Cinderella (2021)

(Amazon Streaming, December 2022) The more I see remakes or serial adaptations of the same work, the more I tend to think of them as falling into one of two categories: attempts to portray the original version as faithfully as possible (but better) and conscious departures from the original in order to make specific points. It’s clear, for instance, that writer-director Kay Cannon’s 2021 live-action Cinderella is meant to be a take-off. While it springs from the same fairytale, it quickly goes for its own thing both in execution (by taking the form of a jukebox musical) and soon enough in its plotting by going out of its way to “fix” the traditional Disney-influenced story archetype. This film is far more a parody of the two Disney versions than an attempt to work from the Charles Perrault tale, but that’s to be expected. For much of its duration, it’s a lot of fun—as a fan of musicals, I was in my element as the cast sung and danced their way through exposition, with such notables as Minnie Driver and Pierce Brosnan in supporting roles. Cannon’s sense of humour, honed and demonstrated in the Pitch Perfect trilogy and Blockers (among others), is on full display here and scores a few hits as it takes aim at just about everything in the familiar takes in the story. Heck—I knew that the film had received “mixed” reviews, and I was wondering if people were overreaching to the musical bits. But no—I soon figured out the problem. At some point, Cinderella overreaches—in its zeal to take a progressive chainsaw to the traditional interpretations of the fairytale, it ends up in a narratively strained place. The messages get bigger and bigger until they undermine the fundamentals of the story, leaving a parody that may hate the original. Sure, Cinderella can become the breadwinner in a couple with the dethroned prince while his sister takes his place on the throne but, um, what? It doesn’t help that Cinderella, in being so bluntly portrayed as a girlboss, becomes far less likable than her traditional portrayals. The female-empowerment thing becomes overly pandering, and undoes the charm of the film’s first half—not to mention sabotage Cinderella’s dramatic arc. It also places the film in a position to be criticized for not being as smart, innovative or progressive as it thinks—a common failing of overly self-satisfied criticism. (And I should know.)  This Cinderella also comes on the heels of many other Cinderella adaptations, many of them either more faithful to the original, or more satisfying in their adaptations. So, while I rather liked the first two thirds of Cinderella, this one becomes increasingly (progressively, even) more irritating. Not quite enough to take away some of its strengths (fairy godfather, yay!) but enough to blunt its initial charm.