Cinderella (2015)

Cinderella (2015)

8/10

Starring

Lily James

Cate Blanchett

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Disney’s decision to start making live action adaptation of their old fairy tale animations has been a financial success. They started in 2010 with Alice in Wonderland which grossed over $1 billion in the box office and Maleficent in 2014 starring Angelina Jolie which was also a commercial success grossing over $750 million in the box office.

Although the first two made so much money they received mixed to negative reviews, but Cinderella has been nothing but positive reviews all the way.

Disney stayed close to their 1950 classic, we had magic, glass slippers and animals helping Cinderella get by. It was magical and wonderful.

Kenneth Branagh (Thor (2011)) the director did something magical for the new generation, he took Charles Perraults fairy tale and made it suitable for everyone.

Disney went far with the visual effects, and the costumes are to die for, you have to see Cinderella’s dress when it was magically being done, and the after effect of the magic on it, beautiful. Three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell was on board for this movie and after seeing her work here, she deserves another Oscar. The Cinderella gown needed 18 tailors working for over 500 hours to make (talk about dedication) and guess what? 19 of the gowns were made… do the maths.

Disney went all out to make sure this movie would be a masterpiece and it sure was.

The plot of Cinderella is ever the same: Ella is the only child of her parents, her mother died early and her father later remarried Lady Tremaine who had two daughters (they were the wicked step mother and the wicked step sisters). After her father died the step mum and her daughters turned Ella to a slave and changed her name to Cinderella because of the cinder that was on her face when she slept by the fire place.

So with some magic from her fairy god mother… well you know the rest.

Other than being a critical success, the movie was also a commercial success Disney’s combined cost of $145 million brought in more than $530 million in the box office. This movie deserved to make more money than Disney’s previous two live action adaptations (Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent).

The acting done by Lily James and Cate Blanchett are enough to dazzle you. They were so good in their portrayal of Cinderella and Lady Tremaine (Lily and Cate respectively) they made it hard for me to notice if the other actors in the movie were good enough to stand close to them.

Disney has decided to release more live action movies of their classical animations so in 2016, we will be having a release of The Jungle Book and Alice Through The Looking Glass.

I really enjoyed this movie to the fullest, although I preferred the ending of Walt Disney’s 1950 animation of the same name in which this movie was partly adapted from to this.

In that, the mice had to get the key from the step mum’s pocket, take it up the artic where Cinderella was. There they had to deal with the cat (Lucifer), and the dog came to chase the cat away. The mice then took the key safely to Cinderella and she escaped… the rest of the story from here was classic. None the less, you have to go see Cinderella.