The Bottom Line: So, um, apparently I’m a sucker
for live-action Disney princess movies. Damn you, director Kenneth
Branagh! With its simplistic yet timeless messages on hope, courage and
kindness assuredly in place (and not beating you over the head with a cinder-coated
fireplace shovel), this disarmingly charming belle of the ball is poised to
rightfully do huge business and do for most 8-year old girls what The Hunger
Games does for most 15-year old girls. Now I don’t have daughters (so
I have no idea what I’m talking about), but I do have hoop-shorts-wearing,
Beats-by-Dre-listening, Madden-football-playing 10- and 8-year old boys who
both really enjoyed it and gave it a B+ – so you do the box office math…
Branagh has respectfully and lovingly crafted a bare-bones, simplistically
sincere, confidently charming and enchantingly dazzling film. We may all
very well know the story, but this regal recapturing gets a ton right from its
efficient pace to its glorious costume design and art direction to the casting
of Blanchett (the evil stepmother), Bonham-carter (the fairy
godmother) and the oh-so-elegant and not-in-the-least-bit-ugly Lily James (Cinderella).
There’s not a huge amount of new ground being broken here, but it still remains
a kind-hearted, handsome and huggably forthright film – a wonderfully whimsical
delight for all ages. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Booyah!
Starring: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham-Carter, Richard Madden
and Stellan Skarsgard
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Hamlet, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and
Dead Again)
Rated: PG
Running time: 115 minutes
Story: The story of Cinderella follows the fortunes of young Ella whose
merchant father remarries following the tragic death of her mother. Keen to
support her loving father, Ella welcomes her new stepmother Lady Tremaine and
her daughters Anastasia and Drisella into the family home. But, when Ella's
father suddenly and unexpectedly passes away, she finds herself at the mercy of
a jealous and cruel new family. Finally relegated to nothing more than a servant
girl covered in ashes, and spitefully renamed Cinderella, Ella could easily
begin to lose hope. Yet, despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella is
determined to honor her mother's dying words and to "have courage and be
kind." She will not give in to despair nor despise those who abuse her.
And then there is the dashing stranger she meets in the woods. Unaware that he
is really a prince, not merely an employee at the Palace, Ella finally feels
she has met a kindred soul. It appears as if her fortunes may be about to
change when the Palace sends out an open invitation for all maidens to attend a
ball, raising Ella's hopes of once again encountering the charming
"Kit." Alas, her stepmother forbids her to attend and callously rips
apart her dress. But, as in all good fairy tales, help is at hand as a kindly
beggar woman steps forward and, armed with a pumpkin and a few mice, changes
Cinderella's life forever. [Walt Disney Pictures]
Official site: www.movies.disney.com/cinderella
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