Let’s be honest here - we all know the story of Cinderella: after losing both her parents, she was left in the foster care of herstep-mother; a woman as horrible as they come. She, along with her two annoying as hell daughters, mistreated Cinderella to such an extent that Cinderella was left as nothing but a petty servant. This remained to be so, until one day, the prince, hoping to look for his princess, called all maidens of the land to his palace. With the help of a fairy godmother, Cinderella then transformed into an angelic beauty who won the love of the prince, and with that, a happy ever after life!

There’s nothing new here. So what’s there to expect from Kenneth Branagh’s extremely accurately adapted film when we already know everything? Well, turns out, a lot.

Somehow, without taking any risks at all, Cinderella’s live adaptation is nice. Sure, at times it is too sweet and sugary, but even then, you cannot deny that it is a lovely feel-good film. After all, by the end of it, even though you already know what’s happening, you cannot help but feel happy. And I think a lot of this is due to our Cinderella, Lily James.

With the perfectly astute amount of emotions, she conveys to us Cinderella’s kindness and confidence - the two things that differ the character from everyone else. No matter what happens, Cinderella rises above it; she remains confident, and she remains kind, therefore allowing good things to happen to her - and James undoubtedly sells this to the audience, disregarding however preposterous and unbelievable it might seem.

But if Lily James is the film’s greatest strength, her character is the film’s greatest weakness. Sure, Cinderella remains good throughout the film, and sure, we buy that - but all the while we feel underwhelmed. No matter how much James tries, her character remains flawed - and that, ironically, is because Cinderella has no flaws. She is so genuinely nice and so incredibly good that she is two-dimensional; too bland and too boring for her own sake.

This honestly confuses me - because Branagh humanises many of his other characters. For instance, through perfectly timed silence and close-up shots, he portrays the step-mother as a woman who feels cheated. She married Cinderella’s father hoping to start a new family for her sake, and for her daughters’ sake - but Cinderella’s father never loved her as much as he loved Cinderella. In fact, he was still not over his first wife’s death. This crushed the step-mother; and the fact that the father died before accepting this new family of his just left her even bitterer. Cinderella reminded her of her terrible life, and so, she was horrible to Cinderella. Branagh does not even need words to depict all this. The performance of the ever so beautiful and brilliant Cate Blanchett is enough. If all this is possible, then why cannot Branagh make Cinderella more interesting? I understand that Lily James is no Blanchett, but as I said earlier, she is still excellent.



Alas, as previously mentioned, Cinderella still works. And this is not just because of its excellent cast. Branagh has created a wonderful set for this film - where everything looks so beautiful that it almost entirely distracts you from our lead character’s bland tones. From the palace, to the pumpkin chariot, to Cinderella’s mice, to Cinderella’s dress, to Cinderella’s glass slippers, it is all just magical and elegant. While seeing all of it, you just feel good - and that, according to me, was the film’s overall goal; which it succeeds in achieving quite excellently.

In the end, I guess it’s fair to say that watching Cinderella is like eating the same ice-cream you have had a million times - sweet, even tasteful, but just too damn similar. Watch this film if you do not mind watching something you know very well recreated in the most fantastic manner possible - it is entertaining, and it is enjoyable, after all.