'Cinderella' Movie Review: Movie Stays True to Fairy Tale Roots

Unlike re-imagined fairy tale movies that either got edgier characters or had different backstory treatments, "Cinderella" remained true to the original story line and just presented the story as it was intended to be presented. Director Kenneth Branagh pulled out all the stops to make this as enchanting as every child's imagination could conjure.

Ella is as pure and kind as she was in the fairytale, continuing to be so, even against adversity, as a testament of her great love and respect for her mother and father who taught her well. Her mother's deathbed wish of "Have courage and be kind" reverberates all throughout the movie and Ella takes this to heart. She is pure-hearted and kind even to the lowliest of animals. She has mice for friends, but the movie did not go down the cartoon path of having the mice talk.

Her life turns upside down when her father remarries and Lady Tremaine and her two daughters start living with Ella and her father. Even at the start, we already sense that Ella is definitely different from them, and it is that uniqueness and her father's unconditional love for her that made Lady Tremaine start hating her and treating her differently. When her father dies, she is left alone and defenseless against the onslaught of her stepmother's and stepsisters' cruelty. But heeding her mother's words, she continues to be kind, and silently braved the situation, retaining her dignity.

Ella meets "Kit" in the forest when her horse ran uncontrollably fast and "Kit" thought she was in trouble. They meet as equals, Ella thinking "Kit" was an apprentice at the palace, and "Kit" just enamored at the natural beauty, kindness and wit the "country girl" displayed.

The King, intent on marrying his son off to a suitable royal-blooded girl, agreed to stage a ball that invited both the highborn and the ordinary people. Everyone was invited and the Tremaine women were beside themselves preparing. When Ella intimated that she, too, was going to attend (she was looking forward to see "Kit" again), the cruelties surfaced. Her mother's dress that she repaired and enhanced for the ball was ripped to shreds. Ella is left crying her eyes out.

Enter her Fairy Godmother and the magic filled the screen. The transformation of the pumpkin to the golden carriage, the mice to the horse, the lizards to the engaging yet leathery footmen and Ella's ripped clothes to the beautiful ball gown was just breathtaking. And the stage was set from there. The meeting between Ella and "Kit"/the Prince was romantic as their eyes meet across the massive ballroom, their dance and their alone time quite beautiful. Even when the clock was striking 12 and the magic was wearing off, the screen effects were engaging.

Although everybody already knew how the story would end, you still root for Ella to finally be found by her Prince, even amid all the duplicitous efforts of Lady Tremaine and the Grand Duke to prevent this from happening. And even after the sins were exposed, and all the cruelties she suffered under her stepmother, Ella still found it in herself to forgive her in the end. The final scene with Ella and the Prince on the balcony, starting their "Happily Ever After" left the viewers with such good feelings.

Lily James stars as Ella/Cinderella, with Richard Madden of "Game of Thrones" fame as Prince "Kit" Charming. Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin play Ella's parents. Cate Blanchett was deliciously evil as the stepmother, Lady Tremaine and her two daughters were played by Sophie McShera (as Drisella) and Holliday Grainger (as Anastacia). In the palace, we have Noso Anozie playing the Captain, Stellan Skarsgard as The Grand Duke and Derek Jacobi as The King. Helena Bonham Carter was excellent as The Fairy Godmother, giving the character more depth and quirkiness.