Camila Cabello leads a Cinderella for the Mamma Mia! crowd
This fairy-tale jukebox musical is a comedic pop confection aimed squarely at preteens
Film Reviews Cinderella
Consider this fair warning: Writer/director Kay Cannon’s new jukebox-infused take on Cinderella won’t be a glass shoe that fits everyone. Those whose stomachs turn at the mere thought of Cinderella (pop star Camila Cabello) and her prince (Nicholas Galitzine) dueting to an Ed Sheeran song should stay far, far away from this PG-rated comedic pop confection aimed squarely at preteens. But for those who’ve attended a Greatest Showman singalong or fallen down a rabbit hole of Glee covers on YouTube, there’s plenty of fun to be had in its goofily self-aware retelling of the age-old fairy tale. Cannon combines the infectious musical spirit of her Pitch Perfect screenplays with the deadpan comedic sensibility she brought to the teen half of her directorial debut, Blockers, resulting in a movie musical that’s decidedly better than its disastrous trailer suggested. While this version of Cinderella likely won’t top anyone’s list of all-time best adaptations, it’s a winking, glittering family comedy that’s cohesive in tone and confident in what it wants to be. And mostly it just wants to be flashy, toe-tapping karaoke.
Though Cannon reimagines her titular heroine as a would-be fashion designer more interested in building a career than finding a man, the film doesn’t take itself seriously enough for that feminist through line to become didactic. Instead, Cinderella understands that its greatest pleasures lie in a group of immaculately dressed royal ball attendees belting out Salt-N-Pepa’s “Whatta Man” while the prince and his entourage respond with The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” Cannon keeps the musical numbers coming fast, establishing her film’s fictional kingdom with Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation,” introducing her prince by way of Queen’s “Somebody To Love,” doling out exposition via British rapper Doc Brown, and giving Cinderella the catchy original pop ballad “Million To One.” It’s the same proudly anachronistic spirit that animated A Knight’s Tale, heightened to Broadway musical fever dream proportions—although, sadly, not to the sublime levels of Moulin Rouge! Instead Cinderella owes a lot of its goofily exuberant tone to the Mamma Mia! films, which it lampshades by casting Pierce Brosnan as a bullish king known for his “skull-splitting” singing voice.
As that line suggests, Cinderella has a comedic sensibility that sits somewhere between a self-referential modern day Disney princess flick and—unexpectedly enough—Hulu’s loopy historical dark comedy The Great. (Galitzine has more than a touch of Nicholas Hoult to him.) Cannon mines bone-dry satire from the patriarchal set-up of the film’s fairy-tale monarchy (“Oh it’s a bad system,” the prince admits), and takes advantage of Cabello’s natural knack for comedy without asking her to stretch her acting chops too far. In her first major role, Cabello makes for a plucky, positive Cinderella who never gets bogged down in self-pity or self-doubt, which fits well with the film’s fun-first ethos. And Cannon buoys her first-time leading lady by surrounding her with a charismatic love interest and a solid supporting cast, ranging from a frustratingly underused Minnie Driver to a perfectly underused James Corden.
Unfortunately, the one sequence that really doesn’t work is the one that’s been most heavily featured in the film’s marketing: Billy Porter’s appearance as Cinderella’s “Fabulous Godmother.” A lovely idea in theory, Porter’s take doesn’t fit with either the film’s deadpan comedic sensibility or its later earnestness. It feels carried over from a different movie altogether, and the one-note role doesn’t let Porter show off the phenomenal range he’s brought to projects like Pose and the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. Instead, the real scene stealer turns out to be Idina Menzel, who brings an impressive level of dignity and complexity to Cinderella’s stepmother, who in this version is less evil and more cynically pragmatic. Menzel joins the ranks of Bernadette Peters, Anjelica Huston, and Cate Blanchett as women who’ve put a nuanced spin on the fairy tale baddie—although she’s so far the only one to do so while singing Madonna’s “Material Girl” in front of a hot farm boy.
For those who aren’t inherently put off by its karaoke premise, Cinderella goes down as easily as a pumpkin (carriage) spice latte. Cannon drapes her film in stunning costumes, theatrical production design, and perpetual golden hour lighting, which gives the whole thing the glossy sheen of a high-budget music video. Apart from some terrible CGI mice, Cinderella’s biggest misstep is choosing a lackluster song for its finale—a cardinal sin for a jukebox musical. Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud” lacks the punch needed for a properly rousing closing number, and reflects the way the film loses a bit of steam as it briefly tries to invest in the actual drama of its love story. Still, Cannon at least has fun playing around with the idea of what different kinds of happily ever after can look like. This frothy Cinderella may have all the heft of a helium balloon, but that’s as much a feature as it is a bibbidi bobbidi bug.
65 Comments
This sounds like a bizarre cross between the 2015 Disney live action remake and Glee. I actually kinda liked that Disney remake, mostly because of the stellar cast, and Glee well…. less said about that the better. I’ll gladly take Lily James trying to sing over a pop singer using autotune if you don’t mind. PS, Cate Blanchett was the best evil step mom of the bunch.
Every person that sings uses pitch correction. You just don’t notice it because that’s the entire point of pitch correction. Hell, they even do it for live performances with special mikes that will correct notes as you sing. Complaining about autotune is the equivalent of those dudes who whine about makeup being a lie while totally ignorant of what goes into a bareface look.
Can we complain if the autotune is used incorrectly so that we can hear the robo effects?
No, because that kind of effect is done intentionally. You can think it sounds bad, but it’s no more indication of a persons actual singing skills than a distortion effect on a guitar track. Seriously, look up T-Pain singing acapella on Youtube. Dude has a lovely voice. Better yet, watch this guy’s video on the subject- goes into the whole history of pitch correction and the insane amount it’s used today to the extent that it’s skewing perception of what a good performance even is.
Not what I’m talking about.
What are you talking about? The times you can hear an effect and think it sounds bad? Because I don’t have a way to tell if that’s deliberate or not, and whether I think it sounds good isn’t a determinant. I think Imagine Dragons sounds terrible, but they’ve got every possible tool to change so that sound has got to be a deliberate choice. Occams Razor points to: if you hear it you’re supposed to. So ragging on autotuned singers like it’s some sign that they’re fake or incompetent is dumb; bad taste is the most likely culprit.
The times when we can hear an effect & it’s obvious that we weren’t supposed to, because it’s clearly incongruous with the rest of the song.
Cher in “Believe”: So intentional that she literally themed the video around it.
Emma Watson in Beauty & The Beast: There’s no freaking way they meant for us to hear digital artefacting in Belle’s vocals alone in that movie.I’m not ragging on the singers for it. I’m ragging on the executives who rush the editors into releasing an unfinished product instead of taking the time to get it right.
If they really are using pitch correction all the time, I don’t even want to imagine what Pierce Brosnan sounds like without it.
In the old days, they’d just get a star to mime the song and an actual singer would voice it in post.
PPS, Cate is usually the best at whatever she tries.
Ive yet to see her not put in effort. Gun to my head I’d say she’s the best actress alive, and I don’t care if Meryl Streep hears me.
I beg to differ. Angelica Huston in Ever After was the best followed by Bernadette Peters in Brandy’s Cinderella. I love Cate, but they didn’t give her much to work with.
This won’t do, there’s blood in the reboot!
And Cannon buoys her first-time leading lady by surrounding her with a charismatic love interest and a solid supporting cast, ranging from a frustratingly underused Minnie Driver to a perfectly underused James Corden.
This got a chuckle out of me.
Yeah, it’s rare that I get to literally snicker, but it’s fun when I do.
That is the military grade snark I live for.
Tremendous.
“Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud” lacks the punch needed for a properly rousing closing number”Wtf is this? Let’s Get Loud is THE rousing number. If they didn’t do it well, thats on them. It doesnt end the party, it starts it (which may be the problem).
“a lackluster song” I cant believe it
The AUDACITY
Yes, I thought that was an odd take, too.
You totally get why Gloria Estefan passed it on to J. Lo, but like… it slapped then and it slaps now; let’s not tell lies.
I’d be game to see an article about the underlying ideals and assumptions behind multiple international Cinderella adaptations, as the Disney version is very of its time and culture (1950’s Christian), notably Mamele, Mr. Cinders, 1947 Russian, Three Wishes for Cinderella (the European equivalent of It’s a Wonderful Life), 1914 Mary Pickford, Ella Cinders, Cinderella Monogatari, Sandals of Zafira, 2006 Korean horror, and Aik Nayee Cinderella.If you can’t tell, I was giving preference to pre-1950 and foreign-language markets to try to minimize the influence of the Disney version to either emulation or opposition.
Does something like Ever After count?
Ever After is the best Cinderella movie ever. Please do yourself a favor and skip this movie and watch Ever After instead. I might rewatch it now.
I rewatched it a couple of weeks ago when these trailers were making the rounds! Absolutely holds up. Could not for the life of me tell you who the actor playing the prince was, but he was utterly delightful. (I assume no one needs me to repeat how amazing Drew and Anjelica are.)
Dougray Scott. He’s currently on CW’s Batwoman.
Dougray Scott. His most recent role was Batwoman’s dad in the Arrowverse.
Someone stuck in the grays told me the same thing – that sounds very cool. (Sorry! Kinja is horrible and I can’t bring you out.) I googled him after I posted my comment and it turns out he’s been in a couple of things I’ve liked; I guess I just have a mental block when it comes to him.
This x 10.
I came to type this very line!
Ever After mentally scarred me for a very long time. Anjelica Houston did too good of a job!
Shame that Billy Porter’s role didn’t work out, it sounded like a slam dunk. This sounds surprisingly not-terrible.
Billy Porters role in Hollywood at the moment seems to be just “being a snappy gay in a dress” and it’s very, very tiring.
He is a talented actor I would like to see him in different types of roles.
Hollywood knows Queens are popular, but they don’t know how to use them. My guess is in an effort to be wholly embracing of a queer Fairy Godmother, they lost the part where she’s an opening into the extrodiary world and therefore should be a little strange or even hostile. If you just want her to be nice and loving, then you need to create some personal motivation for her to help Cinderella, like they did with Da Vinci in Ever After.
I just want to eat Christmas meats off Kay Cannon’s chest.
Looks Disney Channel level (not Disney+)
I don’t normally love jukebox musicals but this frigging sold me:
immaculately dressed royal ball attendees belting out Salt-N-Pepa’s
“Whatta Man” while the prince and his entourage respond with The White
Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”
That is exactly the right level of uncompromisingly dumb.
I watched the movie on Friday night, this stuck out to me as the only cover that was good on its own merits. They mixed up the instruments, arranged the two songs against each other in a fun way, it was the absolute highlight of the movie, musically. Nothing else was nearly as interesting or fun. I only recall one original song, and it was a relief amongst the wall-to-wall badly lip synched covers, but not a song I ever need to hear again.
The jukebox musical was fun for a time, and I love Moulin Rouge (movie – the show’s an abomination) but it’s time for them to die.
Hollywood has been making them since at least the 1950s, so you probably have a point. Then again, working with a score of proven bangers is certainly easier than starting from scratch.
I don’t need them to die, but could we impose a limit? About once every five years for films and once every three years for Broadway should do.
Not until I get my Afghan Whigs jukebox musical
is a jukebox musical going to work with pre-teens if they’ve only ever heard one or two of the songs? forget if ‘material girl’ is popular with the under 10 crowd, how many of them have even heard of madonna at all? heck, i just checked to make sure she wasn’t dead when i had to google the year that song came out
How many kind in 2009 had ever heard of Journey? But that cover was still massive hit that launch Glee into popularity with tween and teens. For comparison, I was under 10 when the Lion King came out, and had never heard Lovely Bunch of Coconuts before, but knew it was an old song and still thought it was hilarious because it was used well.
And I was today years old when I learned that “Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” was not made up for the movie.
It’s also not really about coconuts ಠ‿↼
Wait til you learn that it was made famous by Merv Griffin.
i think its more that the review positions this as being squarely for pre-teens in its content. glee was a mostly all ages affair (at least on paper.) it just seems odd to do story content aimed at a specific age but then fill it with music that they’re unlikely to recognize.
and nothing against madonna or salt-n-pepa, but culture seems to have moved on from their songs (even if their influences are still felt.) by ironic contrast, culture seems to have moved on from journey (and that style of arena rock generally), but has decided to keep ‘don’t stop believing’ thanks (imo) to its unparalleled ability to be shouted while drinking
“Don’t Stop Believing” was huge in the 2000s, thanks to Family Guy & The Sopranos. Glee was cashing in on the meme.
My 1o year olds knew some of the songs because they had seen the performed on The Masked Singer
Surprised you didn’t mention the overlap this has with the loose 2004 film version of the novel Ella Enchanted, one of the many post-Shrek “let’s do wacky anachronistic fairy tales” movies of that period — Minnie Driver AND the song “Somebody to Love” were both in that too. (They used “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” for its finale.)
This is the second time I’ve seen A Knight’s Tale referenced in regards to the anachronisms of this film and though I haven’t seen this, the Ella Enchanted comparison seems infinitely more accurate given um…everything about the trailer (which did not make me think of A Knight’s Tale in any way).
Ugh. Please don’t bring up that hot mess of a crapfest. Skip it and read the book Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine instead.
Yes! the book is vastly better than the movie.
The trailer looked kinda interesting, but if it’s like Mamma Mia, then I’m out.
Same. I hated Mamma Mia.
Oddly not as good as mamma mia.
Wow, that’s astounding. Definitely won’t see it, then.
From the review, the only way it is like Mama Mia is they both have singing.
Watched it because my wife decided to put it on and give it a go. This was pure, trying too hard, awful. And I am fine with using popular songs in a musical. But this was crap. Not only were some of the songs too on the nose and pulled you out of the story (I’m looking at you Stepmother singing “Material Girl”), but they ripped you out of the film TWICE OVER because not only did they use them, they rewrote the lyrics. So you get “good lord, this song?” and then immediately followed by “wait, those are not the lyrics”.
Number of former Taskmaster contestants: 3
I counted 4, Romesh Ranganathan, James Acaster, Rob Beckett and Doc Brown (Ben Bailey Smith?
I saw this movie on Friday night with young nieces and nephews. We did not enjoy it. I think this review is very generous.For those who aren’t inherently put off by its karaoke premise Well that’s the rub, isn’t it, because the movie just wall-to-wall covers of pop music. Like, this can’t be understated, the scenes without singing (all of which I thought were pretty enjoyable, the cast is very good) are like 20 to 30 seconds long. And I’m only slightly exaggerating, you are genuinely lucky to go more than a minute before another song breaks out.
Look, I won’t pretend that I had any affection for this genre to begin with. But I like music, and there are a lot of songs in this movie that I like. The problem I have is that the covers are, with only one memorable exception, simply worse versions of the original songs, not paired with any memorable choreography, and they don’t coherently fit with the plot or advance the story. I’d love to see a cut of this movie with all the songs cut out, it’d be 9 minutes long, feature fantastic acting and genuinely funny comedic moments (“perfectly underused” absolutely nails James Cordon’s contribution), and still tell a perfectly coherent story. The memorable exception is the What a Man —> Seven Nation Army cover, the transition between the two was cool, and it incorporated instruments that were playing within the background of the scene at a party (rather than an invisible electric guitar playing over top a Victorian era period pace).My other gripe with this movie is the costume/makeup choices for Cinderella. She’s gorgeous and immaculately dressed made-up throughout the movie, even as people are treating like a lowly peasant. They couldn’t be bothered to smudge some dirt on her face, and didn’t even bother to change her hairstyle for her dramatic, magical “transformation”. They just put her in a slightly more sparkly dress, and that made her unrecognizable. It was like Clark Kent and Superman if Clark Kent never wore glasses in the first place.