interesting was seeing more of Cinderella's backstory & her mother shown in a flashback at the beginning of the film showing the main message throughout, have courage and be kind & that love conquers all. By the way, there are some very nice Easter eggs throughout from the 1950 film, and I recommend you stay durings the end credits for one in particular that will give you a very nostalgic feeling to the 1950 film. The only 'problem' I really have is that there's nothing really that makes it stand out compared to other Cinderella movies or does anything unique, but I'd rather have them stick too much to the source material like this rather instead of have them tamper with everything like what Maleficent & Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland did! Unlike those two, it definitely feels refreshing for Disney to actually show respect to the 1950 film & for the story to be kept the same along with the message & to treat it like a fairytale & is already the best Disney remake out there because of this.

Visuals: Like any Disney reboot nowadays, the visuals in this film are absolutely gorgeous! This time however, I much prefer how colourful it is compared to the dark & gritty tones of the other reboots & in Cinderella's case, it definitely works to its advantage as it helps with the fairytale setting. The costumes are absolutely stunning, especially during the ball scene as the attention to detail is incredible, including the stepsister's ballgowns, the Fairy Godmother's dress & Cinderella's gorgeous blue ballgown with the butterfly motif along with the crystal looking glass slippers. Heck, even the extra's costumes were amazing to look at & I must give credit to Sally Powell for an excellent job! The production design also helped give that fairytale/Disney feeling rather it be Cinderella's house, the palace or just the town the characters live in. The golden coach was also amazing to look at & the use of CGI is also great rather it be for the mice or the horses, but it's easily at it's best during the transformation scene when Ella's rags turn into her gorgeous blue ballgown. The only issue I really have in terms of the CGI is when they use it on the creatures turned into people, especially on the lizard as it gave him that uncanny valley creepy look along with the CGI on the outside of the palace which looked obvious, but it's not used for that long & didn't ruin anything for me! While the visuals are easily the best, it's still clear that in this movie, there was a compromise in both this & the story unlike the past Disney reboot which would solely focus on the visuals!

Characters: Ella (Cinderella is actually a cruel nickname the stepsisters gave her), played by Downton Abbey's Lily James, is essentially the same kind hearted woman we know & love, but is also more active, but not too much so she stays true to the character & James' performance helps despite not really being developed besides her relationship with her birth parents. Lady Tremaine (played by Cate Blanchett) may be totally different to her animated counterpart, but she's still a great antagonist as Blanchett gives the character a bit more subtlety in her cruelty towards Ella & has a bit more charisma compared to being strict all the time & a bit of her backstory explaining that she did genuinely love her first husband & that Cinderella's father favored his daughter over her which gave her a bit more dimensionality. Prince Kit (played by Game of Thrones' Richard Madden) is still the same handsome prince like in the animated film, and I didn't think there was much to him compared to the other characters, but he's not bad & is more active when trying to find Cinderella along with the relationship with his father. Drizella (played by James' Downton co-star Sophie McShera) & Anastasia (played by Holliday Granger) are very funny thanks to their performances along with their personalities being more dumb & eccentric. The Fairy Godmother's role is also much more active as she narrates throughout the film (thankfully, it's not like Maleficent when it was inconsistent) & has a much more witty & eccentric personality thanks to Helena Bonham Carter's perfect performance. Cinderella's parents also have their roles greatly expanded, which was also very nice to see, with her father being kind & still missing his deceased wife despite remarrying while her mother is the one to teach Cinderella about kindness & courage. The other characters like the Grand Duke, the Captain & the King don't have as much screen time & their personalities are radically different, but they're not too unrecognisable unlike what Maleficent did to it's characters & it does fit in better with the live action setting & the Captain can be funny from time to time. Oh yeah, and the mice Jaq (now a girl) & Gus appear, but they obviously don't talk yet they're still entertaining thanks to the brilliant CGI bringing them to life & for any other British fans out there like me, Rob Brydon makes a brief appearance as Phileus the painter. Thanks to some great acting thanks to the actors doing their own interpretations rather than copying their animated versions, it is nice to see the characters we know & love from the original have the same personalities & roles intact!

Cinderella is definitely the best live action remake so far & the most quinteseential telling of the tale so far with a well handled & respectful story, gorgeous visuals & great acting from everyone bringing the characters to life. This is definitely a turning point thanks to Kenneth Branagh's decisions on how to deal with treating it along with respecting the source material & I must give major kudos to him. It may not be as good as the animated version or the best adaptation of the story, but it's still a start for Disney reboots & I still really enjoyed it nonetheless! As for my thoughts on the short that was shown before the film, Frozen Fever, I'll be doing a separate review on it that'll come out soon!
Story: 8/10
Visuals: 10/10
Characters: 8/10
Overall: 8/10