Cinderella 1950 Review

Rating: Null/10 (18 March 2015)

Among Disney's repertoire of classic animated films, their adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale is one of their most renowned. Even if you haven't seen it, you're probably already familiar with its whimsical magic, character archetypes, and symbolism.
Disney's animation is a very short and brisk film, making it easily-digestible and accessible. About half of the film focuses on Cinderella, the country maiden who's forced into servitude from her evil stepmother and her daughters. These scenes can elicit a good amount of sympathy for Cinderella and gives her struggle a decent amount of weight. In between all this drama, there's also a bunch of cute little critters who go around helping Cinderella while dodging an evil cat. These Tom and Jerry style antics provide the comic relief and peril that kids may find most enthralling. And, of course, there are a few cute and catchy musical numbers.
Unfortunately, because the film flip-flops between the main story and the animals so much, it comes off as a very thin plot. No background is really given to Cinderella and the ladies she lives with; any motivation behind them hinges solely on their emotional state (which is fine for Cinderella, who wants to break free of her bondage, but all the villains are just evil for the sake of being evil). Even less is said for the royalty - Prince Charming may as well be a literal cardboard cutout, and the King is just wacky. Everything else is filled in with the goofy mice and animals - they tend to steal so much screen time that could have been used on other aspects of the storytelling. Despite these complaints, the story is simple and elegant, and it gets the job done. It relays an implicit theme to the audience that ugliness can be more than mere looks, and grace and love transcend physical and social boundaries.
This film boasts pretty good-looking animation. Most backgrounds are well-detailed and stylish. Character and animal designs are much more spartan, but are consistently interesting to look at. Designs for all the settings, costumes, props, and such are straightforward. Voice acting is pretty decent, and the writing is okay. Music is catchy, but not the most memorable of Disney tunes.
Cinderella is rather uneven and thin, but it's a good-looking animation with a few decent moments, and it tells a simple story that's worth seeing. This film is worth seeing at least once, but 2015's live action adaptation provides a fuller and more well-rounded story.
4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Good)