Cinderella

Cinderella
Starring Camila Cabello, Idina Menzel, Nicholas Galitzine, Billy Porter
Directed by Kay Cannon

By now everyone in the world has pretty much heard the story of Cinderella, or at least an iteration of her. The fabled poor girl living under the oppressive thumb of her evil stepmother and mean step-sisters who is forbidden to attend the ball where the prince will choose a suitor, who gets her chance when her Fairy Godmother transforms her into a beautiful woman who draws the prince's attention but has to flee before the clock strikes midnight, resulting in him searching for her and trying to find the foot that the glass slipper she wore fit. He finds her, they get married, and everyone lives happily ever after. While many attest that Cinderella started with Walt Disney's classic 1950 feature film of the same name, the story of Cinderella has existed a lot longer - in fact, it's a folk tale that's been told and revised several times throughout history, beginning with the Greek geographer Strabo between 7 BC and AD 23. In film, the story has undergone several changes itself, ranging from the beloved animated classic to the live-action remake, to more modern re-tellings in films like "Ella Enchanted" and "Ever After." Now Cinderella is getting her biggest makeover yet, reaching out to a younger audience with a new message: while it's good to fall in love and have someone save you from your suffering, you can do it all by yourself with enough tenacity and ingenuity - along with the help of your non-binary Fabulous Godmother.

Cinderella (Camila Cabello) is living in the basement of her stepmother Vivan (Idina Menzel) and her two step-sisters, Malvolia (Maddie Baillo) and Narissa (Charlotte Spencer). She spends her time designing dresses in hopes of eventually starting her own business called "Designs by Ella," but Vivian shoots down her dreams and tells her that she won't be anything if she doesn't get married. Meanwhile, young Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) is more interested in having fun and hanging out with his friends than getting married to a woman of nobility, to the chagrin of his father, King Rowan (Pierce Brosnan). He sees Cinderella in the crowd and becomes enamored by her, and approaches her dressed as a commoner and buys her dress at three times the asking price, before asking her to attend the royal ball, promising there will be women of wealthy nobility who will take interest in her designs.

As the ball approaches, Vivian forbids Cinderella from attending, arranging a loveless marriage for her instead. As Vivian and her daughters go to the ball, Cinderella is visited by her Fabulous Godmother (Billy Porter), who brings her best design to life and sends her to the ball. She manages to pitch her ideas to a queen who is interested in bringing her around the world with her as her personal dressmaker, and she shares a dance with Prince Robert before the clock strikes midnight and she has to rush home before the spell wears off. Back home, she worries that she won't be able to meet the queen and fulfill her dream, as well as her feelings for Prince Robert, who also must make life-altering decisions of his own.

Kudos can be given to writer/director Kay Cannon for trying to re-invent the classic story for a more modern generation, but the method she goes to approach it feels very convoluted, full of vomit-inducing colors, and so much saccharine sweetness that you'll be on a short sugar high after it ends but crash almost immediately. It should entertain the children in the family, but everyone else will roll their eyes at the simplistic yet overly-complicated way Cannon tells her tale.

The story focuses more on Cinderella being a self-made woman, using her talent for dressmaking to make her own name in the world, and she doesn't need a man to make herself complete. It's a powerful message of female empowerment, but it's told in such a way that it comes across as too simple yet also needlessly complicated. It's also a story of Prince Robert and his own struggles with the monarchy, not really wanting to rule the country but live his own life. It would've been good to actually feel anything for the handsome Prince, but his character is nothing more than a pretty face and a somewhat ok singing voice. It's an almost two-hour film where interestingly enough it becomes overly bloated and underwhelmed, relying on the flashy song and dance numbers instead of telling a thoughtful, memorable story. 

Camila Cabello, best known for being a former member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, makes her acting debut in "Cinderella" as the titular heroine, which is only fitting because the movie is a musical, and she's able to showcase her powerful vocal chops, while masking the fact that she's not very good of an actress. Idina Menzel plays her stepmother who's still bad, but not as bad as the character has been in the past, and she's even given her own tragic backstory as to why she's the way she is, which makes us feel bad for her. Nicholas Galitzine plays Prince Robert, who is nothing more than eye candy for the teeny boppers who stomach their way through the movie. Billy Porter is the only truly bright light as the non-binary Fabulous Godmother, who transforms Cinderella into...well...Cinderella, but with a cloaking device so no one else recognizes her.

By now we all know how this story ends, and even though it adds in a more modern twist, it's still extremely predictable. Kay Cannon tries to combat this by turning the movie into a musical, but she's definitely no Lin-Manuel Miranda or Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The film only includes two original songs, which are also the highlights in the musical category: Cabello's empowering "Million to One" and Menzdel's regret-filled "Dream Girl" (that she co-wrote) that includes one of the most powerful lines in the movie, "some legends were born at the wrong time." Apart from these two great numbers, the rest of the songs in the film were copies from more well-known singers, including Ed Sheeran ("Perfect"), Madonna ("Material Girl"), Janet Jackson ("Rhythm Nation"), Queen ("Somebody to Love") and more, proving that when you try to re-create songs it becomes just a bland karaoke wannabe "American Idol" audition. Just like how the tale of Cinderella has been told and told again, each time it looses some of its magic, no matter how much you try to change it.

While offering a few great songs in an otherwise audition-filled movie, "Cinderella" fails to re-capture the magic and wonder of the beloved fairy tale despite telling a more powerful tale about female empowerment and self-worth told with lackluster effect.

The Score: C-