Since
Kenneth Branagh’s live-action Cinderella
is out and pays homage to the classic cartoon of the same name, it is a great
opportunity to remind ourselves of the beautiful Disney film we all grew up
with. Disney studios decided to adapt the classic fairy-tale of Cinderella for the screen after the
financially unfortunate decade of 1940, which had left the company indebted and
nearly bankrupt. Luckily, the 1950 animated film Cinderella turned out to be the studios’ greatest commercial
success since pioneering Snow White
(1937) and Walt Disney’s company managed to recover decidedly.
It’s not
hard to realise that, in a sense, Cinderella
tries to imitate Snow White in terms
of both characters and structure. Almost every character of the former has his
or her match in the latter, from the “fallen princess” to the evil stepmother
and from the handsome prince to the amusing friends of the heroine (mice in Cinderella, dwarves in Snow White). However, thirteen years
have passed and more than ten films have intervened between Snow White and Cinderella and
the improvement in both animation and narrative is more apparent than ever
before. And the fact that Cinderella brings in mind Walt Disney’s cinematic
debut cannot but emphasize this development. Some strong signs of improvement
are the way the characters move, which feels more natural than before, and the
characters’ faces, which look more carefully designed, especially the
stepmother's. That way, their amusing expressions can make the characters
interesting even if they lack any actual depth. It therefore feels like Walt
Disney studios, after years of experience and quite a few commercial
disappointments, return nostalgically to their first steps, while at the same
time making one more forward. Cinderella
seems more self-assured than its predecessors and bridges the small gap between
the pure innocence of the studios’ “Golden Age” (30s - 40s) with the more
commercially oriented, as well as mature “Silver” one (50s), while shaping the
style of the studios’ upcoming triumphs.
In a way,
the plot might seem simply like the realisation of a girl’s wet dream (the handsome
prince falls madly in love with the humble heroine, asks her to marry him and
takes her away in his princely carriage), yet it feels like this archetypal
story is seen here in its purest form. Cinderella
might be one of the most girly Disney films, establishing on screen the
children’s love for princesses, however it does not exclude the rest of the
viewers from its target group -note that there are no longer elements that feel
too childish for an adult.
After all,
what the Disney studios achieved in Cinderella
is to create arguably their most amusing film until then. Also, to make the
audience (regardless of age) wish with all their heart for the prince to save
Cinderella from her suffering, as well as that a fairy godmother would someday
appear in front of them too, singing “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”…
(3½ out of 5 spinning tops)
(3½ out of 5 spinning tops)
