"A dream is a wish your heart makes."
Hello everyone!
Times change, however.
Because I honestly can't remember if I've ever even seen this one before, though I think I must have. I mean, I've seen pretty much all the major OG titles Disney released back in the day, back when their movies were actually still GOOD (occasionally problematic, but certainly good in animated execution).
So I decided, what the heck, I might as well do it now, right?
Because, like I said, times change, and so do the people with them.
I certainly never expected to actually enjoy the movie as much as I did, because originally I said the princess was a waste, waiting and pining. Turns out she's a little bit more than that, but that's alright, that's what we're here for: to live and learn.
Without further ado: Cinderella.
And I'd like to go on record by saying no, I haven't seen every single adaptation of Cinderella out there. I must have only seen the live-action one with Lily James (which I loved, by the way), and one of those Cinderella movies that seemed to be coming out one after another, this one had Selena Gomez if I recall correctly, and Jane Lynch in a fantastically hilarious role.
That's about it.
Allons-y!
Cinderella begins by saying a kind gentleman had a young daughter whom he adored, but when his wife passed he remarried a woman who already had two daughters of her own, and then HE, too, passed away, after which said new wife revealed her true character.
She forced Cinderella to basically become a slave in her own home, using her as unpaid labour, but that never actually stopped Cinderella from being kind, compassionate, and friendly. I mean, all the animals in the movie love her, and she has a host of them!
Actually, the movie can easily be divided into two: one half covers Cinderella and her story, and the other the (mis)adventures of Jacques, Gus-gus, and the rest of the mice against housecat Lucifer.
The animal half is amusing, but doesn't REALLY bring much to the storyline other than explain the dynamics of the household, in which the stepmother reigns supreme, and because of this her cat Lucifer also believes himself to be untouchable, by anyone and anything (see how wrong he is by the end of the movie, however).
The half covering Cinderella shows her mistreatment by her stepmother and stepsisters, and as she's busy scrubbing floors, mending clothes and fixing their tea, the king of her kingdom is having a conniption fit.
His son hasn't given him grandbabies yet! The disgrace!
Listen, this was made in a wildly different time, okay.
Coming to the conclusion that he'll need a little help, the king and his right-hand man, the Arch-Duke, organize a ball, which all eligible maidens of the kingdom are to attend. When delivering this announcement to her stepmother, Cinderella realizes, hey, SHE could go, too!
Well, if she manages all the chores her family drops on her head out of spite, and makes her gown while she's at it.
Because she's kept so busy, the animals decide to help her out by sewing the dress themselves, doing a spectacularly good job at it, too (in contrast to the fairies back in Sleeping Beauty, who couldn't survive without magic to save their lives), although it's obviously reason for trouble because they kind of borrowed discarded items the stepsisters tossed aside.
When Cinderella pops up, all dolled up and looking cuter than a button, she not only gets physically attacked and her dress ripped, but basically loses her faith that good things come to those who wait, and are good themselves.
Thankfully this is the point in which her Fairy Godmother chooses to appear, and she does a little bibidi-bobidi-boo, and off Cinderella goes in a carriage, dressed spectacularly in a gown that stands out for its simplicity.
The prince sees her and is like SCUSE ME, WHO DIS, ignoring every single other girl as he goes to dance with our Cinderella. The king, happy to know he'll have grandbabies soon, goes to sleep, but as the clock strikes midnight, our girl flees, leaving behind nothing but a single glass slipper.
Enraged, the, er, benevolent ruler gets into home redecorating, until the slipper part is revealed, and the fact that his son won't marry anyone but this mysterious girl nobody knows anything about.
So, another edict goes out: the girl whose foot fits the slipper shall marry the prince and, in due time, rule the kingdom by his side.
Naturally, Cinderella's household is all atwitter by the time the Arch-Duke is making the rounds, and unfortunately this is the part where our heroine does something stupid: instead of biding her time and keeping her head down, she goes all dreamy and doe-eyed, having fallen for the handsome man she danced with (not knowing he's the prince until now, by the way), and thus giving herself away to her stepmother, who locks her in her room to keep her from getting her dues.
Some people are just mean.
The shoe doesn't, in fact, fit either of the stepsisters, no matter how hard they try (and luckily for us Disney opted not to include the more gruesome parts of the story here about how they tried to make the feet fit), but in the meantime, the animals set up a rescue, almost get thwarted by Lucifer, but then unleash the family hound, Bruno, on the cat, so Cinderella can unlock the door.
Appearing like some sort of fairy herself, and reminding the Arch-Duke STRONGLY of the girl he saw dancing, so he has high hopes, their situation almost gets ruined again when the stepmother causes the glass slipper to smash - but that's okay, because Cinderella has the matching one of the pair!
All's well that ends well, and our heroine marries her prince, driving off into the sunset to live the rest of her life happily ever after.
Quite charming, despite the fact that the movie could have easily been about half an hour long without all the animal scenes inserts, Cinderella tries to instill in us faith that, by doing good and being kind, we can go places in this world. Whether or not this is applicable to you is something only you, personally, can know, but I like to think what goes around does, in fact, come around.
It's an enjoyable movie and nothing too strenuous, which is yet another reason why these Disney Classics remain timeless.
xx
*images and video not mine
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