Film Beautiful, but bad.
That's the short summary of this movie.
The good:
The sets and costumes are gorgeous. The music is also not bad, which is always nice. And somehow, the CG mice manage to get past my natural level of cynicism.
Cate Blanchett is hilariously hammy as the stepmother. Richard Madden provides the viewer with the opportunity to engage in a wealth of Game of Thrones jokes - particularly as his Captain of the Guard hails from the same show.
The bad:
I'm tempted to oversimplify, but I think the best way to sum it up is: no one has any character. The Stepmother has the most of it in her monologue about why she married Ella's father, but even that is very limited. Despite increased screentime, the Prince has no character either. He falls for a pretty face in the span of five minutes, without much of an explanation. The stepsisters are completely hollow, as are all the other side characters. But the point where the film falls flat is its protagonist.
Ella is, and I say this with the utmost sadness, an idiot. When she should be worrying about starving to death in the attic, she spins around and hums to herself. When she should be running home, she stops to pointlessly talk to people. She tries to be all unconventional when she tells the Prince not to kill the deer he's hunting, because it's not right, but never displays any kind of backbone anywhere else - even though the servants who get dismissed clearly ask her why she stays at the house to be abused! She never stands up for herself, and thus her forgiveness of her stepmother feels completely hollow - you never expected her to say anything else, so you're not surprised at all. Or impressed. Compare this with the final scene in Ever After, which has much more of an impact - and is a film this one tried and failed to copy, in some aspects. Compare it to Enchanted, where Giselle is also a twirly Disney princess, but she learns to stand up for herself and for the people she loves instead of waiting for a prince to save her.
The twist in this seems to be that Cinderella has gone even further back in time than the 50s version, complete with her waspish waist (which is narrower than her head!), which would have made her very fashionable in around Victorian times. When her big sparkly ballgown has way more character than your protagonist, you need to rethink your screenplay, Disney or not.
Film Courageously Simple, Kind and Nice
Cinderella (2015) is not a re-imagining of the classic tale. There's no twist, the evil step-mother isn't the hero who all the 'heroes' lie about it. It's a straight retelling of the classic fairytale that tries to stay as true to the spirit that it was first created with.
And I love that, because at its heart, what Cinderella is about is a good-natured kindness that perseveres in the face of hatred and malice. It's a kindness that seeks nothing for itself and is so generous as to allow the cruel-hearted to take advantage of it. Cinderella is a pushover, but that's not her problem it's the worlds problem and it's the world that needs to change.
It's not about marrying into happiness, or finding a husband and it's not about being lucky. The marriage isn't something Cinderella goes out and earns for herself and it doesn't need to be because it's her reward. Her happiness is a gift that's narratively satisfying because Cinderella has done so much to deserve receiving it through her constant goodness.
We rarely have media that celebrates the people who are genuinely kind pushovers. There's actually a societal instinct to scorn people who don't fight for themselves and look down on people who avoid all types of power, goody two-shoes make boring protagonists.
That's what makes Cinderella exceptional even today, it celebrates the kind of person who gives a homeless person some bread and never has a bad word to say about anyone. It's also why giving Cinderella the modernisation treatment is such a bad idea. We do need plenty of stories of badass women who take control of their lives and make things happen, and we need complex and cynical stories and stories that understand life is complicated.
But if you choose to make Cinderella one of those stories, what you're saying is that the virtues in Cinderella are outdated, that Cinderella was wrong to be the person she was. It blames Cinderella for letting herself be a pushover instead of blaming the people who were cruel to her and admiring Cinderella's courage.
The few changes are in emphasis, the step-sisters are beautiful people but ugly-hearted. Cinderella's virtues are pushed to the front and she meets the Prince before the ball and talks to him
Cinderella is a kind and beautiful story about a kind and beautiful person.
Film Very feel-good
When I watch a movie, I don't know or care whether it's good, bad, or mediocre. So I can't speak to that. I do, however, know how it makes me feel. And I know that for the few hours I was watching this movie, I felt happier and more peaceful than I have since I lost a close friend almost two months ago. And that's all that matters to me. If you're looking for a break from the trials of living, I recommend it.