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Cinderella Movie Review

Cinderella is a 2021 musical romance film directed by Kay Cannon and starring Camila Cabello. It’s an entertaining, but weak movie.

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“Oh, no, he’s going to sing“

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There is not a lot to talk about here in terms of the plot as it’s the same old Cinderella story being told again, but the main difference is that it’s a modernized take, which I had mixed feelings about. While I did respect the movie for trying at least something a bit different, I did not ultimately understand why the dialogue and the characters’ behavior felt so modern and yet the time period is still antique. That was odd and that clash did not work for me.

The movie is energetic and quite charming at times. It is mostly very engaging to watch as its pacing is brisk, and thus the movie is at least never boring. The characters also worked to a degree, though the acting was by far the weakest part of the movie along with the dialogue. The acting from almost everybody was either passable or downright mediocre while the dialogue was too on-the-nose as the characters talked about what they wanted and their feelings in the most childish manner possible.

I still liked Camila Cabello in the main role. She is charming enough and the protagonist’s agency, but also sweetness worked. Idina Menzel as the stepmother was fantastic. It’s a somewhat different take on the character and that more grounded approach really turned out great in her instance.

Nicholas Galitzihe is quite mediocre as the prince, but at least they tried to develop the character a bit. And of course Billy Porter was lovely as Fabulous Godmother. Obviously they gender-bent this iconic character, but I was fine with it as I love this guy and I found his performance to be so reminiscent of the one he did in ‘Pose’ and I was living for that.

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This Cinderella looks good and the effects are charming, but the role of the slipper was too reduced in my opinion. As for its musical elements, it’s a jukebox musical, meaning that it uses modern songs to tell the story. Sometimes this was fun, but other times it was annoying. The one original song, Million to One, sung beautifully by Cabello was terrific and a scene-stealer for sure. I wished that the movie had more of those original songs.

2021’s Cinderella directed by Kay Cannon and starring Camila Cabello is an okay movie that has many problems, but it is at least quite entertaining. The one new song for the movie was excellent and the film looked nice. Some characters were also very well developed. However, the acting is largely mediocre, the dialogue is too on-the-nose and this was overall an overly modernized adaptation in plot and dialogue as well.

My Rating – 3