CINDERELLA

CINDERELLA : BRING THE ROMANTIC FANTASY INTO 2015

Both Critical And Commercial Success

Is it ever a good idea to remake a stone-cold classic, even if the decision to do so allows an old, well-remembered and still-relevant story to be brought up to the present day? Many who would have previously said "no" will have been forced to rethink their stance as a result of the staggering critical and commercial success of Disney's live-action reimagining of the immortal princess tale, Cinderella.

The Cinderella of 2015 is clearly as relevant as she has ever been, on the evidence of a movie that makes the best of use of its available talent and resources. It was directed by Kenneth Branagh and the screenplay was written by Chris Weitz, while production duties were handled by David Barron, Simon Kinberg and Allison Shearmur.

Taking the title role as Ella (Cinderella), meanwhile, is Lily James, who was joined by such other gold-standard actors as Richard Madden - who plays Prince Charming – and Cate Blanchett as Lady Tremaine, or the Wicked Stepmother. It's an impressive lineup for the intimidating task of living up to the Walt Disney animated film from 1950 – even if 2015's Cinderella is not a direct remake of that movie, instead looking back to the Charles Perrault fairy tale.

Such ingredients certainly seemed primed to deliver success for Cinderella from the moment it had its world premiere in the out of competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival last month. It's fair to say that the film hasn't disappointed in either a critical or commercial sense.

Astounding Box Office Success

If there was a film that lived happily ever after at the box office, it was certainly cinderella, which raked in $132.5 million across the world on its debut march 15 weekend. $70.1 million of that was accounted for by 3,845 theaters in the United States, with a recordsmashing $25 million also being generated in China. Such figures also made it Branagh's biggest ever opening as a director.

These numbers also represent another massive triumph for Disney, as it continues to produce live-action versions of its most affectionately remembered animated tales. Last time out, Maleficent - a re-imagining of the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty from the villainess Maleficent's perspective – grossed an astonishing $758.4 million worldwide.

However, Cinderella's feats may be even more impressive, given that it lacks the known entity in the starring role that Maleficent has in the form of Angelina Jolie - Lily James being more familiar from Downton Abbey. What's more, Maleficent was in 3D, while Cinderella is not. Despite those factors, Cinderella would seem to have not only shaded the $69.4 million domestic debut of Maleficent, but also recorded one of the biggest March openings ever - sixth in the all-time list.

As Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis observed: "The challenge in marketing the movie was that there was no twist, unlike Maleficent or Oz. We were rolling out the quintessential version of the classic story. The danger was that people could say, 'I already know what the story is,' but the marketing team brought to the market creative materials that did an incredible job of creating a sense of urgency."

What The Reviewers Have Been Saying

Cinderella has been no less of a juggernaut in the minds of professional critics, David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter leading the way in declaring that "the color, vibrancy and unabashedly romantic heart explode off the screen", and "the studio's opulent update is enhanced by sumptuous physical craftsmanship as well as the limitless possibilities of what CG technology can achieve." He also praised Weitz for embracing "both the magic and the humanity of the classic fairy tale."

Anthony Lane of The New Yorker gave a similarly resounding thumbs up, commenting that "there is barely a frame of Branagh's film that would cause Uncle Walt to finger his mustache with disquiet. ... At a time when that deconstructive urge is the norm, and in an area of fiction — the fairy tale — that has been trampled by critical theory, Branagh has delivered a construction project so solid, so naive, and so rigorously stripped of irony that it borders on the heroic." He also had warm words for the movie's costumes.

Another writer, Rex Reed of The New York Observer, didn't hesitate to give the movie probably the warmest possible salute, saying that "there is no denying the fact that this is the best cinderella of them all." The member of the cast that he described as "the cherry on top of the cake" was "a sinister and captivating Blanchett... Scheming, sultry and seductive, her Lady Tremaine shows why she's disillusioned — widowed by two husbands while still young and left to raise a pair of dumb daughters she doesn't even like, her resentment of Ella's beauty and sweetness is only natural. And in the end, there's a refreshing surprise."

Not all of the verdicts were uniformly positive, of course, with Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips, while calling the film "satisfying" and "refreshingly free of all snark", claiming that the effects were "routine". He added: "I'd like to see a liveaction Disney fairy tale with a little less of that business and a little more practical magic." Nor was he a fan of what he described as "a persistent dribbling stream of forgettable mood music" by composer Patrick Doyle.

Why 2015's Cinderella Could Be The Best Of Them All

There have been many Cinderella adaptations over the years, including in opera, ballet and theater, as well as in film and television. The fairy tale has had a particularly illustrious career on the big screen, since the first Cinderella film in 1899. Of the subsequent versions, it is surely Disney's 1950 animated picture that is the benchmark. But could the 2015 version be even better? That is certainly the opinion of some writers.

Just ask Hollywood Life writer, Avery Thompson. In a piece entitled Cinderella: 5 Reasons Why It's The Fairy Tale's Best Movie Ever, she pointed out several aspects of the new flick that she felt made it the pick of the crop of big screen Cinderellas to have been produced so far. She admitted that while she was "a die-hard fan of Disney's animated version of Cinderella", the new live-action version meant that "I've changed my tune".

Thompson hailed Lily James' ability to "break out of the Cinderella mold", saying that "by the end of the movie, I saw Cinderella differently than I have after finishing other movies based on the character. This Cinderella was kind but bold. Gracious but not fragile. Lily’s nuanced performance really pushed her to the top in my book." Praise was also forthcoming for the chemistry between her and co-star Richard Madden, the "spoton" performances of other key characters, the intricate and beautiful set and costume design and, of course, the movie's all-round effectiveness as a touching love story.

A True Cinematic Fairytale

In today's post-ironic age, it might have seemed to many that the era of the oldfashioned, honest-to-goodness fairytale had come to an end. Sure enough, while there has been a tendency in recent times for some animated classic fairytales to be granted the live action treatment, these new versions have almost always swapped the charming feel of old for a darker, more brooding ambience.

This new Cinderella is different. It is a true cinematic fairytale of the old school, one that makes all who watch it feel re-energized and ready to believe in the power of dreams once more. It has a sense of magic, something that has sometimes been surprisingly lacking, even in films of this category, in recent times.

That age-old story of Cinderella as the lovely young girl who, following her father's death, is forced to keep her own house for her atrocious step-family has never truly 'got old', and it's hard to think of a better demonstration of this evergreen tale's continuing relevance in the year 2015 than Branagh's Cinderella.

Credit To :  Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan