Cinderella

Once upon a time, Hollywood produced yet another incarnation of a very old, classic, timeless fairy tale called "Cinderella". Fairy tales are certainly great child and family fare whereas many renditions of this story have been made: "Cinderella" '50, "Cinderella" '77, "A Cinderella Story" '04 to mention just a very few.

This story follows the fortunes and misfortunes of young Ella (Lily James) whose merchant father (Ben Chaplin) remarries following the tragic death of her mother (Hayley Atwell). Keen to support her loving father, Ella welcomes her new stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and her daughters, Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera) into the 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 renamed Cinderella since she used to work in the cinders, Ella could easily begin to lose hope. Yet, despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella is determined to honor her mother's dying words and to "have courage and be kind". She will not give in to despair nor despise those who abuse her. And then there is a dashing stranger, Kit (Richard Madden) she meets in woods. Unaware that he is actually a prince, not merely an employee at the palace, Ella finally feels she has met a kindred soul. The prince sends out an open invitation for all maidens to attend a ball, raising Ella's hopes to encounter Kit once again. Her stepmother forbids her to attend, but in all good fairy tales, her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) appears and armed with a pumpkin, a few mice, a couple of lizards and a goose, changes Cinderella's life forever. You know the rest of the story.

Others to round out the cast are Nonso Anozie as Captain, Stellan Skarsgard as Grand Duke, Derek Jacobi as King, Rob Brydon as Master Phineus, Jana Perez as Princess Chelina of Zaragosa, Alex Macqueen as Royal Crier and Tom Edden as Lizard Footman.

This was staged and paced well by director Kenneth Branagh ("Henry V" '89, "Dead Again" '91, "Much Ado About Nothing" '93, "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" '94, "Hamlet" '96, "As You Like It' '06, "The Magic Flute" '06, "Sleuth" '07, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" '14) plus others. Branagh definitely was able to move his actors around the set seamlessly as though these actors were actually the characters they were playing, but look at this guy's resume! This is obviously not his first rodeo. It was whimsically written by Chris Weitz ("Antz" '98, "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" 2000, "The Golden Compass" '07) based on a short story by Charles Perrault. As with others films, this takes a peek at how Ella went from having parents to living with her stepmother, how she met the prince, even how she acquired the name, Cinderella--the beginnings if you will. I think people have been intrigued of how favorite characters began, and how they developed. So when another incarnation of this favorite fairy tale came along, in order to put any new spin on the franchise, the beginnings of the story had to be a forgone conclusion. It was no academy award winning screenplay-- there were a few areas of choppiness, but all in all, it was a nice take on such an old 'tride and true' story that we've seen so many times. Even the visual effects predominantly designed by MPC (Moving Picture Company) were stunning and didn't have to compensate for a poor script--in fact they actually complimented the story.

Even though this is a very old story, told many times, this rendition actually gave a fresh new look for being such an old story repeatedly presented time and again, and this is a tough thing for any writer to pull off successfully.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                        Rated: PG                           112mins.