Cinderella

CINDERELLA (Kenneth Branagh, 2015)

Kenneth Branagh’s CINDERELLA is a mostly faithful live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1950 animated story of the girl who rises from the ashes to become a princess. Ella (Lily James) is a charming young woman who abides by her deceased mother’s gentle insistence always to have courage and be kind. When her father (Ben Chaplin) eventually remarries, Ella cheerfully accepts her new stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and bratty stepsisters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera). After he dies while away on business, these family members take even greater advantage of her, but she continues to accommodate them while guided by her mother’s words. Her face is often sullied with ashes from needing to sleep by the hearth to keep warm. Stepmother and stepsisters seize on this and dub her Cinderella.

One day while needing an escape from the cruelty she endures, Ella goes to the forest where she meets the prince (Richard Madden). He is enchanted with her but doesn’t get her name. He’s being pressured to make a politically wise marriage but prefers this simple country girl to the elite and powerful invited to his imminent royal ball. To find her again he wins a concession to invite all maidens to attend in the hope that Ella will come. Although her stepmother forbids her to go, Ella’s fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) provides some last minute solutions.

Branagh finds use for some CGI transformations in his version of CINDERELLA, but otherwise he stays true to a solid, old-fashioned vision of this well-known fairy tale. Contemporary interpretations or subversions of the source material are not welcome here, and that is perfectly fine. In fact, the most modern touches, like the morphing of the coach and footmen, look anomalous among the quaint and opulent backdrops.

Branagh made his name in film with Shakespearean adaptations rooted in their period settings. In CINDERELLA he’s particularly adept at staging scenes of castle intrigue in Chris Weitz’s screenplay. With the prince’s father ill and desiring a secure transition of power, the romantic aspect of the royal ball is tested by prudence and strategy. Branagh seems most in his element navigating the negotiations amid the hustle and bustle of the biggest and most important event in all of the land.

The elimination of the songs in this lavish remake represent the most notable deviation from the cartoon. Considering the overwhelming familiarity with the story and the massive success of FROZEN, it’s a curious change not to have this CINDERELLA be a musical. Ella is unerringly true to the principles she was raised to honor. While Ella doesn’t have much agency in her story, James never plays her as though she’s a pushover. It’s also nice to see a protagonist who, when given the opportunity to deliver a comeuppance to her oppressors, chooses to forgive. There’s not a lot of magic in the events of CINDERELLA, but it certainly exists in this touch of grace.

Grade: B-

Maleficent

MALEFICENT (Robert Stromberg, 2014)

MALEFICENT loves looking at Angelina Jolie embodying the fairy previously familiar as SLEEPING BEAUTY’s villain. Whether shown in shadow, profile, or many loving close-ups, Jolie cuts a striking image as the horned protagonist. Her prominent cheekbones are enhanced to make them seem as sharp as sabres. The stylish, form-fitting headpiece suggests a turbaned Gloria Swanson if she also had antlers. Jolie doesn’t craft a performance from the title character so much as she imprints a presence on the film’s frames. That this seems more like modelling than acting isn’t intended as slight against what Jolie accomplishes here. How she commands attention in MALEFICENT defines star power, which, despite the the number of actors dubbed stars, is a rare trait.

Unfortunately the revisionist fairy tale doesn’t have much else working in its favor. The alternative view of Disney’s SLEEPING BEAUTY, by way of Broadway’s WICKED, does little more than provide a slight backstory to humanize Maleficent and revise her actions to make them appropriate for the misunderstood and ostensible hero of a family film. Director Robert Stromberg and screenwriter Linda Woolverton hint at darker shades in the narrative--MALEFICENT could be interpreted as a rape revenge story--but redeem the character for general audience acceptability.

The winged, orphan fairy Maleficent lives in a magical kingdom that borders on a human village with which there is sometimes conflict. She is suspicious of outsiders and indeed one day encounters a peasant boy who is attempting to steal from her realm. The two become friends, though, and over time Maleficent and Stefan (Sharlto Copley) become romantically involved until, in his ambition to become closer to the king, he stops coming to see her.

The king fears Maleficent and wants her dead. Although Stefan does not kill his longtime friend, his betrayal wounds her so deeply that when he ascends to the throne and becomes father to a baby girl, she curses the child. Maleficent vows that by the time the sun sets on Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle and fall into an eternal sleep unless she receives true love’s kiss. Stefan orders all spinning wheels to be collected and destroyed and ships Aurora to the country to be cared for by the pixies Flittle (Lesley Manville), Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), and Thistletwit (Juno Temple) until the day after the fateful one promised. Maleficent is often nearby to keep tabs on the child, and as Aurora grows into a guileless teenager (Elle Fanning), she regrets the doomed future she has invoked for her.

Unnecessary THE LORD OF THE RINGS-like battles are front- and backloaded on MALEFICENT, as if the studio feared boys would have no interest without them. The CGI storybook visuals derive from other recent fantasy films, particularly Disney’s live-action ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Aside from the three pixies, who look weirdly off-putting in miniature form, the computer-animated effects create a believable fantasy world while seeming less impressive because of the ubiquity of such work in contemporary cinema. MALEFICENT strangely lacks much drama because it is content to gaze upon Jolie. Her bearing is the film’s greatest effect in a land where a castle, wall of thorns, and mystical creatures exist, but a costume and visage are not enough to make this reformulated fairy tale a story worth telling.

Grade: C

Mirror Mirror

MIRROR MIRROR (Tarsem Singh, 2012)

MIRROR MIRROR retells the story of Snow White (Lily Collins), although The Queen (Julia Roberts) insists this account belongs to her.  Snow’s father, The King, disappeared many years ago and is presumed dead, which leaves her at the mercy of her cruel stepmother.  

Snow’s youth and beauty threaten The Queen, and she keeps the girl confined to the palace grounds.  On the cusp of her eighteenth birthday Snow sneaks out and encounters Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer), who has been robbed and bound by small bandits.  After freeing him, she heads into the nearby town and discovers that the Queen has made the lives of these simple folk quite miserable.

The Prince’s arrival offers the prospect of economic salvation through marriage for the financially strapped Queen, but first she needs to remove Snow White from the picture. She arranges to have her killed, but her servant Brighton (Nathan Lane) can’t follow through, not that he tells The Queen.  Snow is taken in by the jolly band of thieves and plots to overthrow The Queen.

The ill fit between MIRROR MIRROR’s screenplay and its director's sensibilities dooms the comedic fairy tale from the outset.  Tarsem Singh excels at staging visual extravaganzas, and in that respect he often delivers what one desires from a fantastical story like this. Costume designer Eiko Ishioka’s work on MIRROR MIRROR, her final film, features strange and imaginative outfits.  Ishioka’s arty creations in her other collaborations with Singh have ranked among the most memorable aspects of those films.  In this instance the clothes steal the show from their wearers, making this umpteenth rendition of SNOW WHITE nearly worth seeing for the peculiar attire alone.

The sets, which look like they were built on a studio lot in the 1950s or ‘60s, produce an effect similar to that in pop-up storybooks.  While it’s an inspired flourish, sometimes the surroundings appear cheaply constructed and washed out.  Singh presents a visually distinctive world for the familiar tale, but in paling in comparison to the lavish lands of THE FALL and IMMORTALS, it seems like a halfhearted or budget-restricted attempt.

Singh’s handling of scripts does not match his knack for imagery.  This weakness is more visible than ever in MIRROR MIRROR.  The silly jokes and whimsical tone collapse under Singh’s heavy hand and lack of timing.  Roberts’ catty take on the evil Queen and Hammer’s uninhibited goofiness hint at the potential for a winking tribute to and fond puncturing of fairy tales a la THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but MIRROR MIRROR is more labored than playful.

To its credit, MIRROR MIRROR makes more interesting characters out of the dwarves than they’re usually granted.  Still, the snarky humor comes off as tired and obvious, and weird accents, like the queen’s disgusting beauty routine and a wildly out-of-place rape joke, seem better suited for a film that isn’t otherwise tame kiddie fare.  

Grade: C-