- Directed by Kenneth Branagh
- February 13, 2015 (Berlinale) / March 13, 2015 (US)
- Based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale Cendrillon (Cinderella) and Disney’s 1950 film Cinderella
When a young woman’s cruel stepmother stops her from attending a royal ball, her fairy godmother lends a helping hand in order for the woman to find true love.
Before I get into this you must know I watched this version within hours of the Disney classic so my perceptions of Cinderella 2015 in this are going hard against Cinderella 1950. If you go in expecting something strongly similar to the classic Disney version of the story, you’ll be sadly disappointed. It contains some similar names and similar plot elements but overall these are two distinctly different films-for better or worse.
A goal of any remake should be to improve upon what came before. That includes remakes that change an animated feature into a live action film. I am just not sure Cinderella 2015 ever does that. It is certainly a more lavish (and longer) production but it never really addresses anything that might possibly be a shortcoming of the original. And what those might be that should be addressed I could not even fathom a guess beyond too much time on the mice in the original.
While the original film had a definite economy of story yet never felt rushed, this takes a looooooooooooooong time to get from Point A to Point B to Point C. And there are plot changes that in my opinion dilute the overall story. Rather than it being love at first sight in the ballroom, the romance between Prince Kit (John, er, Richard Madden) and Ella (Lilly James) begins with a horse running off with her on it and they lock eyes and have a brief and mildly flirtatious meeting.
‘Ella’ you say? But her name is ‘Cinderella’. Oh no! Not here. Her actual name is Ella. The ‘Cinder’ part gets added because her ugly stepsisters (who aren’t angry but just jerks) tack it on when she comes and serves them their food and has fireplace ash on her face. Why this change was necessary or how did it flesh out the story? I don’t know. It comes off as being different for the sake of being different. It seems like a really unnecessary change to the story and makes me question then why ‘Cinderella’ is in the title.
I didn’t feel a strong connection between the romantic couple. I just didn’t buy them. I didn’t buy that they fall or fell in love. Admittedly the same could be said of the couple in the original but with a gap of 65 years between the two along with all the social changes you could go a little harder in this version. At best they were off to a brief and tepid fling.
Kenneth Branagh is a good director. I think his work generally speaks for itself. His movies are well and intelligently directed. I think his skill set might be a bit misplaced here. This is an attempt at art for something that’s inspired family entertainment. Aim for quality family entertainment. If you accomplish that you can then achieve art by default. Cinderella 2015 is done in a manner almost like it’s a British period drama rather than a fantasy romance. The shots are beautiful and the costumes lavish and the performances reserved more often than not.
The original, which this claims to be a live action version of, was at 78 minutes or so long. This pushes two hours. It lacks the economy a story of the original. The Prince as well as Cinderella are both given about equal time with the Prince getting a whole backstory and problems of his own though they are really minor. Did this story really need any of that? Originally he was just there to visually demonstrate that Cinderella was free of her stepfamily. A pretty face to enjoy her future with. Stepmother previously (it seems) married for money and little else. Now she gets a whole backstory that makes her cruelty understandable though not acceptable. F**k all that.
Then again 78 minutes does not give a great deal for a modern feature film so there is a lot of excess story here which does nothing to improve the overall narrative. This is not a superior or improved take on the story. It just becomes long and kind of bland. Not boring but not exciting either. As a romance film you do not even cheer for love.
Casting is important in these things. Richard Madden, Cate Blanchett, Stellan Skarsgård, Nonso Anozie (a consistent personal favorite of mine), Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Derek Jacobi, and Helena Bonham Carter do no disservice to the material. But Lily James? Bland. That’s the best I can say. She’s just bland.
What this really has going for it is an apparent lack of CGI. At least not in the quantities other, more recent Disney adaptations of their animated properties do. Some of the birds and butterflies are done in CGI but what there is done is crafted in such a way that it doesn’t take you out of the story and does not take up a majority of what you see in the film. Even the lavish scenery is done so well I am not sure what is real or fake.
If anyone else was behind Cinderella 2015 it would be so much less, but because Kenneth Branagh is an artist it rises to just beneath enjoyable. It’s a little bland but not terribly disappointing nor anything to care about. If you like Disney’s original version of the story stick with that.
Warren Watched A Movie 