'Cinderella' tries to update the fairy tale, but the shoe doesn't quite fit
CNN
Trying to retrofit "Cinderella" with a feminist sensibility is a big-time challenge, and despite ample energy and the sing-along benefits of a jukebox musical, a new version starring Camila Cabello can't crack that code. Premiering on Amazon, the movie mostly feels like Disney Channel fare with a pinch of "Moulin Rouge," a colorful distraction lacking enough magic to fulfill dreams or wishes.
Writer-director Kay Cannon ("Pitch Perfect") makes the most significant push toward a more modern Cinderella by dispensing with the notion that finding her prince (Nicholas Galitzine) will solve all of the protagonist's problems. Instead, Cabello's mistreated stepdaughter (Ella, really, but never mind) yearns to open a dress shop, a business option not available to women in her kingdom despite all the 1980s/'90s-era singing and dancing that people do there. This "Cinderella" also brings more nuance to the wicked stepmother (Idina Menzel), whose pressure on her daughters and even Cinderella to "marry rich" comes from painful lessons in her past. The advice proves most beneficial when Menzel gets to unleash her powerful pipes on Madonna's "Material Girl," while Cinderella knocks off Des'ree's "You Gotta Be" and the prince takes on Queen's "Somebody to Love."
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