Movie Review: Cinderella

Cinderella, I feel for you.

The Cinderella fable is a lot like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”: it’s been covered.

Is there really anything left to say about the apocryphal tale of a young girl’s torture at the hands of her wicked step-family until her magical evening at a regal ball?

Needlessness, however, hasn’t stopped Disney from plundering their back-catalogue of classics for new cinematic makeovers, and so, 2015’s live-action Cinderella follows in the footsteps of 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and 2013’s Oz, the Great and Powerful, except in one significant way: it’s actually good.

Perhaps it was the low expectations set by Alice and Oz that lulled me into a state of hypnosis, because I was mightily charmed by director Kenneth Branagh’s take on the legend.

I should have trusted the pedigreed, Shakespearean filmmaker, with his knack for witty verbal sparring in glorious costumes, and his cast, seemingly whisked straight from the sets of either Downton Abbey or Game of Thrones, where such fancy talkin’ and dressin’ is demanded.

Downton’s Lily James plays Ella, the kindly teenage girl orphaned after the death of her parents and saddled with a vindictive stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett, turning it up to 11, or as I like to call it, ‘Blue Jasmine THX’).

Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden sheds the tragic armour of Robb Stark to play Prince Charming – though he’d prefer you call him Kit – who falls for Ella after a chance encounter in the woods.

Despite his father, the King (Derek Jacobi), insisting he marry noble stock, the hard-crushing Kit invites all of the kingdom’s maidens to the upcoming ball where he’ll choose a wife, allowing a commoner like Ella entry.

Lady Tremaine has high, misguided hopes her selfish daughters, Drisella (Sophie McShera) and Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) will snag a proposal. Yet, it’s Ella who makes the biggest splash, thanks to a makeover from her big-toothed fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter, because of course).

Surely you don’t need me to fill you in on the rest of the story. Screenwriter Chris Weitz, recalling Cinderella’s Into the Woods co-star Little Red Riding Hood, has clearly been told not to stray from the path.

Speaking of Into the Woods, it’s not been three months since we saw a film based on Stephen Sondheim’s skewed fairytale musical, starring Anna Kendrick as a spunky and indecisive Cinderella. Lily James’ version is genuinely sweet and kind-seeming, but certainly not spunky. ‘Passive’ would be more accurate. The movie just kind of happens to her. Cinderella isn’t exactly a modern feminist icon actresses should feel honoured to play.

The fault for that lies mostly with the source material, though Weitz and Branagh should have known to give their leading lady some more substantial choices than ways to appear agreeable. Otherwise, Cinderella is a totally affable picture; sumptuous to look at and often quite funny. There may be nothing new to say, but Kenneth Branagh, Cate Blanchett, Derek Jacobi and the rest of the cast know how to say old stuff perfectly well.

3.5/5

In cinemas March 26. Rated G for very mild themes.