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Cinderella gets a feminist make-over in this lively musical mash-up. The impoverished orphan still lives in a basement. And her best friends are still mice.
But in writer-director Kay Cannon’s (Blockers) updated version, Ella’s stepmother (Idina Menzel) isn’t so much evil as hard-nosed.
And her stepsisters only give her as much grief as your common, garden-variety sibling.
The real villain, in this version of Charles Perrault’s fairytale classic, is an antiquated system. Singer-songwriter Camila Cabello’s feisty, Latina proto feminist isn’t looking to hitch herself to any man.
She’s dreaming of career in the rag trade, which, in the (elastic) era in which this film is set, amounts to a vacant stall at the market.
Back at the palace, Prince Robert (The Craft: Legacy’s Nicholas Galitzine) is also chaffing against the weight of social expectation – much to the exasperation of his socially aware sister, Princess Gwen (Tallulah Greive), a natural-born leader consigned, by birth, to the wings.
Cheeky, free-thinking, non-conformist ... Ella represents everything Robert’s world is not. He is instantly smitten. Disguising himself as a peasant, the Prince persuades the would-be fashion designer to attend an upcoming royal ball in his honour by promising an introduction to some wealthy potential clients.
Cannon handles the familiar scenes that follow with a light, sure touch.
She doesn’t linger over the stepmother’s capricious destruction of Ella’s dress (although she does provide a plausible explanation).
And with the help of Billy Porter’s gender fluid fairy godmother – resplendent in a golden cape – the writer-director reframes Ella’s magical transformation through a Queer Eye lens.
Cinderella’s mice chorus (James Corden, James Acaster and Romesh Ranganathan) get just the right amount of screen time. The soundtrack, which blends original songs such as Million To One with covers of everybody from JLo to the White Stripes, is similarly accessible. A large ensemble cast gets the show cracking with a medley that includes Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation and Des’ree’s You Gotta Be.
Best-known as the writer-producer of the Pitch Perfect film series, Cannon’s contemporary, upbeat Cinderella embraces an unabashedly pop sensibility. There is nothing wrong with that, but the soundtrack’s overuse of the autotune feature does take a bit of the edge off.
Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video