![]() The decision to cast Cate Blanchett in the role works very well – Blanchett is one of the best working actresses today, and gives the role a great deal of depth and nuance. In contrast, Cinderella does try to flesh out the character a little bit. The original cartoon gave little motivation of Tremaine’s attitude towards Cinderella. Much like Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty or the Evil Queen from Snow White, Lady Tremaine gave the impression that women of a certain age were either loving and doting members of a traditional household, or were monstrous and inherently evil. ![]() Indeed, Cinderella works quite hard to develop the character of the “wicked stepmother.” In the original cartoon, Lady Tremaine was very much an addition to the long cavalcade of wicked evil single women over the age of thirty. The narration quite cleverly suggests that they might be “as ugly on the inside as they were fair on the outside”, a nice twist that subverts a lot of the classic “ugly is evil” morals of classic fables and stories. Instead, they are played by Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera, who are not made up so as to downplay their beauty. Her two stepsisters, for example, are no longer characterised as ugly – at least not explicitly. The most significant changes to the core story are all around Cinderella’s immediate circle. It is great to spend time with Derek Jacobi and Stellan Skarsgård, but it feels like time that could be better spent. There is no need for a conspiracy within the royal household to split attention away from the lead female character, and it winds up feeling largely redundant and unnecessary. What little modifications are made to the actual plot feel almost superfluous. There are precious few surprises or subversions to be had. Early in the film, it is revealed that the young girl is called “Ella”, leading to a rather contrived justification for the “Cinder” prefix later in the film.Īll the expected plot beats are here – the evil stepmother, the cute anthropomorphic mice, the pumpkin, the blue dress, the prince, the slipper. A lot of Cinderella is spent justifying its various tropes and conventions – teasing the audience with a “secret origin” for most significant parts of the classic cartoon. The film is pretty slavishly devoted to the familiar trappings of the cartoon. “Names have power,” the fairy godmother assures use reasonable early in the film, and it’s hard not to get a sense that Cinderella is fascinated by its own mythology and iconography. The result is probably the most solid and reliable live adaptation of a classic Disney cartoon, albeit one that never seems to have any real ambition or verve. Cinderella‘s problems are much less severe, but its accomplishments are also less noteworthy. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – Alice in Wonderland attracted a lot of criticism for playing more as a Tim Burton movie than an Alice in Wonderland film, while Maleficent tripped over itself in its attempts to re-write the classing story of Sleeping Beauty as a feminist parable. It is nowhere near as iconoclastic as Alice in Wonderland or as ambitious as Maleficent. ![]() Cinderella does pretty much everything that you would expect a live action adaptation to do.Īt the same time, it lacks any real sense of cinematic ambition. Even the script does exactly what it needs to do, walking the line between traditional and self-aware with considerable grace. The cast are great – with Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter doing wonderful work. Branagh’s direction is clean and crispy, avoiding excessive clutter and trusting the story to tell itself. Dante Ferretti’s production design and Sandy Powell’s costume designs are breathtakingly beautiful. It is a well-made and functional film that avoids any truly significant problems, but it also lacks any real edge that might help it stand out.Ĭinderella looks lovely. If anything, Cinderella suffers from a lack of its own identity or energy. It is not as heavily stylised or esoteric as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, but it is also not as deeply flawed as Maleficent. Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella is probably the safest and most down-the-middle live action remake of a classic Disney cartoon. This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2015.
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