Cinderella is a time old tale, much longer than the Disney version. The Grimm Brothers version, though, tells a darker side of the story.

A young girl named Ella, played by Lilly James, suffers when her mother dies and then later on when her father perishes after going away for business. Though there were no fairy godmothers in the Grimm story, award winning actress, Helena Bonham Carter , plays the slightly tipsy and eccentric Fairy godmother who helps Cinderella get to the ball to meet her Prince (Richard Madden).

The first branch that brushed her father’s shoulder was a gift that Ella had requested in both the original tale of Cinderella and the new movie version. When Cinderella receives the branch she shows such grief that one can’t help but cry. In this new tale of Cinderella, the audience gets a more emotional connection to each character, from the Mother to the Duke. One could actually care and be sad that the mother and father died.

The next part with the step sisters was also a lot better than the original. The audience is able to really understand the slow progression of how they made Ella into Cinderella, a slave instead of a sister. No jumps were made in the sudden treatment of Ella.

And now for the part any romantic cares about, the prince. In this story the Prince is at conflict with his dying father’s wishes for him to marry a princess. And, like in any film, finds Cinderella attractive because she doesn’t know who he is and seems down to earth and oh wait for it… kind! The prince then throws a giant ball in hopes to find her, because that is obviously the next step in finding anyone you have only talked to for 10 minutes.

She shows up, with the help of her fairy godmother, in a ridiculous pimped out carriage, which no one sees and in a tiny corset that the actress had to go on a liquid diet to squeeze into. The stepmother was dressed like something out of the 40’s and the step sisters were scheming poorly to try and get a dance with the prince.

Cinderella danced the night away with the prince, and for someone who had never stepped out of her house or even heard about her kingdom’s future ruler, knew this extravagant dance number quite well. The clock strikes midnight and she flees to get home in time. The prince, the charming stud he is, sends his whole guard on horse back with torches and spears to go catch her. But those sneaky lizards, which the Fairy godmother changed into Cinderella’s footmen who are a new and welcomed part to the movie, save the day and she gets to the house seconds before her stepmother. How the step mother was right behind her and not the guards, no one will ever know.

The last words that Ella’s mother left with her was to have courage and be kind, when they should have been stand up for yourself and don’t let anyone walk over you. Those would have been more helpful for her situation.

All in all the movie provided more of an emotional connection for the viewer, some new bits from the original tale, and the same sexist principles that Disney princess movies seem to have with a skinny girl, whose beauty and kindness but no back bone makes her reliant on the help of a man to help her escape her critical situation. If someone were in a search for a good fairy tale, they should try the Grimm fairy tales where in the end, as a happily ever after, the step sisters get their eyes pecked out by vicious birds at Cinderella’s wedding.

Rating : B-

Time: 105 minutes

Rated PG