Review of Cinderella (2013) by Ben L — 21 Jan 2016

How do you retell a fairy tale that has literally been translated into about a hundred different films, and keep it fresh and original? The answer is...you don't try to keep it fresh and original at all.

With this film, the writer (Chris Weitz) and the director (Kenneth Branagh) refuse to try and come up with some shockingly original take on Cinderella, instead they steer into the skid and actually just tell the classic tale in an extremely elegant and nostalgic way.

This isn't a big twist on Disney's original from 1950 where the step-mother is the protagonist and the fairy godmother is actually a demon (or some other nonsense I've come to expect out of Hollywood remakes,) it is merely a really honoring and sweet recreation of the animated magic in a live action format.

I couldn't believe how this movie took the best elements of all the many Cinderella stories and mashed them together into such a delightful movie. Part of that is because of a wonderful cast, and a couple deserve specific mention.

Lily James is lovely, completely charming, and has a great handle on portraying emotion with subtlety. I actually found myself tearing up with her in the early scenes which is hard to pull off when I've had so little time to get to know the character.

But the real master-stroke of this film is having Cate Blanchett as the stepmother. I cannot imagine anyone being more perfectly fit for this role, because she is just diabolical and yet you can see why Ella's father would find her desirable.

I found myself liking this film perhaps even more than the animated original. It won't surprise you, and for some it might just not be worth watching at all, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.