Not the strongest Walt Disney-produced effort, but still another good family film

Rating: 7/10 (18 September 2010)

"Cinderella" is a VERY famous fairy tale, and I remember it from my childhood in more than one form, but don't recall ever seeing much of this 1950 Disney movie version. I guess I was reminded of this film's existence from watching "Enchanted" last week, which is a parody/homage to the Disney princess movies, including this one. I have to admit, as popular as that comedy/fantasy flick is, I thought it was annoying, and it was the third 2007 film I've seen which I personally found to be an incredibly overrated turkey (the other two being "Juno" and "Superbad")! Still, I watched this particular version of "Cinderella" a little over a week later, expecting it to be a lot better than the hit 2007 Disney film, and I was not proved wrong.
Cinderella used to live happily in a castle as the daughter of a widowed aristocrat who remarried to Lady Tremaine, a woman who already had two daughters of her own, Anastasia and Drizella. Sadly, since her father's death, Cinderella has been mistreated by her cruel stepmother (who never showed her true nature until after death of Cinderella's father) and spoiled stepsisters, who are jealous of her beauty. She is now forced to be the servant of the castle, but remains kind in nature and has many animal friends. One day, which appears will just be another day of chores for Cinderella at first, an invitation to a royal ball to find a suitable bride for Prince Charming is delivered. Lady Tremaine says Cinderella can attend if she finishes all her chores in time and has something suitable to wear. While the mistreated young woman has her animal friends and eventually a Fairy Godmother to help her get to the ball, her terrible stepfamily obviously doesn't wish for her to be the one who marries the prince!
Watching this on DVD, I was very pleased with the animation, with some very nice backgrounds in the outdoor scenes. However, there were a number of things I didn't like about this adaptation of "Cinderella". It doesn't feature the greatest bunch of musical numbers in an animated Disney movie, and the film is off to a shaky start with Cinderella waking up and talking to her animal friends. The voice acting for the main character provided by Ilene Woods is also flawed, though it's not always bad. Her mouse friends provide comic relief, but I didn't find them very funny. I did find them mildly amusing at times, with them trying to get their food without getting captured by Lucifer the cat and such, but I've seen much funnier characters in Disney animation. With these gags, it takes a little too long to get into the story. Better comic relief in this film is provided by The King. Even though this character doesn't make as many appearances, he certainly made me laugh. The story gets more entertaining as it goes along, and most of the characters stand out, including the lead.
During my childhood, I remember seeing part of an animated film featuring a cat named Lucifer, but didn't know it was this movie. Like I said, I don't recall seeing much of this particular Disney flick as a kid (unlike a number of other Disney animations, some produced by Walt Disney during his long career, like this one, and some made after his death), but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it if I had seen it all. Finally watching it from start to finish in my 20's, I felt I would have liked a lot of it better as a kid, including the scenes with the mice, but overall, I still thought it was a decent piece of animation. Also, I'm not sure haw many readers will approve of me saying this, since Cinderella is a cartoon character and this is a squeaky clean family film, but during my recent viewing of the film, I thought the main character was hot, which obviously wouldn't have been the case when I was a kid! Anyway, if you're a Disney fan, regardless of age, I can't think of any reason why this 1950 production wouldn't be worth watching. It's still an entertaining family film after sixty years.