Cinderella
Year: 2021
Directed by: Kay Cannon
Starring: Camila Cabello, Nicholas Galitzine & Idina Menzel
Runtime: 113 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 23/07/21
Directed by: Kay Cannon
Starring: Camila Cabello, Nicholas Galitzine & Idina Menzel
Runtime: 113 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 23/07/21
You know what the world really needs right now? Yet another Cinderella adaptation! It honestly seems like Hollywood can’t go five minutes without rehashing the age-old fairy tale, and more often than not the results are less than stellar. So, it seems like Amazon want to try their hand at the rags to riches story in the form of a musical that borrows liberally from The Greatest Showman and Bridgerton. Is Amazon’s Cinderella a high-class affair, or should it be cast out with the peasants?
Ambitious seamstress Ella (Camila Cabello) has dreams of owning her own dress-making business, however because of the patriarchal society she lives in as well as constant interference by her stepmother (Idina Menzel) and stepsisters (Maddie Baillio & Charlotte Spencer) her dreams are frequently stamped out.
Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) is the heir to the throne and is facing pressure from all sides to marry, something he is adamant he will not do until he finds a woman he loves. But when Ella catches his eye the prince makes it his mission to win her heart. But will Ella be content with sacrificing her dreams for life in the royal palace?
Ambitious seamstress Ella (Camila Cabello) has dreams of owning her own dress-making business, however because of the patriarchal society she lives in as well as constant interference by her stepmother (Idina Menzel) and stepsisters (Maddie Baillio & Charlotte Spencer) her dreams are frequently stamped out.
Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) is the heir to the throne and is facing pressure from all sides to marry, something he is adamant he will not do until he finds a woman he loves. But when Ella catches his eye the prince makes it his mission to win her heart. But will Ella be content with sacrificing her dreams for life in the royal palace?
I had my expectations for this film set pretty low based on the generally negative feedback the film was getting, but I really think people have been far too kind to it. Watching Cinderella tested my patience in every way possible thanks to its wooden performances, out of tune musical numbers, indecision as to whether to use licensed songs or create original songs, the sloppy choreography, and the bloated runtime. There was very little to actually like in Cinderella, and what good there is has been consistently undermined by just how bad everything else is.
I want to address the musical angle first of all, because as a musical the whole experience lives or dies on how good these moments are. As I mentioned briefly, Cinderella utilises both original songs and licensed pop songs. This is a confusing mix as traditionally you’ll get one (in the style of something like Mamma Mia! that uses licensed songs) or the other (like The Greatest Showman where all the songs are original). What a mix of both indicates to me is that the writers couldn’t make enough original songs to warrant making the film a musical, but they liked their original songs so much that they didn’t want to scrap them. Most musicals that use licensed songs tend to use particular ones, for example Mamma Mia! uses ABBA songs, but Cinderella just has a peculiar collection of hits from various different decades and types of artist. You’ll get some Queen, Madonna, Ed Sheeran, and J Lo as well as many others, there’s no consistency in the kinds of songs used and it makes the whole experience feel lazy and only a musical to appeal to people who like seeing pop songs in films.
The original songs are also not compelling enough to stand up on their own, likely the reason why well-known pop songs were used to bolster the musical roster. To then put the cherry on top of the cake almost nobody in this film can sing the songs very well. It sounds like everyone is either out of key, out of time, or being overly dramatic in their performance (see Cabello’s performance of Am I Wrong for some hilarious over-pronunciations of words for dramatic effect). This is also worsened by the fact that the lip syncing is horrendously off, often making it look like a foreign language dub than just an editing slip.
These poor musical performances are only made worse by the choreography. My immediate thought when seeing the first dance number was “This looks like a knock off of The Greatest Showman”. Only to then discover that the choreographer for Cinderella was none other than Ashley Wallen…the choreographer of The Greatest Showman. Now whilst I love the choreography in Showman, Cinderella’s performances feel like stuff that wasn’t good enough to make the cut for that film.
The vibe I get from all of this is that director Kay Cannon wanted to go for a Bridgerton kind of style for Cinderella, with the inclusion of modern songs and modern sensibilities in an otherwise period drama. But because the song choices have no correlation to each other, combined with the poor performances and underwhelming choreography it just all feels like an underwhelming school play than a big budget film.
I want to address the musical angle first of all, because as a musical the whole experience lives or dies on how good these moments are. As I mentioned briefly, Cinderella utilises both original songs and licensed pop songs. This is a confusing mix as traditionally you’ll get one (in the style of something like Mamma Mia! that uses licensed songs) or the other (like The Greatest Showman where all the songs are original). What a mix of both indicates to me is that the writers couldn’t make enough original songs to warrant making the film a musical, but they liked their original songs so much that they didn’t want to scrap them. Most musicals that use licensed songs tend to use particular ones, for example Mamma Mia! uses ABBA songs, but Cinderella just has a peculiar collection of hits from various different decades and types of artist. You’ll get some Queen, Madonna, Ed Sheeran, and J Lo as well as many others, there’s no consistency in the kinds of songs used and it makes the whole experience feel lazy and only a musical to appeal to people who like seeing pop songs in films.
The original songs are also not compelling enough to stand up on their own, likely the reason why well-known pop songs were used to bolster the musical roster. To then put the cherry on top of the cake almost nobody in this film can sing the songs very well. It sounds like everyone is either out of key, out of time, or being overly dramatic in their performance (see Cabello’s performance of Am I Wrong for some hilarious over-pronunciations of words for dramatic effect). This is also worsened by the fact that the lip syncing is horrendously off, often making it look like a foreign language dub than just an editing slip.
These poor musical performances are only made worse by the choreography. My immediate thought when seeing the first dance number was “This looks like a knock off of The Greatest Showman”. Only to then discover that the choreographer for Cinderella was none other than Ashley Wallen…the choreographer of The Greatest Showman. Now whilst I love the choreography in Showman, Cinderella’s performances feel like stuff that wasn’t good enough to make the cut for that film.
The vibe I get from all of this is that director Kay Cannon wanted to go for a Bridgerton kind of style for Cinderella, with the inclusion of modern songs and modern sensibilities in an otherwise period drama. But because the song choices have no correlation to each other, combined with the poor performances and underwhelming choreography it just all feels like an underwhelming school play than a big budget film.
I’m also not a fan of the changes made to the story. Chiefly the alteration that the stepmother character played by Idina Menzel isn’t evil. In fact, she goes from disliking Ella to helping her marry the prince in the final act of the film for some unexplained reason. I think this comes down to the fact that this is no longer a film about a woman falling in love with a prince, but a prince falling in love with a woman who has other priorities. I feel like this might have been done to give the film a greater female empowerment message, but in reality, it doesn’t actually change anything.
I did however love the change to the fairy godmother, becoming the Fabulous Godmother played by Billy Porter. He’s not in the film much, but it is one of the few modern alterations that really works for the film, mostly due to Porter’s comparatively excellent performance to everyone else.
I could continue ragging on this film for ages if I felt like it, but I want to say what the film does right because the sets and costumes are absolutely gorgeous. I often would find myself forgetting about how dull the rest of the film was because I was so enamoured by the clothing and locales on display. I feel like this film could genuinely be in the running for an Academy Award for Costume Design, which despite the whole product being pretty bad, is absolutely deserving of recognition for these aspects.
Cinderella is bad. Don’t waste your time with it, even worse it has James Corden in it! Whilst the costumes and sets were incredible, there is little else about this film that works well. I’m honestly shocked at how bad the musical numbers are considering how Cabello and Menzel are both excellent performers, and because choreographer Ashley Wallen has previously proven to create some excellent dance for film. It’s rare that a film I have low expectations for manages to be even worse than I expected, but Cinderella definitely managed it.
I did however love the change to the fairy godmother, becoming the Fabulous Godmother played by Billy Porter. He’s not in the film much, but it is one of the few modern alterations that really works for the film, mostly due to Porter’s comparatively excellent performance to everyone else.
I could continue ragging on this film for ages if I felt like it, but I want to say what the film does right because the sets and costumes are absolutely gorgeous. I often would find myself forgetting about how dull the rest of the film was because I was so enamoured by the clothing and locales on display. I feel like this film could genuinely be in the running for an Academy Award for Costume Design, which despite the whole product being pretty bad, is absolutely deserving of recognition for these aspects.
Cinderella is bad. Don’t waste your time with it, even worse it has James Corden in it! Whilst the costumes and sets were incredible, there is little else about this film that works well. I’m honestly shocked at how bad the musical numbers are considering how Cabello and Menzel are both excellent performers, and because choreographer Ashley Wallen has previously proven to create some excellent dance for film. It’s rare that a film I have low expectations for manages to be even worse than I expected, but Cinderella definitely managed it.