I attended Disney's live-action Cinderella with a lot of trepidation. Cinderella has long been one of my favorite fairy tales; one popular version of the story was written by Charles Perrault in the 17th century, but similar stories were told in ancient Egypt. Still, it wasn't until 1950 that Walt Disney premiered his second princess, creating the most iconic version of the story on film. Disney himself often said that Cinderella's transformation from rags to ballgown was one of his favorite pieces of animation. Fast forward to 2014, when Kenneth Branagh signs on to direct a live-action version of the Disney classic. Branagh, best known for his Shakespeare work (Performer Profile), was last in cinemas with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and before that, directed Thor. An unlikely candidate, perhaps, to helm Cinderella, but I think Kenneth Branagh is secretly a Disney princess. Take a look at his lovingly rendered adaptation of Love's Labours Lost (2000), the Shakespeare play re-envisioned and inspired by the Golden Age of movie musicals. And there's no denying the romanticism of his Much Ado About Nothing. Maybe he's not such an odd choice...
Branagh and screenwriter Chris Weitz have done what the best adaptations do, by revisiting classic versions of the Cinderella story (namely Perrault's), as well as making direct reference to important visual and storytelling highlights of the 1950 animation. A number of shots also harken to other adaptations of the tale, such as stage and screen versions of Rogers and Hammerstein's musical. You have all the key elements: pretty blonde girl, stepmother, stepsisters, an old-fashioned pink dress that is turned into an exquisite blue ballgown by a fairy godmother, glass slippers, pumpkin coach, dance with the Prince, stroke of midnight, abandoned shoe, and scouring the kingdom for the maiden who fits the shoe. Unique to the Disney edition are the anthropomorphized animals. Even if they don't engage in direct conversation with Cinderella, their characterization and integration is central to the Disney film. I had concerns about their live-action presence, but they're handled perfectly, more like Pip from Enchanted. They're still mice, a cat, and a goose, but they're characterized in the same way we engage our pets. #nailedit.
Sandy Powell's exquisite costumes have already generated enough word of mouth to attract fashionistas to the cinema, the wedding gown featured in Vanity Fair. Powell designed for Cate Blanchett in The Aviator, but nothing as remarkable as the chic gowns worn as Lady Tremaine. They are beautiful garments, and I understand the use of a 50s inspired silhouette to make Lady Tremaine and her daughters stand out, to be incongruous, but my purist heart hates it. It is the only thing about the film I disliked. It did seem as though Blanchette had wandered in from the set of Far from Heaven or The End of the Affair (both designed by Sandy Powell). Yet, the rest of the costumes are divine, too. Harvey Weinstein has been quoted as saying, "Sandy's great gift is her ability to make historical costumes look contemporary. She manages to be both true to the period and modern." Was it necessary to make such a drastic choice for the Tremaines? Why fix what isn't broken?
Branagh has also done well to ensure that the technical and design features have not interfered with the storytelling or performances. Lily James is relatively unknown outside of Downton Abbey, but this works exceedingly well for Cinderella. She's able to play much younger than she looks on the red carpet, and believably inhabit Ella's kindness and sweetness - no Hollywood ego or rivalries to precede her. She's charming, just as charming as her Prince. Richard Madden is dreamy and shiny as "Kit," the Prince, and thankfully he's given more of a personality than the original Disney prince. In one of the changes from the original Disney films, Ella and Kit cross paths before the ball, in the woods, on horseback. It is this encounter that inspires Kit to invite every maiden in the kingdom to the ball. Acting legends Derek Jacobi and Stellan Skarsgård round out the royal presence, as the King and the Grand Duke, respectively. I found the King's deathbed scenes amusingly similar to Odin's deathbed scenes in Thor. Another happy addition to Cinderella is the Prince's Captain and BFF, played by Nonso Anozie. While not the most recognizable face in cinema, the Jack Ryan vet is really fun to watch onscreen; he makes a great Horatio (to the Prince's Hamlet) (it's a Shakespeare metaphor, just go with it). Of course Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter are reliably good in their roles, even if they're on the verge of being overpowered by their costumes; More Carter than Blanchett, who manages to pierce through her every scene.
It's a bit sad to think that some children will grow up with Burton's Alice in Wonderland as their primary reference of the story, or with Maleficent as their dominant vision of Sleeping Beauty, but I am completely satisfied and look forward to sharing Branagh's Disney's Cinderella. I look forward to sharing it with my own children, someday. While it's unlikely that it will ever replace the 1950 classic (none of the songs feature in the live-action film), Lily James's transformation into her blue ballgown is magical. I cried, even as I tried to distance myself from the very blue virtual magic. Somehow, there's still an element of the trailing sparkles from the animation - it's still a dream manifest, and a wish my heart made a long time ago.
Notes:
- Anything Branagh can do, Joss Whedon can do... just as well, or better. Branagh directed Much Ado About Nothing and Thor, while Whedon directed Much Ado and Thor, in The Avengers.
- Chris Pine, Branagh's lead in Jack Ryan, played Cinderella's Prince for Into the Woods.
- Cinderella isn't Helena Bonham Carter's encounter with magic: not only has she played Bellatrix Lestrange, but she has also played Merlin's nemesis Morgan Le Fay. And while she's no stranger to Shakespeare, either, neither Twelfth Night nor Hamlet were Branagh films. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, however, was.
- Branagh has also worked with Derek Jacobi (the King) before; Jacobi was in Branagh's Henry V, Dead Again, and Hamlet. He and Branagh also acted together in My Week With Marilyn.
- Composer Patrick Doyle has scored nearly every Branagh-directed film, including Cinderella.
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