Cinderella (2015) Film Review: The Best Of The Modern Disney Remakes???

Since I reviewed the "Aladdin" remake a couple of weeks ago, I felt I should bring up what I feel is the best of the live-action Disney remakes made in the past decade. While I still think the 1994 "Jungle Book" film is my favourite, the "Cinderella" remake might be my second favourite. I think all of you know how the story goes, so I'm going to skim through it. Ella, nicknamed Cinderella, is a hard-working girl who is forced to do the chores of the household due to her stepmom's controlling nature. When the palace invites every maiden in the kingdom as prince Kit befriended Cinderella prior to the event, her abusive family leaves her behind at home. Cinderella though is helped by her fairy godmother to make an impression at the ballroom. The classic fairy-tale remain very much the same, but with some smart updates and changes compared to the original animated film. These include fleshing out the characters of the prince, king and the stepmother to be more realistic and human, significantly reducing the screen-time of the mice, and include more backstory and development for Cinderella, along with some story tweaks. Most of these are great improvements, though there are some issues when it comes to Cinderella and the fairy godmother that we will touch upon. The tone is also well-handled as it's for the most part lighthearted with moderate doses of humour. However, there is still some space for some drama surrounding the lead, which works very well most of the time.

Lily James as Cinderella is a role that's hard for me to judge. Personally, I think James does a good performance, but the character is not exactly very fleshed-out to be very relatable, as she's just a walking metaphor for the theme of the film. While she does get into some dramatic moments, the issue is that she feels a bit unrealistic personality-wise due to her overwhelming gullible nature and forgiving attitude. Cate Blanchett is fantastic as Lady Tremaine though. Not only was the character's motivation behind her actions brought into light, but Blanchett plays her role with style and grace that you at times side with the villain due to her charisma. Richard Madden as the prince is good as well, bringing in way more personality compared to the original with his reluctance to move in to his father's position as king. Then, there's Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother. She's not bad by any means, but her comedy wasn't very funny. However, it's her constant narration of the story that really gets on people's nerves as she's reinstating the obvious past the first act. On top of that, a lot of people would have just preferred if the character was older, much like the original's grandparent-like caring personality. The side characters are all well-acted and characterized from the stepsisters, the king, the grand duke, and the captain of the guard. I personally like the update to have the stepsisters not be ugly, but rather unskillful on top of their bratty personality. The mice can't even be considered characters as they don't even talk, but you can tell who they are supposed to be from the original. Honestly, the entire cast is great, but the main issue is that the character of Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother don't really make themselves appealing.

Kenneth Branagh is a director known for his visionary eye, bringing kingdoms to life with surreal amounts of colour. Branagh does a perfect job in his work and unlike Guy Richie's work on "Aladdin", actually uses his eye-candy aesthetic into good use. I think the one thing people are going to get out of the film is the costume design, as they are both stylish and colourful to the saturated world. The settings are also very well constructed and designed from the warm yet cold aesthetic of Cinderella's childhood home and the glamorous palace. You can tell a lot of the Disney budget went to the aesthetic of the film, which is its shining achievement. The cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos is also very good from some creative shots and iconography. What's not very good though is Partrick Doyle's score. It's not awful, but it shoves the magical, whimsical music so much into your ears that it becomes almost as abusive as Lady Tremaine. The CGI is also on the weaker end as you can tell that it's one of the few elements Branagh didn't need to put much focus on, along with the budget being surprisingly modest. The effects are just very average to say the least. What you see is what you get, and what you got are fake mice, stags, and lizards that don't feel or look realistic. Regardless, Branagh's skills are put to the test and accomplish the look and feel of the film, even if a few things are lacking.

"Cinderella" is honestly my second favourite Disney remake, and my favourite from the past decade. To be fair though, it has quite a bit of issues from Cinderella's personality, the misuse of the Fairy Godmother, the over-bearing score by Doyle, and the below-average effects. However, there's so much that's done well from the mostly smart and creative changes from the original while keeping the story itself identical enough, the tone being a simple use of lighthearted drama and comedy, Cate Blanchett's performance as Lady Tremaine, the cast and characters in general, Branagh's visionary directing, the aesthetic of the film ranging from the costumes to the interiors of the sets, and Zambarloukos's cinematography complementing Branagh's direction. For me though, the big take-away and why I have this as my favourite from the modern remakes is how they written the story to be different, but same enough that it respects the original, but stands out as its own to a degree. The issue with a lot of these remakes is that they either strive too far from the source material or stick way too close to it with unnecessary changes. I hope future remakes really learn from Branagh's work and this specific remake, because if not, we will continue to suffer from weaponized nostalgia bait.

Verdict: 7.5/10. Very good remake, but it could have been much stronger. Maybe the new "Mulan" can learn from this film, but I'm not holding my breath for it.