History YMMV / Cinderella

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Grand Duke is well liked for being a side character. It's because he's the source of some of the films funniest moments as well as having a great deal of common sense, such as pointing out how the slipper might fit girls other than Cinderella, plus he's probably the first character outside of Cinderella's animal friends who to treat her with kindness and defend her from Lady Tremaine.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Grand Duke is well liked for being a side character. It's because he's the source of some of the films funniest moments as well as having a great deal of common sense, such as pointing out how the slipper might fit girls other than Cinderella.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Cinderella's father barely has a presence in most versions of the tale, and as such his inaction can be interpreted in many ways that has varied between adaptations. The Perrault version states that Cinderella dares not tell her father because he is completely under the stepmother's thumb and wouldn't believe her, suggesting that he's unaware how badly she's being treated. The Grimm version has the father refer to Cinderella as a servant, implying he is indifferent to her. Most retellings have interpreted him in a more sympathetic light, usually by turning him into a HenpeckedHusband who is afraid of the stepmother or a busy man who is always traveling. Another popular one is to just [[DeathByAdaptation kill him off]], since it resolves this question and isolates Cinderella completely.

*** Derision of Cinderella as weak for not leaving also carries ''massive'' UnfortunateImplications at the end of the day; she's a young woman being physically, mentally, and ''financially'' abused and isolated by her wealthy, influential family; and needing some outside help and resources to finally escape them is not something a real-life person in a similar situation should be ashamed of.

* HarsherInHindsight: The King's line "I want to see my [[IWantGrandkids grandchildren]] before I [[NeverSayDie go.]]" While in this version he survives to the end and will presumably get his wish, in [[Film/Cinderella2015 the 2015 remake]] he suffers DeathByAdaptation and never gets to see his son's wedding, let alone his future grandchildren.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Grand Duke is well liked as a source of some of the films funniest moments as well as having a great deal of common sense, such as pointing out how the slipper might fit girls other than Cinderella.

* ValuesDissonance:[[TextileWorkIsFeminine "Leave the sewing to the women".]] What's really weird in this case is that it's a ''lady'' mouse who says this after Jaq ''volunteers'' to do the sewing! Then some male mice are clearly shown sewing later on anyway, making the line even weirder.

* A comical example when Anastasia gets her finger stuck in the flute. She may have been intentionally screwing up the music lesson and hitting Drizella's chin with it.

** Does Lady Tremaine lock Cinderella in her room because she realizes she is the girl at the ball or does she simply not want to risk it fitting her regardless? Her listening to Cinderella hum the waltz seems to imply the former but her shock at seeing her with the other glass slipper seems to imply the latter. Storybooks based on the film also tend to go back and forth on this.

** Fans of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' may recognize Anastasia’s first voice actress, Lucille Bliss as Ms. Bitters and Smurfette.

* SignatureSong: "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" and the Oscar-nominated "Bibidi-Bobidi Boo".

* UncannyValley: To modern-day viewers, Cinderella can come off as this occasionally - in particular, her blinking looks really creepy, like someone moving a doll's eyelids, making her sometimes look like a mannequin. This could be attributed to a majority of her animation being rotoscoped from model Helene Stanley's movements.

** The Grand Duke. The poor guy is a nervous wreck in many of the scenes that involve the possibility of something going wrong with the king's plan to get Prince Charming to marry (notable examples include how frantic he is when Cinderella flees the ball, how terrified he is when psyching himself up to tell the king that she's gone, and how upset he is when the slipper is broken.)

* EvilIsCool: '''Lady Tremaine'''. Even without magical powers or evil minions, she manages to be one of the most effective Disney villains. [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative]], [[AbusiveParents abusive]], and [[HateSink very hateable]], while still being [[WickedCultured elegant and high class]]. And don't forget about that iconic DeathGlare! It also helps that she is even more wicked once she gets magical powers in the [[WesternAnimation/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime third movie]].

* ValuesDissonance:[[TextileWorkIsFeminine "Leave the sewing to the women".]] What's really weird in this case is that it's a ''lady'' mouse who says this after Jaq ''volunteers'' to do the sewing! Then some male mice are clearly shown sewing later on anyway, making the line even weirder. It's possible the lady mouse meant "Leave the sewing to someone more experienced with it". Given Jaq's lack of stealth and sometimes carelessness (as seen during the aforementioned later sewing scene where he and Gus nearly cut off another mouse's tail), it's a reasonable fear. And of course possible DeliberateValuesDissonance too - since the film does have a [[PurelyAestheticEra vaguely Victorian setting]] and females would largely be more likely to know sewing better than males.

!! The original tale

* CommonKnowledge: Some people claim Perrault's slippers were fur (''vair''), not glass (''verre'') and/or offer the "fur slipper" as a restoration of the "real" Cinderella (Mercedes Lackey's ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'' makes a nod to this). This is false -- "vair" was an archaic word in Perrault's time.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** You could say that Cinderella picks up the IdiotBall in the climax, when she goes completely dizzy over the Grand Duke touring the houses, looking for the mysterious girl who danced with the prince all night, and waltzes away humming the music of the ball within earshot of her stepmother. It's what makes Lady Tremaine suspect her and lock her in her room, after all. But is it stupid, or is it just a perfectly understandable reaction to learning that you could be marrying a prince? Whatever your opinion, you have to admit you wouldn't get your happy BSOD without it.
*** At the same time, it's not that Cinderella is marrying a ''prince''... it's that she ''has an escape'' from her abusive household. She didn't even ''intend'' to set out and marry the prince. (In fact, she didn't even ''know'' that was him!) When the prince first sees her, she's not even ''looking'' at him.
*** Her reaction can be considered justified when you consider the fact that since he's the prince and the King is supporting the search, her step-mother ''can't stop him from marrying her and taking her out of the house''. It's a perfect chance to escape the abuse, all she needs to do it prove she's the girl from the ball. From her perspective, this wonderful guy that she met and felt a connection on a night she ''finally'' managed to get out from under her family's thumb and have fun, turns out to feel just as strongly for her, and and it turns out he's the PRINCE. Marrying him will get out of the abuse that she's had to live with for years, and because he out ranks Lady Tremaine, she can't veto the marriage.
** Was Cinderella an idiot to come downstairs in her new dress, even though her step-mother was doing everything possible to keep her from the ball? Or a case of GoodCannotComprehendEvil, with her being ''too kind'' to see Lady Tremaine's treachery coming when she'd held up her own end of the deal so diligently? Or, third option, was it simply because, having no coach on her own at the time, she assumed the four of them will be going together, as she comes down when the others are ready to leave for the ball?

* ValuesResonance:
** This story resonates with a ''lot'' of people who were raised by narcissists and [[ParentalAbuse abusive parents]]. Tremaine's exaggerated to show just how scary she is from ''Cinderella'''s point of view, since she has actual power. Cinderella outright defies her in private by being happy despite Tremaine's attempts to outright ''[[BreakTheCutie destroy]]'' her. While Cinderella needs more help than later Disney Princesses do in making her dreams come true, she does stand up for herself the first time her stepfamily forbids her from attending the ball, and also foils Lady Tremaine's schemes to prevent her from marrying Prince Charming -- first by calling Bruno to chase away Lucifer, then by revealing to the Grand Duke that she has the other glass slipper.
** Without realizing it back in its making, this movie unintentionally became the earliest example of FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse. Despite being abused in a number of ways from her stepfamily, Cinderella is a kind girl who shows compassion to those in need of it and never takes her anger or frustrations out on anyone. She is the living embodiment that those exposed to trauma can grow up to be good people.

** Fans of WesternAnimation/InvaderZim and WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs may recognize Anastasia’s first voice actress, Lucille Bliss as Ms. Bitters and Smurfette.

%%* FashionVictimVillain: The stepsisters.

* ValuesDissonance:[[TextileWorkIsFeminine "Leave the sewing to the women".]] What's really weird in this case is that it's a ''lady'' mouse who says this after Jaq ''volunteers'' to do the sewing! Then some male mice are clearly shown sewing later on anyway, making the line even weirder. It's possible the lady mouse meant "Leave the sewing to someone more experienced with it". Given Jaq's lack of stealth and sometimes carelessness (as seen during the aforementioned later sewing scene where he and Gus nearly cut off another mouse's tail), it's a reasonable fear.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Cinderella is generally used as the UrExample of the "weak, passive" DamselInDistress PrincessClassic that gets bashed in this feminist era. [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]] and [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]] tend to get more leeway since Snow White ''does'' flee from her abusive home life in her movie while Aurora was cursed with an enchanted sleep throughout most of hers, in addition to both films featuring some action sequences, even if they were performed by other characters, whereas the closest thing ''Cinderella'' has to one is the confrontations between Lucifer and the mice.

** The biggest one is Lady Tremaine. Fans are split on wether or not she's one of the [[LoveToHate best]] or [[TheScrappy worst]] Disney villains. Some fans find her to be an entertaining villain and an accurate depiction of an AbusiveParent while others hate her for abusing her Cinderella and (debatably) her own daughters and just want her off the screen. It doesn't help that [[NeverLiveItDown most of the bile she gets is from the infamous scene where she breaks Cinderella's glass slipper]].

** Is Cinderella a good role model, or not? Some people believe that she is passive and weak, but some believe that she is a perfect example of a strong female character.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Grand Duke is well liked as a source of some of the films funniest moments as well as pointing out how the slipper might fit girls other than cinderella.

* ValuesDissonance:
** [[TextileWorkIsFeminine "Leave the sewing to the women".]] What's really weird in this case is that it's a ''lady'' mouse who says this after Jaq ''volunteers'' to do the sewing! Then some male mice are clearly shown sewing later on anyway, making the line even weirder. It's possible the lady mouse meant "Leave the sewing to someone more experienced with it". Given Jaq's lack of stealth and sometimes carelessness (as seen during the aforementioned later sewing scene where he and Gus nearly cut off another mouse's tail), it's a reasonable fear.

** The biggest one is Lady Tremaine. Fans are split on wether or not she's one of the [[LoveToHate best]] or [[TheScrappy worst]] Disney villains. Some fans find her to be an entertaining villain and an accurate depiction of an [[AbusiveParent]] while others hate her for abusing her Cinderella and (debatably) her own daughters and just want her off the screen. It doesn't help that [[NeverLiveItDown most of the bile she gets is from the infamous scene where she breaks Cinderella's glass slipper]].

-->'''Gus:''' No! No! She can't do it! She can't lock up Cinderelly! I'm gonna...

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The mice. Viewers will either find them adorable, or annoying spotlight stealers who do nothing but pad the movie.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Some viewers misunderstand that this is adapted from the Charles Perrault version of the tale, not the Brothers Grimm version. Namely Disney did not drop the toe and heel cutting, as that wasn't in Perrault's version to begin with. Likewise the FairyGodmother does not appear in the Grimm version, and there is a three-day ball there, and on the third day, the prince smears the castle steps with pitch, which causes Cinderella to leave behind a shoe. (This is the version that was adapted for ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods''.)

* NarmCharm: In Norway, the above mentioned annual broadcasting of the Czech/German version is translated by a voice-over man, comically and yet charmingly changing the tone of his voice to fit the characters, both male and female. This version of the film is so popular in Norway around Christmas times that when the TV network one year decided to air the film without the voice-over, this resulted in a backlash with the audience demanding the voice-over back, the translator being considered about half of the film's charm.

*** Derision of Cinderella as weak for not leaving also carries ''massive'' UnfortunateImplications at the end of the day; she's a young woman being physically, mentally, and ''financially'' abused and isolated by her wealthy, influential family; and [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped needing some outside help and resources to finally escape them is not something a real-life person in a similar situation should be ashamed of]].