Everyone lives obnoxiously ever after.

"The world doesn't need another dream girl." – Stepmother

The Broken Hearts Gallery Poster — Cinderella (2021) Movie Poster (c/o IMDb)

Cinderella (2021)

PG

3 September 2021

1 hr 53 mins

Available on Amazon Prime

Directed & Written by Kay Cannon

Starring Camila Cabello, Idina Menzel, Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine, Billy Porter, Pierce Brosnan

Synopsis:

A modern movie musical with a bold take on the classic fairy tale. Our ambitious heroine has big dreams and with the help of her fab Godmother, she perseveres to make them come true.

Contains suggestive material, language, and cringe (a lot of it)

Jhanya: Did we really need another Cinderella film? We have enough Cinderella films and musicals to last this century. Seriously. No one asked for this.

Ria: Nope, we didn’t actually. I really think it should’ve ended with Into the Woods and Cinderella (2015). Those two were awesome and all Cinderella remakes would’ve ended on a high note.

Jhanya: The film was very lighthearted and fun. One would definitely enjoy the film if watched without taking it seriously. However, this film wanted to be taken seriously. They had a lot of messages and social issues mentioned. And this is where it dives in terms of quality. They took it too seriously (in the Hollywood sense) to a point that they missed the original message of Cinderella. They stuck to the usual structure of the Cinderella story and premise but the majority of the original message was watered down for them to add the subplots of “feminism”, patriarchy, and the business dream. This isn’t often a bad thing, but the way they executed these added factors didn’t help them at all. They chose to say instead of doing. Most of the issues were expressed through the dialogue instead of showing it to the viewers through the story and the acting. Additionally, for a musical, they had a lot of dialogue that could’ve been expressed through the music. Instead, we get multiple jukebox tracks that don’t really matter to the story as much.

Ria: The film is a musical comedy. It is basically just for laughs and can really lift your spirits if you just have lots of fun throughout. But, this film really pushed for women empowerment and mentions several social issues, so how exactly is this supposed to just be taken as fun? This is also a Cinderella remake so its essence is also something they’re trying to convey. I feel like it is all just too much and the push for ‘feminism’ became too much making it more of a joke rather than a serious issue. And this is supposed to be a musical, so there is a lot of dialogue. Too much, for my taste. And for a musical movie, they had more rendition songs than original songs.

Jhanya: In terms of the message, they wanted to be sarcastic and mock the original plot of Cinderella by making her “more empowered” and trying to make it seem that OG Cinderella was weak for being soft and kind-hearted. Which is complete bull because they missed the point of the original Cinderella being truly good despite living a life of abject poverty, indiscriminate cruelty, and having no way out. By adding Cinderella’s dream to start a business—which, by the way, can be misleading because being a seamstress was pretty much the only proper business job for women back then—and adjusting the character of the stepmother to be less evil, the film took away the very real stakes that were the basis for the original.

Ria: Women empowerment is not all about being a girl boss. And if they were trying to convey that, then they could’ve added more scenes by branching out to self-worth, rights, gender equality. Women empowerment is also not having stupid males. That becomes male “unempowerment”, which then makes women empowerment devoid.

Jhanya: It was pretty interesting to see that all the male characters in this film were all incompetent buffoons that don’t know what they’re doing in life. It is pretty symbolic tbh. But in doing so, the film made it seem like women can’t or aren’t allowed to be evil. They kept trying to redeem and justify all the women in this film while putting the males down in order to establish how powerful and superior the women are. That’s literally not how it works.

Ria: The best thing about this movie would be the songs already, and it’s just meh. Their originality lacked so much in this particular area, even more so as this is a musical. I think there were two (?) original songs and three short raps for every proclamation – which gave me such Hamilton vibes (so there’s that). And all other songs were just renditions of other songs. Additionally, the choice of some songs was also questionable, like, why sing Perfect in that situation? I’m so confused waaahhh >.< The final song also gave me such In the Heights vibes also because suddenly the whole ensemble is dancing together?? Where was that throughout the musical?

Anyways, good stuff I liked. All of them could really sing, very very well. I mean Idina??? I love you??? And Prince Robert’s vocals? Loved that also. They also didn’t add too much autotune which I liked because it made their singing a lot more authentic.

Jhanya: I understand that this was a Jukebox Musical of sorts, given that Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect) is the director and writer. But it was pretty bizarre upon first viewing. Especially with the first song/mashup. It didn’t convince me to be hyped for the film. Also why Rythm Nation of all songs??? A lot of the songs here were out of place (ex. “Perfect”), but they had their moments. I particularly like Prince Robert’s “Seven Nation Army” parts during the ball and the stepmother’s “Material Girl” (OMG IDINA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH). Those were fun.

Ria: The good acting goes to Stepmother, Queen Beatrice, and King Rowan (also Fabulous Godmother tbh). That’s it. Every time either one of them comes onto the screen, I’m like all ears and all eyes. They. stole. the. show. Idina’s acting and singing were both just really on point. It’s so unreal how good she has become. King Rowan was a surprise. He’s very funny and his antics are comically done well. I just also hoped that he sang (actually good singing) more because I love his voice.

Jhanya: Since we’ve mentioned the best. It’s time to mention the worst actor in this film (not in terms of acting tbh, we just question why he is there). James Corden. (i think that he wasn’t really supposed to act “well”??) Every time there is a movie musical, I question why he is even a part of it. It’s not really his acting that bothered me. It’s his forced jokes that felt very unnecessary. I had to forcibly erase the peeing joke he made from my brain after watching the film for the first time coz of how cringe it was.

Ria: Ella’s acting lacked a lot. It was very exaggerated and in many scenes she overacts. Also, among the friends of Prince Robert, literally only one had meaning. What were the other two? Props?? I really didn’t see why they had to keep trailing after the prince.

Jhanya: Camila Cabello had a great voice as usual. But her amateurish acting skills really show throughout the film with how she overacts in almost all her scenes. It also didn’t help that the writing of her character was weak and made her the typical “I’m not like other girls” girl that really just came off as rude and obnoxious.

I have nothing much to say about Prince Robert, but his earring really bothered me while watching hahahahuhuhu (HAHAHAHA OMG ME ALSO. every time there’s like a close-up on him in front or at the back, I’d see only the earring :_:)

When it comes to the chemistry between our two main leads…… It was absolutely nonexistent. Seriously. There was none. I especially ABHOR their first dance scene. Cinderella 2015’s was MAGICAL. I was swooning over Lily James and Richard Madden’s chemistry. But this time I was too busy cringing because of the dance and the out-of-nowhere Ed Sheeran song. I also don’t understand how Robert fell for Ella when she disrespected the late king. Like how do you find rudeness attractive to a point that you fall in love at first sight?????

Ria: THAT DANCE SCENE OMG I SPEEDRAN THAT PART AHAHAHAHAAH. I was cringing so hard when I watched that. And I physically winced when they kissed in the middle of nowhere. I was also thinking how they had such a long screen time when they sang Perfect in the middle of nowhere, and then five minutes hadn't even passed and a reprise was sung. Those precious minutes could’ve been used for scenes relating to empowerment and other issues they wanted to focus on.

Jhanya: The best chemistry would have to be the King and Queen tbh. (OMG YES) Something about Brosnan and Driver’s acting just really brought them together. Sure, King Rowan was on the not-so-smart side of things, but at least he knew that he felt something for the queen. I really wish they should’ve explored that topic more instead. It had more potential than Cinderella and Robert. It was also a very interesting take on the story since the queen died in all other Cinderella films lol.

Final Thoughts

Ria: This movie shouldn’t have been a Cinderella remake. They could’ve split the whole movie into two and one focusing on the Cinderella essence and the other on more women empowerment and feminism (in a much better way, btw). This whole movie was too much comedy, too much push, with too few songs, too little chemistry, and subpar renditions. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend this movie at all. What I do recommend is Cinderella (2015), which I will now be watching.

Jhanya: As someone who adored the 2015 live-action remake of Cinderella, this was a huge letdown. Going into this film, I didn’t expect much. But I was still so disappointed and annoyed at it. The best description of this film is that it tried too hard. It tried too hard to push a new message into an already established story, tried too hard in making it a musical, and tried too hard in getting a star-studded cast (except for the prince fsr) that has no chemistry LOL. Like Ria, I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone unless I hate that person. It isn’t a pleasant watch if you’re bored because you’ll just be annoyed. Just watch Cinderella (2015) instead. Though some find it boring, at least it’s one of the most cinematically beautiful films ever made and is sure to teach you a lesson or two. Cinderella (2021) just teaches you how to girl boss (not the good kind) your way into getting a blank prince.

Rating

Criteria	Jhanya	Ria
Screenwrite (1.5)	0.5	1
Cinematography (1.5)	0.5	0.5
VFX / Realism (1.5)	0.5	0.5
Cast / Acting(1.5)	0.75	0.5
Morale (1)	0.5	0.5
Soundtrack (1)	0.75	0.75
Originality (1)	0	0.25
Rewatch Value (1)	0	0
TOTAL	3.5	4
Final Score	3.75