Movie Info
Movie Name: Cinderella
Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Genre(s): Animated/Musical/Romance/Family
Release Date(s): March 4, 1950
MPAA Rating: G
It’s a Versace…
Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods) lives a hard life with only mice, birds, and her dog as friends. Her father has died leaving her with her wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine (voiced by Eleanor Audley) and her two stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella (voiced by Lucille Bliss and Rhoda Williams). When the king (voiced by Luis Van Rooten) orders a ball for his son Prince Charming (voiced by William Phipps and Mike Douglas) to meet his wife, Cinderella wonders if she’ll even get to attend. With help from her fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton), Cinderella becomes the belle of the ball, but when her stepmother suspects the truth, will Cinderella’s chances be dashed like a glass slipper?
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson, Cinderella was the twelfth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classic series and adapted the classic folk story first published by Charles Perrault. Following The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949, the movie represented Walt Disney’s return to feature films after World War II. The movie was met with positive reviews and helped Walt Disney finance his plans to expand into television. It was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Song (“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”).
Prince Charming should be happy about his inlaws.
Cinderella is one of Walt Disney’s last true “classic” animated films and many film historians show it as a sense of an ushering in of the new Disney which included the empire of television and new styles and looks. Cinderella could be put right next to Snow White and some of the earlier film stylistically, but it does match up with later films like Sleeping Beauty. The film’s art is some of the best art by Disney.
What helps to drive the movie is great characters. I find Cinderella to be one of the most sympathetic (and least annoying) of Disney’s heroines, plus she doesn’t have that sing-songy voice of Snow White. Cinderella is also joined by the rather expected animal companions of the mice who have their own bizarre speech patter which is quite fun. The evil Lucifer the cat is a fun foil for the mice. Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters probably also rank up there in some of the greatest villains in a cinematic history…they’re just pure evil.
I’m going to get me some of that!!!
Cinderella’s fairy godmother brings hope to all kids who wish they could have someone watching out for them and also gives the most memorable song in “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”. I always enjoyed the mouse “Work Song”… when I was little and another perennial classic from the film is a “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”…so what does that mean a nightmare is?
The movie is classic animation and should be seen by fans of animation and classic cinema. This is another example of Disney at its finest. The film has two straight-to-DVD two sequels Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007). Disney followed up Cinderella with a bit of a flop in Alice in Wonderland in 1951.
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