Cinderella (2015 Live Action)

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

Seeing as how Cinderella is now in wide release, I decided to start this thread up.

I'll write a full review later when I have more time, but for now I will say that Cinderella is pure movie magic. The filmmakers clearly love and honor the animated classic that inspired this version. And as much as I love the animated version, I daresay I love this new one more.

[icyheart16]

I'm pretty excited to hear your review, then, since you enjoyed this live action retelling.

[Silver]

Short and sweet for the time being. Ad of course spoiler free.

Yes there is gliz and glamour in an astronomical load. Be that as it may don't let the promotional tour steer you into believing it is "frily fluff".

Within it's core is true meloncholy. Preventing it from enterig stale territory. Soft-spoken in both vebal and metaphorical tone throughout. A sense of depression that keeps the audience in tact from wondering if the film-makers hoped to create a utopia. One where the childish fantasy of "it's all comnig up roses with plenty of sunshine and rainbows" that would no doubt make someone who prefers the dark and gritty undertones and philsophical questions cringe. This is not by any stretch what I watched today for those who are concerned of such. Thanks to the balenced laid out script, conscious directing and refined (if not) composed performances from its cast. If you go in without a restrictive agenda of what you expect from a cliche overly girly fairy-tale that media hype feeds the internet. You can feel for each charatcer why this journey is necessry. Even if there are indeed whimsical moments bursting with magic. At the emotional center is true charatcer identity struggle.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

One need look no further than last year’s Maleficent to see the recent obsession with remaking beloved fairy tales into dark and twisted stories that barely resemble the story they’re supposed to be channeling. While Maleficent took many visual cues from Sleeping Beauty, it so twisted and mangled almost every character from the animated classic that it didn't know what it was trying to do. But into such a time comes this beautiful film. Cinderella does not shy away from its fairy tale roots, but also does a masterful job adding some real emotional depth. Cinderella embraces, loves, and honors its animated predecessor while also making some nice updates to add greater depth to the story.

While this will be a spoiler free review, keep in mind that if you’ve seen Disney’s animated masterpiece, then you already know how the story ends. The joy of this film is the journey it takes you on before arriving at the iconic ending that we already know so well.

One of the real strengths of this version is how it adds depth to Cinderella herself. In an era when it seems that the princess must wield a sword, don armor, and lead troops into battle or she isn’t strong, Cinderella states that true strength is found in one’s character. The overarching theme of “have courage and be kind” is taught to Cinderella by her mother. Where the animated version spends perhaps 30 seconds to a minute on her parents, this film introduces us to Cinderella as a young girl. We see her loving relationship with her parents and how happy their little family is. So when the moment of loss that we know must come occurs, we grieve along with Cinderella because we have seen what she has lost and we know what she is about to endure.

While adding depth to why the stepmother is so cruel, she remains as cruel and mean as ever. But in a nice move, the stepmother’s cruelty is contrasted with Cinderella’s kindness and compassion. While both have endured tragedy they never foresaw or wanted, they deal with that tragedy in very different ways. The stepsisters remain as cruel and clueless as ever. Their vanity and obnoxiousness stands out in such stark contrast to Cinderella’s sweetness and kindness. As in the original animated classic, the audience begins to root for our heroine because she still works hard at honoring her mother’s charge to have courage and be kind.

One nice update to this version is that we finally have a prince who has meaning to this story beyond showing up at the very end to sweep Cinderella off her feet and save the day. While riding in the woods to escape the cruelty she endures at home, Ella comes across a handsome stranger in the forest. Once again her kindness wins the day and leaves an impression on the handsome stranger. He too leaves an impression on her and we see the spark. In some ways, this hearkens back to the forest meeting of Aurora and Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty.

I really appreciate the decision to give some heft to the romance of the story and add some depth. The Prince matters in this version and as his story is told, the audience comes to care for him too. As I said earlier, we all know how this is going to end. But the joy comes in how we get there.

As we know the eventual invitation to the famous ball comes. The pain Ella experiences at the destruction of her mother’s dress resonate more because now we have met her mother and know what she meant to Ella. We feel her anguish. And again in a beautiful touch, the theme of be kind and have courage is put to the test after Ella’s hopes are shattered.

The glass slipper is the symbol of the Cinderella story. As a guy, I feel like it has in some ways obscured the message of kindness and goodness that Disney's version triumphs. So what I love about this version is that while the magical transformation still takes place and channels so well what Walt Disney described as his favorite piece of animation, this version makes it very clear that Cinderella fit the slipper because of how good, sweet, and kind she was. Her virtue is why the Fairy Godmother showed up. And her goodness, compassion, and kindness is why the Prince fell in love with her. This movie makes that perfectly clear.

Since we all know what comes next, I will now address the acting performances and faithfulness to the original animated classic. Lily James shines as Cinderella. In preparation for the role, she watched every Disney Princess film and especially Cinderella. It shows in her performance here. There are many moments where you can see Lily James literally channel Helene Stanley, who was the live action reference model for both Cinderella and Aurora. As a Disney animation fan, it is so much fun to see the little subtle touches. There were multiple moments during the film when I smiled simply because of how wonderfully the filmmakers had realized the animated film in live action. Watching Ella and the Prince dance was marvelous. The score from Patrick Doyle (Brave, Thor) is magical. It imbues the film with a classical and timeless setting while also adding just the right touch of magic when the story calls for it. The waltz is both beautiful and moving, especially as I love seeing the parallels to the legendary animated waltzes in the Disney masterpieces, not just Cinderella.

This is as good a place as any to address how this film handled the animals who were such a major part of the animated classic. I”m happy to say that Lucifer is still here, cruel as ever. The mice are also here. I came to accept that the mice, my favorite part of the animated classic, would not be in this version because they would not fit in the live action sensibilities of this story. Happily, they are in this story and fit in such a way as to not seem silly in a live action setting.

I will say no more about the end of the film. You know how it’s going to end, so I will let you enjoy for yourself how the iconic ending is realized in this film. I do recommend staying for the closing credits as there’s a sweet rendition of A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes from Lily James and Helena Bonham Carter shows why she nearly stole the show in her credits rendition of Bippidi Boppidi Boo.

Honestly, this is my favorite Disney fairy tale since Beauty and the Beast. And I absolutely loved Tangled. I believe Cinderella to be the best Disney film, live action or animated, since The Lion King. It’s refreshing to see a princess triumph because of her femininity and not have to don armor or wield a sword in order to do so. In my all time favorite Disney films of all time, this Cinderella just might be my second favorite behind Sleeping Beauty. If Kenneth Branagh wants to direct another live action adaptation, I hope Disney lets him. This film is a masterpiece. It's a beautiful complement to the animated classic and because of the added depth, it is my favorite version of the story.

[Silver]

Over a $135 million world wide so far for this film. And it's only in a handful of territories in terms of public release. I forsee a massive hit coming. Congrats to the cast and creative team!

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

Disney released this music video of Lily James singing "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" set to scenes from the movie. Reminded me again of how well done this film is and how much I loved it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zye-4GGANzw

As a side note, this is how all future music videos of classic Disney songs should be done. Take a respectful rendition that's true to the original and set it to scenes either from the original or clearly respect the original.

[Little_Cassie]

I finally saw this movie and it exceeded all my expectations! There isn't much I can say that others haven't The dress transformation was magical and I couldn't have expected more. One moment I loved was when Cinderella walked into the ball the score incorporated her mothers lullaby into the score. It really touched me how the music was used to show how her mother was there with her in spirit and really highlight the beautiful detail in this movie

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

I can't say enough positive things about the music for this film. It conveys a sense of innocence, magic, romance, purity, and family at all the right moments. The way they wove Lavender Blue (the lullaby) throughout the film was just perfect.

One of things I love about this version of the story is how they fleshed out Cinderella's relationship with her parents. That decision added some emotional heft to the story that resonates throughout and makes the ending we all know is coming even better.

It's a difficult thing to take a story where almost everyone in the audience knows how it's going to end and make still make that triumph feel earned by the heroes and satisfy the audience. It becomes even more challenging when this particular story is so clearly based off one of the most iconic tellings of Cinderella ever in Disney's animated classic.

[home201]

Spam

[Pride]

Just wanted to add to everyone else's comments and say I was really impressed with this film. Cinderella isn't one of my favorite Disney movies, but I usually like the spin-off tales. This one was so well done! I loved the characters, script, music (bits), humor, etc. I'm so glad they incorporated great values into this film in a non-cheesy way. I find myself thinking about being kind and having courage Well-done, Disney!

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

My sentiments exactly. While I really enjoy the animated Cinderella, I daresay that I like this new one better. The story choices here help me to better understand the characters of Cinderella and the Prince. So while Gus and Jaq stole the movie in the original animated classic for me, this time around Cinderella and the Prince were front and center. Though I'm quite happy to see the mice still involved. Also glad that they didn't try to make them talking mice since it adds the right degree of realism to the story.

Cinderella has crossed $500 million in worldwide box office, placing it behind only Avengers Age of Ultron and Fast And Furious 7. This is a tremendous feat since Cinderella is very clearly a different type of film than the other two. I hope that Disney sees the box office numbers and glowing reviews and chooses to follow this pattern of loving adaptation for future live action remakes.

After Maleficent, I was very skeptical of the live action remakes Disney is choosing to make. Cinderella has managed to make me think that maybe they can make more strong live action versions.

[icyheart16]

I still have yet to see this film... I need to preorder this one.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

Disney has announced a home release in the U.S. of this film for September 15, 2015. Bonus features include an alternate opening, some featurettes about staging the film's famous ball scene and the costume design for the film. Deleted scenes will apparently be included with the Disney Movies Anywhere app or website.

[icyheart16]

Oh it is releasing on my birthday! How lovely! Happy birthday to me!

[Silver]

According to the website Blu-ray.com, these are the following behind the scenes specials featured for Cinderella. Check out the link.

www.blu-ray.com/news?id=16961