Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! This quintessential rags to riches story was kinda cool.

Rating: 7/10 (20 August 2015)

Cinderella is one of the oldest, best known, and most universal stories in the world. The bare bones of the story are mostly the same with the Disney version directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske and Wilfred Jackson. The 12th canon film for Walt Disney Animation Studios, Cinderella tells the story a young noblewoman, Cinderella (Voiced by Ilene Woods), whom is forced to live with her crude & vindictive stepmother (Voiced by Eleanor Audley) when her parents died. Unable to get along with her step-family, they mistreat her by making her work as a servant. When the local prince (Voiced by William Phillips) holds a kingdom-wide ball, they refuse to let her attend, but she was able to go, when her fairy godmother (Voiced by Verna Felton) takes pity on her and outfits her for the ball. However, there is limit to the spirit's help: Cinderella must return by midnight. Can she win the heart of the prince or the limited time, be too much for her to overcome? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie too much, the best known version of this story, is the one written by Charles Perrault in the 17th century call 'Cendrillion". When you hear the name Cinderella, you think of fairy godmothers, glass slippers, and a pumpkin turned into a coach, you're thinking of Perrault. In the1950, Disney adapted Perrault's story into a movie, cementing it in people's minds as the 'truth' story of Cinderella. Not a lot of people know this, but this movie help save the Walt Disney Company from being bankrupt. At the time, Walt Disney Productions had suffered a big blow, when their European film market was cut off, due to the outbreak of World War 2. They were in debt, after high production films like 1940's Pinocchio, 1940's Fantasia, and 1942's Bambi weren't making a lot of money when they came out. Disney was limited to making collections of shorts while many of their staff were drafted to the war effort. It's Cinderella that save the company from bankruptcy. It's no wonder why the Cinderella Castle is one of the company's main logo. Since then, the popularity for this movie, has somewhat died down, as a lot of people saw the Cinderella story as alright at the time, but somewhat dated for the modern viewer. Then, you got those, modern viewers that really get angry, when you mention the name, Cinderella. Their beef against the film, was how the film is sexist, due to fact, that it portray women as hysterical servitude slaves who can only be rescue, by men or magical forces. I can understand, a bit, of what they were saying. Cinderella was indeed, somewhat a submissive and meek character, but she also has a fighter side. She did make a choice, to go to the ball, against the wishes of her crude Step-family. She did try to escape her abusive environment, toward the climax and despite the abuse and neglect she had gone through, she still remained kind and forgiving. Any normal person would have become cynical if they had gone through this, but she didn't. Yes, she got married at the end. But how does that make this movie less feminist? Being a feminist doesn't mean you hate men, so getting married didn't make her any less of a strong character. There is nothing wrong, with caring. I know that whole essays have been written ripping Cinderella apart, but those are some good examples of her being more than the submissive, servile archetype. Also is the Fairy Godmother really damaging to children, convincing them someone will solve their problems, or is she a symbol of hope? There has been many of brave, productive people that believe in higher powers, throughout history. I really doubt of any of them, were call fragile. Maybe we just need to admit we don't know the character as we think we do, and leave our interpretation of Cinderella up to the individual. However, this doesn't stop the movie, from having other faults; like how the movie is call Cinderella, but most of the screen time, is with the mice. Another is how Cinderella's looks win over the prince, over her personality. The two of them, have little to no chemistry. The film also fails to explain, how the magic works. Why doesn't the Fairy Stepmother step up and save Cinderella, earlier? Why does Cinderella's magic end at midnight? Why doesn't the glass slipper, disappear when the clock strikes midnight? Could Cinderella really the only person in the kingdom who the slippers could fit? These things, really needed some more exposition. Anyways, the animation is alright, but it definitely marked down to form, compare to the painstaking and extremely expensive animation techniques of the earlier films. The songs were pretty catchy. I love all of them, but some songs do go, way too long. The voice acting is alright, for the most part. However, the prince is the worst of them, all with his limited role. Glad, the movie nearly goes all Brother Grimm with the story. It never goes too gory. We don't see the stepsister's gruesome acts of self-mutilation of foot-binding and cutting off limps. Then later, them being blinded by birds. Still, I can wish, they kept the part of one that one of the step-sisters was slightly less mean than the other one. Anyways, parents need to know that this Disney classic is one that whole family can enjoy together. Even, if kids saw the film, they will likely already be familiar with Cinderella and her Disney Princess colleagues due to a massive marketing effort behind the ladies. Cinderella got not one, but 2 Directed-to-Video sequels: 2002's Cinderella II: Dreams Come True & 2007's Cinderella III's A Twist in Time. There is also a 2015 live action remake with the same name. Overall: while, not the best Disney movie, but it does have enough magic, to keep the magic going. Do recommended.