Just to recap, in the original the meek daughter of a fairly rich man is turned into a house servant by her unkind stepmother after he dies. Fortunately, a fairy godmother comes along to set everything right. It was simplistic, but it had good tense drama and timeless appeal. It is rightly considered a classic of film.
One feature of early Disney films was that the characters were mostly not very fleshed out. The sisters were unrelentingly spoiled and mean, Cinderella was saintly and gentle, and the prince was... the man candy - a young, handsome, rich dumb guy all the women aspired to possess.
This film makes an attempt to try to add some dimension to some of the characters here and more or less gives us an interesting angle on the original story we can chew on a bit. One of the mean sisters now has a conscience and just wants to find true love. The prince is still clueless, young, and handsome, but now he shows a little bit of bravery by making his horse jump on a ship or something. Most of the other characters are still the same, though.
The character of Cinderella was completely redone and becomes uncharacteristically brave and ambitious, defying her stepmother and hatching plots to get what she wants. It's also funny how thirsty she is, desperately trying to get the prince to fall in love with her. Fortunately, though, it was tastefully done. They didn't try to douse it in post millenial film culture and give Cinderella a suit of armor and a scimitar and have her fighting crime or anything like that.
Fans will probably love the "what if" value of having the stepmother gain some actual firepower when she comes into possession of the fairy godmother's wand as well as the alternate timeline scenario.
It's not a great film by any means and not better than the original. Most of the characters are still caricatures, 40% or more of the movie is pretty bad musical numbers, and lots of the drama is created/solved by the two dumb mice sidekicks running around and acting like idiots. Nevertheless, it's clear that creativity, effort, and love for the original went into this one. A fanfic writer's dream come true.
Honourable Mentions: Flowers in the Attic. About a mother who locks up her children in the attic much like the Stepmother loves to do to Cinderella. Great work of literature.
One feature of early Disney films was that the characters were mostly not very fleshed out. The sisters were unrelentingly spoiled and mean, Cinderella was saintly and gentle, and the prince was... the man candy - a young, handsome, rich dumb guy all the women aspired to possess.
This film makes an attempt to try to add some dimension to some of the characters here and more or less gives us an interesting angle on the original story we can chew on a bit. One of the mean sisters now has a conscience and just wants to find true love. The prince is still clueless, young, and handsome, but now he shows a little bit of bravery by making his horse jump on a ship or something. Most of the other characters are still the same, though.
The character of Cinderella was completely redone and becomes uncharacteristically brave and ambitious, defying her stepmother and hatching plots to get what she wants. It's also funny how thirsty she is, desperately trying to get the prince to fall in love with her. Fortunately, though, it was tastefully done. They didn't try to douse it in post millenial film culture and give Cinderella a suit of armor and a scimitar and have her fighting crime or anything like that.
Fans will probably love the "what if" value of having the stepmother gain some actual firepower when she comes into possession of the fairy godmother's wand as well as the alternate timeline scenario.
It's not a great film by any means and not better than the original. Most of the characters are still caricatures, 40% or more of the movie is pretty bad musical numbers, and lots of the drama is created/solved by the two dumb mice sidekicks running around and acting like idiots. Nevertheless, it's clear that creativity, effort, and love for the original went into this one. A fanfic writer's dream come true.
Honourable Mentions: Flowers in the Attic. About a mother who locks up her children in the attic much like the Stepmother loves to do to Cinderella. Great work of literature.