Review 511: Cinderella (2015)

Cinderella is a lovely, delightfully charming romantic fantasy film and a fantastic addition to Disney's ever expanding line of Live Action Remakes.

Ella (Lily James) lives a simple but happy with her parents until her marchant father (Ben Chaplin) remarries following the tragic and untimely death of her mother (Hayley Atwell). Keen to support her loving father, Ella welcomes new stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and her two daughters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drizella (Sophie McShera) into their family home. But when Ella's father suddenly and unexpectedly passes away, she finds herself at the mercy of a jealous and cruel new family. Finally relegated to nothing more than a servant girl covered in ashes and spitefully nicknamed "Cinderella" since she used to work in the cinders, Ella could easily begin to lose hope. Yet despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella remains determined to honour her mother's dying words and to "have courage and be kind." She will not give into despair nor despise those who abuse her.
And then there is the dashing stranger she meets in the woods. Unaware that he is really Prince Kit (Richard "Robb Stark" Madden) not merely an employee at the Palace, Ella finally feels that she has met a kindred spirit.

Director Kenneth Branagh understands that the best way to retell this story is to remain faithful to the original animated classic. He knows that it's not what you do with the story but how you do it and he knows that the best way to do it is to keep it traditional.

Kenneth Branagh's direction is elegantly sophisticated, the cinematography is beautiful, the production design is wonderful, bringing to life the fairy tale world the character inhabit with impeccable detail. The costumes are lavish (Cinderella's iconic costume from the original animated classic looking absolutely stunning and Stepsisters costumes are hidious for all the right reasons. They've just got too much stuff piled on and have bright colours). The visuals are splendid, the score by Patrick Doyle is beautifully lush, the make up is rich and fantastically detailed.
There are some lovely little bits of humour sprinkled throughout the film, most of them courtesy of the Stepsisters buffoonery and the appalling fashion sense.

Lily James delives an luminously ernest performance as the titular heroine. Ella faces a lot of shortcomings and abuse at the hands of her step mother and step sisters after her father dies and yet still chooses "Have courage and be kind", retain her idealistic worldview and to not become jaded or bitter about her experiences. She's the furthest thing from a pushover in that she sticks up for herself and tries to make the best with what she's got.
She's ultimatly able to deal with her step family because she has such inner beauty, goodness and strength. She faces huge challenges and steps up to them with humility and kindness.

Cate Blanchett's performance as Lady Tremaine is a surprisingly nuanced one, slowly and gradually revealing some of the motives behind her cold exterior. Among them being financial ruin and contextualised jealousy

Richard Madden   He goes through a huge change over the course of the film from when he first meets Ella, what goes on with his father and how he gradually learns to be his own man and to stand for what he believes in and doesn't agree with. Over the course of the film, themselves and their best qualities are pushed and tested


The connection they have with each other brings their best qualities out which makes their attraction for one another feel completely natural.

Helena Bonham Carter is only in a handful of scenes playing  She's highly stressed because her spells run on borrowed time

The always dependable Derek Jacobi is   who wants to make that both his son and his kingdom are taken care of before her passes

Playing the stepsisters, Anastasia and Drisella respectively, Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera provide a great deal of laughs. What makes them so amusing is that they aren't inherently wicked as their animated counterparts but they are pretty air headed  to say the least. They provide an excellent contrast to James' Ella in they are completely useless at everything compared to the former whose brainy and highly skilled.

Although in comparably small roles, Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin more than make their mark on this film in their own right playing Ella's mother and father. They're two loving parents who give her this very idealic chilhood and help her form these ideas of courage and kindness which she carries with her throughout the film.

4/5.

The Anonymous Critic.