Cinderella 2015

[Della]

My dh and I saw Kenneth Branagh’s “Cinderella.” Like the animated 1950 version it was put out by Disney, but the 2015 version is live action. We loved it. I cried at several scenes which were touching without being sentimental. I saw religious over and undertones throughout. Aimed at children it has delights for adults too, especially those who, like Cinderella herself, love happy endings and a good moral story.

 

[Midwest88]

I heard this was quite good - a surprise really since I guess many were thinking it would be too sentimental and sugary. Good for the producers, the cast and the director. It’s harder to something familiar, stay true to the story, yet at the same time making it fresh. I’ll be checking it out tomorrow since I have some time to spare before work.

 

[oldgraymare2]

Thanks for your review, Della. I would like to see it, as I love fairy tales.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

My daughter just saw it, and was pleased to report that we “aging Baby Boomers” shouldn’t worry – that despite being live and not animated, it’s the “canonical” Disney Cinderella. No modern feminist twists, no subtle Political Correctness, just a great re-telling of the story.

 

[Della]

My daughter just saw it, and was pleased to report that we “aging Baby Boomers” shouldn’t worry – that despite being live and not animated, it’s the “canonical” Disney Cinderella. No modern feminist twists, no subtle Political Correctness, just a great re-telling of the story.

I was relieved on that account, as well. The cast was varied in race, but that’s only to be expected since we live in a multi-cultural/racial society. I’m fine with it and welcome it in the film. Nothing was made of it–no heavy-handed lectures or posturing, thanks be.

Kenneth Branagh is noted for being as true as possible to the original story but loves to bring older tales to modern audiences in ways they can relate to them. He fully succeeded here. The sets and costumes were true to fairy tale sensibilities and the film’s coloring and design was like a children’s storybook–full of rich color and charm. As soon as it comes out on DVD I’m getting a copy.

Like “Enchanted” before it, “Cinderella” is sweet but not sacchrine–fun with enough depth to make it satisfying for both children and adults.

 

[oldcatholicguy]

So it’s safe to take little girls to watch it? My wife wants to take our younger ones to it, but I’m worried it will be an “updated” version similar to that Sleeping Beauty one which revised who the bad guy was.

 

[Della]

So it’s safe to take little girls to watch it? My wife wants to take our younger ones to it, but I’m worried it will be an “updated” version similar to that Sleeping Beauty one which revised who the bad guy was.

Oh yes, completely safe. Nothing in it to offend anyone. There’s are bad guys, but they’re not any of the people who are supposed to be good guys–and they get their comeuppance. The king and prince are both upright and admirable characters. Cinderella is rewarded for her virtue not just because she is beautiful–a good lesson for our girls in our days when looks seem to be everything.

 

[oldcatholicguy]

Oh yes, completely safe. Nothing in it to offend anyone. There’s are bad guys, but they’re not any of the people who are supposed to be good guys–and they get their comeuppance. The king and prince are both upright and admirable characters. Cinderella is rewarded for her virtue not just because she is beautiful–a good lesson for our girls in our days when looks seem to be everything.

Thank you.

 

[Della]

Thank you.

:tiphat:

 

[MrZoom]

Catholic critic Steven D. Greydanus gave the new *Cinderella *a glowing review, and called it “subversively non-subversive” – by that I take it he means where the trend nowadays is to “update” fairy tales for modern sensibilities, the new movie goes against the flow by telling more or less the traditional story.

Pull quote from his review:

Kenneth Branagh’s *Cinderella *is such a gallant anachronism, such a grandly unreconstructed throwback, that it offers, without ever raising its voice, a ringing cross-examination of our whole era of dark, gritty fairy-tale revisionism. These stories have been around for centuries, the film seems to say. Are you sure they will be improved by making the heroines oppressed by society or their parents, making the male love interests the moral or cultural inferiors of the heroines, adding battle scenes and so forth?

Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/sdg-reviews-cinderella#ixzz3UfGPMhbQ

Also, my friend Denise took her three-year-old daughter to see it – her first movie theater experience! Denise says it’s completely age-appropriate for the younger set.

 

[YinYangMom]

Fr. Robert Barron wrote on it:

“Kenneth Branagh’s “Cinderella” is the most surprising Hollywood movie of the year so far. I say this because the director manages to tells the familiar fairy tale without irony, hyper-feminist sub-plots, Marxist insinuations, deconstructionist cynicism, or arch condescension. In so doing, he actually allows the spiritual, indeed specifically Christian, character of the tale to emerge.”

Rest of the article here: Kenneth Branagh’s Very Christian Cinderella

 

[Robyn_p]

I thought it was really good also. I was expecting another Maleficent disaster, so this surprised me. Just a good old-fashioned fairy tale.

I really liked that Cinderella forgave her step-mother at the end. And the fact that Cinderella and the prince had gotten to know each other a little before the ball. I don’t remember either of those in the cartoon, but I thought they were good changes.