i don't know where I'm going

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2015)

Director Kenneth Branagh and screenwriter Chris Weitz clearly have tried to bring the old story into line with 21st century feminist values: Far from a passive victim waiting to be saved by the handsome prince, their Cinderella is a paragon of quiet integrity and insight. But the lovely and fundamentally uninteresting James is no match for the fire and elemental venom exuded by Cate Blanchett's evil stepmother, who is by far the film's most interesting character. With her chartreuse and green wardrobe, scarlet gash of a rictus grin and darting fits of cruelty, she seems to have beamed into "Cinderella" as if from a 1950s Douglas Sirk melodrama into a cozy Merchant Ivory period drama.
Branagh tries his best to infuse "Cinderella" with energy, from having his characters compulsively swirl and spin in otherwise static scenes to the palace intrigue and power plays that take the place of conventional romance. He even tries to inject some humor (yes, that's Rob Bryden in a cameo role, and Helena Bonham Carter hiding behind a hideous pair of prosthetic teeth), but to no avail.