Cinderella (Live-Action)

[Prince Edward]

Went to see it at the cinema for a second time today, and I love this movie. The best live action movie from Disney in my opinion. It made me so happy and it really honors the animated classic, as opposed to Maleficent. (I feel no love for or interest in that movie. It had no "heart".) If only upcoming live action fairytales are as good as Cinderella, I would love for Disney to turn all their animated fairytales and legends/classic stories into live action^^

To bad that two of the upcoming live action movies are stories with animales (The Jungle Book and Dumbo), I do hope that Disney are aware that these might not be as popular and economically rewarding as fairytales. If these movies do not do as well as Alice in Wonderland, Oz The Great and Powerful, Maleficent and Cinderella, Disney should not get cold feet when it comes to turning Snow White, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty (a proper version), The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Rapunzel and Frozen into live action movies. I only hope that the public interest in fairytales does not fade away to soon, or that it will be revived again sooner than later at least - if it should vanish.

[MeerkatKombat]

I haven't seen it yet sadly but the Disney store merchandise is just so adorable and pretty.
If I was a child, I would have needed those dressing up gowns in my life. The dolls are also really lovely and detailed and I am trying to desperately stop myself turning into a doll collector.

I really want to see it. Had no interest in Maleficent at all but this looks like it is pretty true to the fairy tale instead of trying to be a gritty reboot.

[Disney Duster]

Hear, hear, Prince Edward!

And yes MeerkatKombat, it is true to the fairy tale.

[Semaj]

Initially, I didn't plan on seeing this one. My girlfriend wanted to see the Frozen short in front of it, so yeah...

This new Cinderella turned out surprisingly good. Other than the company distributing it, and the "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" song snuck into the end credits, this is really a separate adaption instead of any actual reboot. However, there were several advantages this new movie had over the original.

-This one remembers who the actual star of the film is! While not as severe as with Sleeping Beauty, which carried over into the remake, the original movie seemed to be more about the sidekicks than the lead characters. It was about the mice who help Cinderella, and the "I-want-grandchildren!" King who arranged the ball. The prince in that film didn't show up until halfway thru, and even then, he barely got any lines!

-The new film especially made up for the prince problem. Introducing us to him early on, plus throwing a huge curveball following the ball brought a new perspective not only to the prince himself, but to the whole prospect of Cinderella becoming a princess. It calls to mind a review that Nostalgia Critic did about princessesin general.

-I really appreciate how in this movie, they did not reinforce the stepsisters' non-sophistication by making them ugly. In the original, they were not so much ugly-ugly, but more sweet ugly, which proved its basic point within context. In this one, their non-sophistication was mainly implied thru their garish wardrobes, which really didn't standout as much as it could have. Their polka-dotted dresses were actually cute, and their ball gowns had a weird Easter vibe to them.

-The whole movie seemed to be vying for some recognition from the costume department, though as we all know, the only thing anyone can count on from the Oscars is disappointment. At the very least, if Disney insisted on having a BLONDE Cinderella with a BLUE dress, they got it.

-The general pacing of this movie was excellent. More time was devoted to Cinderella's life with her parents, yet it didn't feel like a long setup before getting to the meat of the story. It didn't even dwell as much on Cindy's servitude; it was instead focused on her grace and optimism in her pursuit for a better life. Solid attention was found in the right amounts.

I really enjoyed this new Cinderella film. They gave the story a fresh, modern perspective without it pandering to an obvious agenda. Like with Maleficent, remakes and new adaptions are OKAY, as long as there's an intelligent reason behind them. That was not found in Alice in Wonderland, and that has yet to be determined for the upcoming Dumbo and Jungle Book films. The real success behind those films will depend on whether they can build upon the originals in any significant way.

[Toky]

I agree…. At first I thought she was quite passive too, but then I remembered, Cinderella didn't see the duke arrive at her house (was it said that they would pass each house? can't remember it anymore). So if she would have made a scene when her stepmother locked her in, the chance of getting out would have been even smaller...

Wait, are you talking about the 1950 or 2015 Cinderella? But I think in the 2015 Cinderella she could have figured out the king's men were there for her.

The 2015 one But the whole point has already started a big conversation here haha and I forgot indeed that the mice tried to warn her for something. I think the problem with the end is that the director tried to keep it as realistic as possible. I mean Cinderella couldn't have jumped out of the window or forced her way out of that door, so the only thing she could do is what she did, have courage and hope everything would turn out fine…

If she would have command the mice to go and get the key or Bruno (which was absent, but as example), the movie would have been more 'comic/cartoon-like' and more unrealistic. But I agree, she could have shouted for help when the mice caught her attention(even if it was just to check if there was indeed someone)…But then again, maybe she was aware and sang so people could hear her...

[Old Fish Tale]

But then again, maybe she was aware and sang so people could hear her...

In the narration, the fairy godmother said she really wasn't.

[Disney Duster]

Well toky, she did make a scene which is what caused her stepmother to lock her in... Anyway, I agree with you that it would have been cartoony with telling the mice, birds, and Bruno to help her. And that maybe Cinderella, when looking out the window, maybe so the king's men. Though tsom revealed it is probably impossible because her window was to the back of the house. But it makes me wonder about that clip of her looking through that window that was in trailers and TV spots but not in the final film. The one in my signature banner, lol. Makes me wonder if she did see something through the window.

But then again, maybe she was aware and sang so people could hear her...

In the narration, the fairy godmother said she really wasn't.

She said she wasn't aware at first, but that was before the mice opened the window and she looked down through it, while still singing. So you know, maybe she saw them, despite how extremely doubtful it is if her window faced the back of the house.

How would I have done the ending, now? Well if it couldn't be that her window faced the front of the house, and she knowingly sings to the king and his men, I would do this: Cinderella hears her stepmother coming and waits next to her door. Lady Tremaine opens the door a little just to slip in some food. Cinderella grabs her arms and pulls her away, then tries to make a run out the door. Lady Tremaine overtakes her and says, "You think you can overcome me you stunted little kitchen wench?" She throws Cinderella to the side, or to the ground, and quickly runs back out the door and locks it again. So Cinderella takes a candle and lights the door on fire. Then she, or the mice, open the window. The king and his men see the smoke coming from the tower. Kit says, "My curiousness about what's causing that makes me want to tarry a little. Captain, go and investigate." Lady Tremaine gets a bucket of water and walks with it and the Captain up to the door. She throws water on it and opens it. She says, "See, no one of importance." And the rest of the movie plays out like it was made.

[Old Fish Tale]

Yes, the mice helped her. Yes, the captain helped her. Yes, the prince helped her. Yes, the fairy godmother helped her! I'm sorry, but there's nothing wrong with being helped. Being helped doesn't make someone weak. I don't understand why you're trying to change the ending, Disney Duster.

[Mooky]

I'm not a huge fan of how the actual ending turned out, but thank heavens you didn't write the screenplay Duster -- you're making it needlessly complicated and unintentionally comical.

[Disney Duster]

I agreed a lot with what you said, Semaj, but the stepsister's non-sophistication was equally displayed by how they acted as well as their wardrobes.

OldFishTale, I think it would be better if Cinderella tried to escape her horrible fate, but you are right that it's ok for her to be helped a lot.

I'm not a huge fan of how the actual ending turned out, but thank heavens you didn't write the screenplay Duster -- you're making it needlessly complicated and unintentionally comical.

Ouch. How was it comical? And what didn't you like about the original ending?

[Mooky]

I'm just imagining Cinderella MacGuyvering the door on fire, and then Lady Tremaine walking around with a bucket full of water looking like this... It seems silly for what should be a dramatic, tense scene.

As for what I would have changed about the ending, I thought that -- instead of having Cinderella try the slipper on -- it would have been more fitting (pun not intended) if Kit had smashed it, showing he recognized her for who she was and that he didn’t need any further proof. It would also set this version of the tale apart from the others. But if the slipper scene had to stay, it should have taken place in that secret garden of his.

[Disney Duster]

The way I envision it seems very dramatic to me, but I understand your view, too.

As for how you think the ending should be, I see how it's good for him to just take her as she is without the slipper, but wow, I really disagree with that smashing of the slipper. It was special to both him and her. Thank heavens you didn't write the screenplay, either.

Oh, and Semaj, I wouldn't say this is a seperate adaptation of the original 1950 animated one, I think this is a slightly re-imagined version. It has a blonde Cinderella in blue dresses, talks to animals, especially mice, and has help from them and the blubirds, and the mice have the names Gus and Jacqueline, the stepfamily has the same names as the original, the stepsisters wear the same colors as the original, Cinderella wears her mother's dress which is pink and gets ripped up, her fairy godmother wears a hood in one form and says, "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" two times, Cinderella's stepmother locks her in her room and breaks one of the glass slippers, and the mice and birds help Cinderella. So, it's a little too much like the animated version to be an entirely seperate version.

[tsom]

I promise that Ella did not see them at all. Her window definitely faced the back of the house. She sang to an opened window just because she wanted to. The ending was fine with me. There is nothing wrong with being helped or rescued. We as humans don't need to do everything ourselves. Also, Kit placed the slipper on Ella's foot to prove to the Grand Duke that the mystery princess definitely existed and the slipper would've fit her foot perfectly.

[Old Fish Tale]

The ending was fine with me. There is nothing wrong with being helped or rescued. We as humans don't need to do everything ourselves.

Yes, thank you! And, after enduring all that torment, it's nice to see someone treating her as she deserves to be treated.

[Disney Duster]

Like I said, maybe you guys are right, and maybe her being helped still makes it a masterpiece...I don't know what she could have done being locked in the attic...except my burning idea.

Anyway, I wanted to point out this unofficial Facebook page for Cinderella, click here. It has lots of images and vidoes I think some of you will love. OldFishTale, if you look through the images you'll find that poster of Lady Tremaine in that gorgeous purple blue costume, plus a full body shot of her in that costume.

[adamw92]

Went to see this yesterday. I absolutely loved it, I think its my favourite live action telling of Cinderella that I've seen. I thought the cast were all brilliant and I found the comical elements to the film so well timed and I loved the little details that were put in with every character. I thought Lily did an amazing job in the role and I have to say the transformation scene was just stunning!!

Really cannot wait to see this again, I'm so happy with how well it's doing with critics as well as at the box office, it's already the second highest grossing film so far this year after just 2 weeks.

[Escapay]

(you said you weren't too excited for it, once).

LOL, yes, I had my trepidations about the film. But I figured if Branagh was directing, it would be a fairly decent film regardless. He'd already proven himself a workable director of period pieces (funnily enough, it's his few forays into contemporary live-action that I'm not as fond of - i.e. Sleuth or Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), so I knew he'd treat the film well. I just never expected to be so taken by it all.

Much of it really has more to do with the music; it's done in such a classic Hollywood style. Recurrent themes, a dominant piano at times, and that repetitious two-note melody that easily changes keys depending on the mood of the scene. I don't quite know how to write it out here, but it's that "1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-3" bit. You get that pattern for five beats, and then it suddenly raises itself up on last note. Then you go down a key and do it again.

I think Track 8 ("The Stag") on the soundtrack is my favorite as it captures so much in five minutes and flows so well from one emotion to another. I definitely would want to learn some of this score on the piano.

So, how did you feel specifically about Lily James in it?

It's certainly a far cry from her performances in "Downton Abbey," that's for sure. I definitely prefer her in this film, she plays it more like a breathless Hollywood ingenue of the 1950s/60s. It's like she emulated the vocal delivery of Marilyn Monroe (early Marilyn, like Don't Bother to Knock or Niagara), but with a sincere screen presence more akin to Jean Seberg (Breathless). She surprised me most of all, especially as I was largely not looking forward to the film because of her "Downton Abbey" character.

supercedes it in some ways as well.

Um, maybe

Nah.

I'll be so bold as to say that for me, much of the film supercedes the animated version. I don't mean that as a slam on the animated film, but I very strongly feel that if I ever were in the mood to watch a Disney version of Cinderella, I'd reach for this one on the shelf rather than the animated one. I can enjoy both depending on which mood I'm in when wanting to watch the film, but I'll more than likely want to watch the live-action one more often in the years to come.

One thing I don't want to do is belittle the animated version in order to support the live-action one, but there are some things that I genuinely think the live-action version did better than the animated one:

The extended prologue (so to speak) of Ella and her mother gives us glimpses of Ella's life before she is forced into her new role/identity. I better empathized with her having this bit of backstory, as it fleshed her out beyond the animated film's scant sentences in the first minute of the film. Normally I'm one to try and trim out extraneous details, but given what a thin narrative the prologue of the animated film was, I really didn't mind that this version gave us a few scenes in the beginning. After all, this is a film that went from 75 minutes (and probably only 40 was devoted to Cinderella herself) to 115 minutes, so things were certainly going to need fleshing out.

Cinderella and Kit's "meet cute" was a sorely-needed scene which gave her more reasons to go to the ball (not just for a night off and a chance to relax, but to associate with another person, a potential friend, giving her than proper human connection she had so desired). The follow-up scenes with Kit at the palace also better develop a character who was nothing more than window dressing in the animated film. Granted, the animated film is meant to be told from Cinderella (and the mice's) point of view, but with the Branagh film, we get the benefit of having a more omniscient set of eyes, as we ultimately view the world through most every major character, not just through Cinderella.

Modifying the main narrative to take place over a collective amount of weeks rather than the course of 24 hours makes the story a bit more believable for me. The hopeless romantic in me does enjoy the "love at first sight" aspect of the animated film, but now that we know these characters met before, seeing them fall in love again and again (now spread across an entire evening) makes for a more fulfilling romance.

Cate Blanchett as Lady Tremaine brings a bit more pathos to the character, especially when some lines in the novelization help us better understand her resentment towards Cinderella. I honestly couldn't stand her character for much of the film, which shows just how brilliant she played the part. They could have easily gone the wrong way and made her a laughable camp character (seems they saved that for Anastasia and Drizella, who played it more like they were in a Christmas panto), but fortunately allowed her to explore the role. This is someone that the audiences are meant to hate with a passion because of how remarkably nasty she can be. Animated Lady Tremaine is effective because she's so stoic and moves so elegantly, but there's no "heart" to her the way there is in Blanchett's rendition. We hate her because of what she does, but the live-action version allows us to hate her because of why she does it.

Of course, I'm sure my opinion of the film may change in a year's time. I may forget just how much I enjoyed the film and it'll go ignored on my shelf for years much like the animated version was. Or I may grow sick of it and regret ever making this post.

But for now, it's Disney's best picture of the year.

Albert

[Vlad]

Well toky, she did make a scene which is what caused her stepmother to lock her in... Anyway, I agree with you that it would have been cartoony with telling the mice, birds, and Bruno to help her. And that maybe Cinderella, when looking out the window, maybe so the king's men. Though tsom revealed it is probably impossible because her window was to the back of the house. But it makes me wonder about that clip of her looking through that window that was in trailers and TV spots but not in the final film. The one in my signature banner, lol. Makes me wonder if she did see something through the window.

In the narration, the fairy godmother said she really wasn't.

She said she wasn't aware at first, but that was before the mice opened the window and she looked down through it, while still singing. So you know, maybe she saw them, despite how extremely doubtful it is if her window faced the back of the house.

How would I have done the ending, now? Well if it couldn't be that her window faced the front of the house, and she knowingly sings to the king and his men, I would do this: Cinderella hears her stepmother coming and waits next to her door. Lady Tremaine opens the door a little just to slip in some food. Cinderella grabs her arms and pulls her away, then tries to make a run out the door. Lady Tremaine overtakes her and says, "You think you can overcome me you stunted little kitchen wench?" She throws Cinderella to the side, or to the ground, and quickly runs back out the door and locks it again. So Cinderella takes a candle and lights the door on fire. Then she, or the mice, open the wondow. The king and his men see the smoke coming from the tower. Kit says, "My curiousness about what's causing that makes me want to tarry a little. Captain, go and investigate." Lady Tremaine gets a bucket of water and walks with it and the Captain up to the door. She throws water on it and opens it. She says, "See, no one of importance." And the rest of the movie plays out like it was made.

Interesting ending, Duster. I like it!

[Disney Duster]

I'm so glad you so enjoyed the movie adamw92! I agree with you so much! Has this stayed the second highest grossing film, as of now?

Wow, Albert, I love what you love about the film, and your descriptions. I don't know which melody you are referring to with those digits, though. Could you say which part(s) of the movie?

I'm so glad you enjoyed the movie, and Lily James as much as you did, and yes, this film does supercede the original in some ways. I don't completely agree with all your ways, though. I already said the heroine-to-mice ratio is better in this film, and I'd say the heroine-to-prince ratio is better too, similar to what you said. I think the live-action and animated versions of the prologue both work well for each film, but yes, more was done in the live-action prologue and that's a great thing.

I don't feel Cinderella and the prince needed to meet before the ball. I think them falling in love over the few hours at the ball is fine enough, especially with the wonderfully romantic "love at first sight" in addition to them dancing and walking and talking at the ball. Oh, and the original animated Cinderella wanted to go to the ball to socialize too, with people she met or with new people. I mean, it isn't said that's why she wants to go, but it can be assumed. Oh, and in the original animated film her time with the prince was spread across an entire evening. The "So This is Love" montage suggested they did more than just dance silently for 5 minutes. The carriage came for her stepfmaily at 8, and she left the ball at 12, so there's a few good hours in there she had with the prince, suggested via montage. I think the animated one's "love at first sight" and montage make a more believable and better love than this live-action film, but hey, that's my opinion, and I don't deny them meeting before the ball is great, too. And that was sort of love at first sight, too.

I think both Cate Blanchette and Eleanor Audley did fantastic Lady Tremaines and I don't think one was better than the other. You can think so, though. And wait a minute, you read the novelizations of the live-action film?!

It's ok if you like this live-action version of Cinderella better than the animated one. It is quite the masterpiece. I think the animated one is better, but that's my opinion. But yay, you and I think the live-action one's Disney's best picture of the year!

Thank you for what you said about my ending idea, Vlad!

[Disney Duster]

I had to post a whole new post just for this!

The entire "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)"! Click here!

Apparently it's available on iTunes! It should have been on the freakin' soundtrack!

Here's the lyrics:

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green.
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen.
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.
Call up your men, dilly dilly, set them to work.
Some to the plow, dilly dilly, some to the fork.
Some to make hay, dilly dilly, some to cut corn.
While you and I, sdilly dilly, keep ourselves warm.
Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue.
If you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you.
Let the birds sing, dilly dilly, and the lambs play.
We shall be safe, dilly dilly, out of harm's way.
I love to dance, dilly dilly, I love to sing.
When I am queen, dilly dilly, you'll be my king.
Who told me so, dilly dilly, who told me so?
I told myself, dilly dilly, I told me so.

Strangely, it doesn't have the lyrics "You must love me, dilly dilly, for I love you."