Film Review: Cinderella
0
0
Read Time:2 Minute, 56 Second
I must make a confession before we get to far into talking about Cinderella, the wonderful new Disney film directed by Kenneth Branagh. The confession is that I don’t much care about Cinderella. I have never found the tale all that enchanting, Cinderella and Prince Charming are so boring, and it didn’t contain songs at the level of other Disney films. So why then did I thoroughly enjoy this version? Well chalk it up to some wonderful direction, lived in performances, and just a little bit of magic.
Many of you know the tale of Cinderella but if not, lets do a quick refresher. Cinderella, or Ella (Lily James) as is her actual name, is a girl born into a perfect family with a loving mother (Hayley Atwell) and a world traveled father (Ben Chaplin). tragedy strikes rather early in that the girl’s mother dies from an unknown disease, but not before uttering her immortal words of “be kind and have courage.” Ella grows up and moves on, as does her father, who takes up with Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and her two daughters, giving Ella a new family. However, when her father dies while he’s on business, her life gets turned upside down. The bare contempt that her step mother and step sisters had is now full-blown abuse and mistreatment. Ella decides on fateful day to run away and meets Prince Kit (Richard Madden), who humorously tries to downplay his royal lineage. Kit has his own problems with a parental figure in that he’s being pressured by his father (Derek Jacobi) to marry. Wanting to see Ella again, he throws a royal ball. Ella however is kept from going by the scheming Lady Tremaine…that is until she meets her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) who grants her the night of her dreams, so long as she returns before midnight. A lovely dance with the Prince and a garden excursion are had but the clock eventually strikes 12, and she flees, leaving the shoe and leading us into the climax of the tale.
Now the above is a pretty basic set up of the tale and this version of Cinderella doesn’t take many sidesteps from the version we all know and love. This might make you think that the film is just a bland retelling, but it definitely is not. Cinderella, in the hands of Kenneth Branagh, is a charming and delightful fairytale come to life. All of those elements that make up the fairytale aesthetic from the subject matter to how the movie looks combine to form a really nicely realized film. There wasn’t a moment that I wasn’t enjoying the movie and as outlined in the opening paragraph this is quite a feat. Branagh helped immensely in this regard in that he presents this movie as a known quantity but does enough to make it feel fresh, particularly in the action sequences. Cinderella’s run from the castle is filled with some dazzling camera work and crackling energy and Branagh keeps the film tightly paced and moving.
He is of course helped in the fact that he has a great ensemble of actors to work with. Whether its Cate Blanchett’s regalness bleeding into bits of sinister menace or King of the North King of Our Loins Richard Madden bringing that saccharine love-sick prince-ness or Lily James wonderful interpretation of the titular character, everyone in this film seems to know just what it needs to keep moving along.
Cinderella opens March 13 nationwide.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %