Review of Cinderella (2013) by Gordon H — 10 Jun 2017

This was the best version of the classic Cinderella story that I and my wife have ever seen! Our previous favorite version was the original animated classic that Walt Disney himself had a hand in creating way back in the late 1940s, but the fact that Kenneth Branagh, the director of this new classic, used the animated version as his source material for this one, should tell you why it was so amazing! Lily James stars as the grown-up "Ella" who loses her mother (Hayley Atwell) to illness as a child and her father (Ben Chaplin) just after he remarries the Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) in an attempt to regain some of the happiness he felt he was still missing when his first wife died.

Due to the cruelness of her stepmother and her two stepsisters, Drisella (Sophie McShera) and Anastasia (Holliday Grainger), and the mismanagement of the estate by Lady Tremaine herself, Ella is forced to become a servant in her own home and is soon given the name "Cinderella" by those that should be her loving family.

Distraught with grief and despair, Cinderella rides out into the forest one day just wanting to get away from her troubles when by chance she happens to meet someone she did not expect to meet---a handsome young man named "Kit" (Richard Madden), who also happens to be a prince! Without giving too much else away, let me just say there are more incredible surprises, and when you finally meet Cinderella's Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter), just be prepared for some awesome magic! This movie is incredible and I have already got a spot picked out for it on my shelf when it is released to Blu-ray soon.

I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of magic, fun, and all things Disney!