Cinderella movies have been a part of almost everyone’s childhood. Whether it was A Cinderella Story starring Hillary Duff, Another Cinderella Story starring Selena Gomez, or even A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song featuring Katie Gibbs, movies about Cinderella have been a recurring theme among the childhoods of many. Recently, a new Cinderella story starring Camila Cabello was released on September 3rd. As I watched it, I wondered if it was really going to be the Cinderella story for this generation. 

The setting of the new movie takes place between the 17th and 18th centuries where Cinderella (Camila Cabello) longs to open a shop called “Dresses by Ella.” She catches the eye of the Prince (Nicholas Galitzine) during one of the many times where the cast bursts into song. The Prince becomes interested in Ella and tries to find out who she is while remaining undercover dressed as a commoner. As the story goes, Ella ends up meeting her fairy godmother who helps her get to the ball. Unlike the original story, Cinderella is more set on creating a life for herself by selling her dresses than she is on marrying the Prince. 

Billy Porter did a good job capturing the character of the fairy godmother. He showed the characteristics of the fairy godmother, like being kind-hearted and genuine. Porter enhanced the role of the fairy godmother by making the mannerisms his own so that his acting flowed more naturally. Idina Menzel played the stepmother in this film. Her acting was excellent, but there were a lot of missed opportunities to utilize the strong singing voice that she showcases in her other roles such as Elsa from Frozen. Considering that the stepmother is usually seen as an “evil” role, there were many times where they could’ve used her voice to strengthen the wicked demeanor of her character. Menzel only had one song where she was the lead. If they could re-do the movie, one thing I would change is giving Menzel more opportunities to show off her strong vocals. 

Cinderella takes place between the 17th and 18th centuries, but this movie encapsulates modern-day themes. I like when movies have a modern feel to them because it makes them more enjoyable and relatable. However, this movie did an inadequate job in transitioning from an old-timey feel to a latter-day one. The actors spoke in clearly forced accents, and the modern jokes did not blend well with the script of the rest of the movie. In the scene where Cinderella first meets the Prince, her jokes are poorly timed and do not flow well with the surrounding script. Enjoyable things about this movie were the different motivations behind Cinderella’s actions. Rather than sticking with the usual plot of wanting to go to the ball and marry the Prince, this movie shows a different perspective of how Ella thinks. Adding Ella’s desires for opening a dress shop helps to differentiate the plot of this Cinderella story from the many others. 

Kids ages 3-8 would like this movie the most because of all of the singing and kid-humor jokes. I would recommend this movie to parents who want a new and modern Cinderella story to watch with their children. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone who is above the age of 11 and isn’t a parent. I would also not recommend this movie if you get bored easily, considering that the plot of this movie is not very intriguing. The MPAA rating for this movie is PG. Overall, the new “Cinderella” movie was not up to my standards, and I would consider it bad. 

Scale of 1-5:

1.7 

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