Today, Amazon releases its hotly anticipated film, Cinderella.
In this new take on the classic fairytale, we are thrown into the world of Cinderella (Camila Cabello), who wants to be a fashion designer. And as we are already well aware, she lives with her evil stepmother Vivian (Idina Menzel) and her step-sisters Anastasia (Maddie Baillio) and Drisella (Charlotte Spencer).
So convinced of her dream, Ella has no time for romance, but in typical fashion, she meets a handsome and dashing stranger in the square, who just happens to be Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine), who is so headstrong that he knows he doesn’t want to be King yet.
But Robert is under pressure from his parents, especially from grouchy King Rowan (Pierce Brosnan), who has a weird obsession. There is also Queen Beatrice (Minnie Driver), who seems to be the calm between father and son. At his father’s insistence, Robert hopes a ball hoping to meet Ella, but Vivian destroys her newly created design. But hope is not lost as Ella is rescued by her Fab G (Billy Porter), who weaves his magic to save the day.
It’s a story we all know and love, so the rest of the story should be set in stone, right? You’ll have to watch to find out where this adaptation takes us.
The screenplay, written by Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect), injects humour into the classic fairytale, and uses a range of music from Queen to Ed Sheeran to Madonna, just to name a few, to move the plot along.
Camilla is a capable choice, but the cast is stacked with talent who clearly enjoyed filming this, and it resonates throughout the film.
This film is clearly going to divide critics, and while it’s not exactly new ground, not every film has to be. Sometimes you just need a classic reinvented in a new way, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Sit back and let the kids, young and old, enjoy this one and good luck trying not to bop along. It’s the perfect cure for the lockdown blues.
3 Stars
Cinderella streams on Amazon from today.
