A long time ago…in a far away land, depending where you live, I was going to write a big, gigantic, 134 page review of Cinderella. But you know what, in all that I typed, really only some of it was actually probably any good or right, so I’m going to do a very trimmed down kind of review where I just point out some things about my favorite movie. I used to write more eloquently and complexly, too, but these days I’m not the same and I just want to get this over with, so it won’t sound like a school paper, but it doesn’t need to.
First of all, this film is certainly a classic, a masterpiece. But a flawed one. It doesn’t feel completely tight in story or like the focus is always where it should be. It deviates to the mice too much. But the mice are only shown too much in the beginning (and a little of the middle), and along with those early scenes, not many interesting or beautiful backgrounds are shown. This boredom could lend itself to what the movie is trying to convey quite well, that Cinderella needs to escape this boredom and live a life as better as the movie gets past the too-long early mice scenes.
Also I admit Cinderella doesn’t have the emotional bang of Disney films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, or Beauty and the Beast. And those feelings come from the films getting very sad before they get happy. But Cinderella’s scene of her dress getting ripped apart, and of her presenting the other slipper, give such sad pathos and happy satisfaction, and lots of drama, that it is still a master of emotion alongside the likes of Snow White or Beauty and the Beast. It is one of the Disney’s crown jewels, if not the biggest, brightest jewel. And which one is the biggest jewel? Since all the jewels have their own special brilliance, Cinderella could still contend to be that one.
The animation and designs feel so perfect, choosing what seems to me to be the best elements of costume and architecture from original author Charles Perrault’s late 1600’s time to the Brothers Grimm’s 1800’s decade. The firm, imperial, gold trimmed jackets of the men, and the long, full, flowing gowns of the women, amidst the intricate rococo detail. The drawings could be a little more straight, detailed, and perfected like Snow White’s or Sleeping Beauty’s, but it’s a small complaint for what is an excellent style and what are indeed beautiful images. The animation itself is of course top notch, right down to the perfect way the sparkling magic lights up the picture.
The score is fantastic. Each moment has an underscore that enhances the picture, from the idyllic sounds of the opening introducing us to the enchanting story, to the dramatic whiz bang of a triumphant ending.
The characters are magnificent, every one of them being interesting or likable or rooted for. The heroine herself is, to me, a perfect embodiment of warmth, love, and kindness, with just a bit of enough authority and activeness to make her not completely passive. She’s a character with oomph. Her voice is soft and soothing but also has some edge to it. Her voice is small, like Cinderella is known for, but with the perfect amount of power in it. And in many ways during Cinderella’s sad servant situation she is actually already like a princess, she just rules over and is served by animals instead of people. There’s even a moment where Cinderella stares back at the stepmother after she silences her, showing Cinderella’s bite but how she chooses to let it go as long as she has to live with her.
The mice are cute and endearing as well as very brave and loyal. Lady Tremaine is a perfect evil stepmother whose chilling realism helps the film immensely. The stepsisters manage to be both comical and unsettlingly evil, while the same could be said of Lucifer. The King makes a hilarious contribution and the Duke makes a great receiver of his humorous tantrums. And the Fairy Godmother is the most benign, loving, enchanting grandmother figure.
Is their any sexism inherent in the movie? Will the movie harm anyone? Does it say Cinderella stayed with her stepfamily till a man rescued her because she was passive and all girls should be? Not really. First of all, Cinderella in the time the film takes place in wouldn’t have been able to own property and live on her own if she ran away from her stepfamily, so staying with them till something she could use to have a better life came along could very well have been her best and smartest option. When Cinderella is talking to Bruno about losing his “nice warm bed” if he doesn’t obey the stepfamily’s orders, I think Cinderella is subtly talking about what she will lose if she doesn’t do so as well.
And Cinderella being the receiver of good fortune because she was kind and believed in her dreams is actually saying that because of what Cinderella did, she got what made her happy. She made it happen, she took care of herself, even if it was by merely believing. The message can only be viewed as bad because in real life our dreams don’t seem to come true by just believing or being good, and also that a lot of men have to do with helping Cinderella get her salvation.
But Cinderella also has a physical hand in her salvation, by helping others and being helped by them back. In fact, some of the things Cinderella does are exactly what others do for her that makes her dreams come true. She took care of mice and birds and sewed clothes for them, so the mice and birds sewed a dress for her. She freed mice from cages and cats, so the mice freed her from the locked attic. This teaches not just to wait around and be good to make your dreams come true, but to help other people so they will help you in return. It’s a good, important message this movie sends.
The only sexism this film really contains is that one line “Leave the sewing to the women” while the boy mice go hunting and gathering material, which could only be construed as sexist in that way if you don’t consider that the girl mice are just telling the boy mice that they would rather do the sewing than go find dress material.
I also think Cinderella’s message about believing says that believing is just the first step, that believing is synonymous with working toward your dream, and that you must do that also in order to achieve your dreams. Cinderella did work for her dream to come true. She pushed her stepmother to admit she could go to the ball, and then worked very hard to try and meet her demands to go to with her stepfamily to the ball, and when she needed to get out of the attic to try on the slipper, she thought of using Bruno to scare away Lucifer to get the mice to let her out. None of that was passive. I think Walt Disney felt that this film and its message were important and real because he himself had dreams that seemed impossible, but by firstly believing in them, and getting people to help him, just like mice or a fairy godmother, his dreams came true.
There’s two theories I have formed on this film. The first one concerns that people think Cinderella and the Prince only fell “in love” because of how attracted they were to each other’s appearance. But my theory is that Cinderella and the Prince don’t really see each other well enough to base their love on just looks. When the Prince first sees Cinderella, she’s very far away from him and turned around. Then, when she turns toward him, it’s when they’re in the dark. Then the lights are turned down or off and they dance in the dark until midnight. This could show not just how their love is not based on just attraction, but also why the Prince needs to use the slipper to find Cinderella, since he couldn’t tell exactly what she looked like in the dark!
And just so you know, when the Prince falls in love with Cinderella, it is, as the Duke says, because when he sees her she seems to be "the girl of his dreams" and he somehow knows she's "predestined" to be his bride. And Cinderella says the prince was handsome but also that even the prince himself couldn't be "more"...something. So even the film says they're not in love just because they're hot.
The other theory I have is that Cinderella may have left her slipper on purpose to get the prince, and merely acted like she lost the slipper accidentally or that she didn’t know she was with the prince. When she says she hasn’t met the prince, maybe she knows he’s the prince but she’s just saying that to get away from him before the spell changed her. When she leaves the palace, she says “Goodbye” to the Duke, maybe to get his attention since maybe she knew that is who would bring her slipper. Then after losing her slipper she goes back for it, facing the Duke and waving her hands for a moment before running off again. Then in the coach she undoes her hair, maybe to show how she would look when she gets the slipper presented to her, which she combs her hair to look like later. And maybe she only drops the tray and lets it crash on the floor because she heard the prince was following her plan to use her slipper, and she was so surpriseed and happy from knowing that. Do I have much faith in this theory? No. But the original fairy tale may have intended her to drop her slipper on purpose, or not, I don’t know French to be sure, but if she did, maybe the filmmakers knew that and kept it in their film kind of secretly.
If not, it still is fascinating to me that Cinderella does appear to undo her hair to look like her old self again while riding in the carriage. I don't know if she did it to hurry up the transformation or, what is more likely, that she hoped by undoing her hair they wouldn't recognize her, which isn't a brilliant idea they would buy but it's her being active in a way that I'm pleasantly surprised by.
I still wonder if Cinderella left her slipper on purpose when analyzing her facial expression when the stepmother tells her to get her stepsisters out of bed “and hurry.” When the stepmother tells her that, Cinderella’s eyes grow wide like she’s realizing much more than something could be up. It indicates to me maybe she left her slipper on purpose and her stepmother getting excited and it being important her stepsisters hear all have to do with her plan to get the prince to find her with her shoe. Her escape plan. But that’s only one moment that gives me any sort of evidence that makes me still wonder.
So there you have it. Not so much a review but me pointing out some things about my favorite film of all time, Disney’s classic masterpiece, Cinderella.
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