12 – Cinderella
It's pretty awesome what Disney can do
when they have time to develop a story. Unlike the last bunch of
movies I watched, Cinderella
doesn't feel nearly as rushed or half-baked.
Th
story starts with some simple narration to set up the story. They
really get the fairy tale vibe down with this. Right from the get go
they make sure you know exactly who Cinderella is. We get to see her
interact with the animals and sing about wishes and we already know
that she is a great person who deserves a much better life than she
has. The animals themselves are there to be cute and funny but they
also really help to drive home the message that Cinderella is a great
person, just like they did in Snow White.
By today's standards it might be a bit much to exaggerate this point
so much but I think they did a good enough job that I didn't get
annoyed by it.
Cinderella
wasn't the only character that was set up well. We really get a sense
of how horrible her step family is to her. The moment we meet her
step mother she's hidden in the shadows and there's just a terrible
mood surrounding her. Any time the step family is on screen you
really get a sense of how bad they are. The step sisters themselves
are just selfish and dumb but the real evil is definitely her step
mother. She is horribly selfish as well but made even more dangerous
by the fact that she's actually very smart. It really makes you
legitimately angry at them when they do horrible things like rip
Cinderella's dress. This really makes you root for her because you
feel like it would be a real accomplishment for her to overcome such
a terrible person.
I
couldn't write this without mentioning the mice either. I really
liked seeing the mice and how much they wanted to help Cinderella.
Since we see the mice trying so hard to help her, it helps establish
Cinderella's character even further. They were also a great break
from the story every now and then. We could step away from Cinderella
and have a fun scene where they get chased around by Lucifer the cat.
Those scenes were really just a bit of filler but they were fun
enough that I didn't care too much.
That
brings up one problem I did have with the movie. It really didn't
feel like too much happened. Pinocchio was
bouncing all over the place and had him going on a bunch of different
adventures and learning throughout it. Cinderella doesn't really need
to learn a lesson in this. Since it's a fairy tale we already know
she's a good person and we're just waiting for her to finally get the
life she deserves. It's a great moment when it happens but I do feel
like that's a bit of a weakness in the princess fairy tale genre.
Another
little problem I had was that the Prince was horribly underdeveloped.
He doesn't show up until the last bit of the movie and we don't
really get an idea of who he is. I appreciated that they made him a
bit uninterested in finding a woman because it made his finding
Cinderella a bit more believable that they would fall in love. They
really didn't go into who he actually was at all though. He doesn't
even show up while the Grand Duke was trying to find out who the
mystery woman was at the party the other night with the glass
slippers. It's also a bit of an old fashioned idea of them falling in
love at first sight but being a fairy tale, I’ll let it slide.
I have
to say that the finale was a bit tense. It was awesome to see the
mice desperately trying to get the key to free Cinderella. You
finally feel glad for once that the step sisters are so stubborn and
horrible. It's even greater when you realize that they were basically
their own downfall there. The only thing that would have been worse
than them not getting to marry the prince was Cinderella marrying the
prince and they basically made that happen. Despite her step mother's
last attempt to intervene it was really triumphant when Cinderella
pulled out the glass slipper calmly and tried it on.
Overall
I really enjoyed it. Sure, it was really old fashioned but I thought
it was great. It's not a very modern idea that a woman would be
waiting around until the day she gets married but I think Cinderella
came off as a pretty strong character. She really put up with a lot
of crap from her family and you can't help but feel happy that she
triumphs at the end.
Tomorrow
we go on a strange journey down the rabbit hole...
12
down. 41 to go.
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