In case you weren't aware, Cinderella is the story of Ella (Lily James), who’s left to act as a servant for her step-mother (Cate Blanchett) and ugly stepsisters Drisella and Anastasia (Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger respectively) following her late father's death (Ben Chaplin) forcing the family to let go the working staff to keep up with bills. But following a chance encounter with the royal "apprentice" Kip (Richard Madden), events occur which - with the help of Fairy Godmother Helena Bonham Carter - brings the two closer at the Royal Ball. But with the strike of midnight the magic begins to wear off, so Kip goes on the search for his mysterious love, but Ella is locked away by her stepmother to ensure that her demands are met. Nothing incredibly new by comparison of the 1950 classic, except an extra half hour longer and less cat-mouse antics.
Perhaps that's the film's biggest falling point - it doesn't add anything new by comparison of over Disney's (heck, even other studios') retellings of the classic tales. Alice in Wonderland was more of a sequel to the original story, with a darker tone and a grand battle to finish the whole thing off; both Snow White films in 2012 took the magical and the dark warfare tones and separated them to see which audiences preferred; Oz: The Great and Powerful was a prequel to both the Oz and witches from the 1930s classic thus adding a distinct feel to it (I think, I haven't actually seen it); Maleficent took the villain approach and showed the classic story of Sleeping Beauty from a different perspective. Granted, they've butchered a majority of the classics with these approaches, but at least it added a new angle to the stories. Cinderella's biggest grab is that it's live action and features a Frozen short in front of it. Nothing more, nothing less.
How do the performances rack up? Lily James is delightful as the titular protagonist, and it is pleasant to see that she's already got plenty scheduled. She's somewhat one-dimensional as a character, breaking once before immediately regaining her mojo courtesy of story reasons, but nonetheless a likable lead. Blanchett is clearly having a lot of fun as the stepmother, with her maniacal laughter and fan-waving gaining some laughs at the right moments but giving off the right amount of menace. The sisters aren't particularly interesting - if anything, the versions featured in this year's other Cinderella retelling Into the Woods has a stronger duo played with proper care. Prince Kit is a stronger one than Chris Pine though, with Richard Madden adding a lot of sincerity to a role which was initially less meaty in character. His Prince is given more reasoning for liking Cinderella, having met before the ball and in rags as opposed for the gigantic dress she ends up wearing (side note - that thing is nice looking but way too big. How do you dance in that thing?!), and father Derek Jacobi is always a welcome addition to any film; even if his character does change his mind-set on his deathbed simply to resolve the conflict between generations - it's rather rushed. Another rushed death comes from Cinder's own parents Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin. Atwell does surpass initial expectations, but her motherly care is quickly pushed to one side due to an unfortunate case of the story needing her dead, whilst Chaplin does his best in a limited role. Back at the palace sits Stellan Skarsgård and Nonso Anozie (love that name), in which one plays pantomime and the other serious. You can tell who does the better job easily, but both are fine in the roles.
On the production side of things, Cinderella is a nice looking film. Much like the other Disney remakes, the overall style of these films are the big feature which brings in the audiences. Alice was whimsical and dark, Oz was CGI Wonderland and Maeficent had discount Pandora from Avatar to bring in viewers. In the case of Cinderella it's the actual direction, this time by Kenneth Branagh, who doesn't break any boundaries but does make the film look great. By comparison of another Disney-owned Branagh film - 2011's Thor - it does try and come across as whimsical and fresh, but there is a lot of still shots which can wear the film down. The costumes as expected for a period piece are grand in size and style if not occasionally a little impractical, and at times you do get a little distracted by them - although that may be just me because Cinderella seems to never change from her blue dress except when it comes to the Ball where she gets a whopping two additional costumes. Computer effects are fine on the moderate budget and scenery is good enough.
The screenplay is something of a mixed bag, as it tries to bring in some new interesting features and switch the outdated Tom & Jerry-esque humour with witty dialogue which is hit and miss. Some lines, such as the newly transformed goose showing hesitation to his assigned role as human, do work surprisingly well, but others fall flat and fall hard, whilst the actual story aspect is rather dragged down by various coincidences such as sudden deaths and character decisions. If anything, the most consistent characters are the mice, and that's likely due to being characters only by interactions with Cinderella rather than the classic anthropomorphic approach from the classic; they do speak, but the pitch and speed is altered to ensure it's sounds like regular mice squeaks. That said, it is arguably Chris Weitz's best screenplay to date.
Cinderella isn't necessarily a bad movie. It's enjoyable at parts with a good cast of characters and some nice visuals. But a necessary movie to make? Not really, much like its counterparts what newness is adds bogs down the original instead. However, because this adds the least to the original tale it makes itself an easy loser by comparison of the 1950s classic. If this is the situation that Disney is in, and they plan to do more remakes for the likes of Mulan, Cruella De Vil (again) and even Winnie the Pooh, they need to sort out how to do it well. Because whilst this is the best of the classic Disney remakes to date, it doesn't scratch the surface on the classics. 5/10.
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