Cinderella (1950)

Voices of: Ilene Woods, James MacDonald, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Claire Du Brey, Mike Douglas, Helene Stanley
Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Fantasy
1950

Times Seen:
Tim: 3

Summary: Cinderella (Ilene Woods) lives a life in servitude to her stepmother and stepsisters. When a Royal Ball is scheduled, she sees a path away from the drudgery of her life.

Review:

Tim: When you think about all the animated classics Disney has produced over the years, it's a fairly long list. They have taken so many stories and delivered the definitive version of them. That's probably the case with Cinderella as well- when we think about that story, many of us immediately go to this animated film. I think we need to recognize this accomplishment and the movie deserves praise for being a classic. However, I think the movie falls just below "greatness". It's the definitive version of this story, but it does have some flaws. I'm not going to spend too much time on them, though. This movie is a classic for a reason and it's endured because of how good it is.

The story itself likely feels so familiar to most people, it almost feels silly commenting on it. I appreciated that this film took up a slightly more mature subject matter. While the film doesn't get into commentary on it, Cinderella is abused at the beginning. She's made to serve her other "family" members, never given anything, never shown love or compassion. That's absolutely an abusive family. And yet, what's amazing about Cinderella is that she doesn't allow her reality to turn into bitterness. If she can't get love from her family, she'll just befriend a dog, birds, mice. It's all quite heartbreaking when you look beyond the animation and the catchy songs. This isn't a lighthearted story, although Disney works hard to take some of the edge off for younger viewers. The early scenes are played lightly, but Cinderella finds herself in a truly awful, tragic situation.

The movie doesn't dwell on this, though. The basic story is straightforward, so Disney needed to add more substance to the story. This is done mostly through the introduction of various mouse characters, pitted against the selfish and horrible cat. When I watched this movie with my eight year-old son and four year-old daughter, they were most engaged during these scenes. The intensity of the mice potentially getting eaten by the cat wasn't my daughter's favorite part. My son loved the hijinks of the mice. That's really what they were designed to do, and it does accomplish that by bringing some humor and excitement into the story. I likewise felt exactly the same in my youth. As an adult, I recognize these scenes to be a bit of filler. So, it's not a waste of time, but an orchestrated attempt to elongate the film. That's partially why I don't think this is a great movie.

The other criticism I often hear of Cinderella is that she doesn't actually do much herself. She serves her family willingly. She doesn't have a dress to go to the ball, so her animal friends make one for her. When her dress is destroyed, she's lost, so her fairy godmother shows up and solves her problem for her. It's odd to consider that Cinderella is helped continually throughout the film and doesn't show much agency to do things herself. I feel like this is somewhat fair criticism of the overall story, but unfair in portraying Cinderella in an adverse light. I can't imagine the emotional turmoil she experienced after the death of her father and a complete dearth of any kind of love or kindness. Her life has been a tragedy, it feels unfair to knock her too much. I think she shows amazing resiliency and positivity, to keep going when everything about her seems so bleak. The lesson might not be "change your own life!", but "keep going, even through adversity!" is a good message for kids, too. Wow, perhaps I'm digging a bit too deep into this story.

The hand-drawn animation is good, it holds up even 70+ years later. It's definitely a beautiful film to view. The music is quite effective. "Bibbidi-Bobbodi-Boo" is definitely a standout. It was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" works, too. The film did receive two other Academy Award nominations, Best Score and Best Sound, Recording. It didn't win any, but it's impressive when an animated film receives 3 Academy Award nominations.

Cinderella is a classic Disney animated film, one of the more memorable films they made. It's not quite great, but it has so many strengths, you don't feel surprised that it has enduring for as long as it has. I enjoyed watching this movie and while it's not among my favorites, it's exceptionally well made.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan