Cinderella (2021) Review: A Fresh Musical Take On The Classic Story

Release date: September 3, 2021
Running time: 111 minutes
Starring: Camila Cabello, Idina Menzel, Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine with Billy Porter and Pierce Brosnan.
Written and Directed By: Kay Cannon

Cinderella is a musically-driven bold new take on the traditional story you grew up with. Our heroine (Camila Cabello) is an ambitious young woman whose dreams are bigger than the world will allow, but with the help of her Fab G (Billy Porter), she is able to persevere and make her dreams come true. 

Cinderella is a fresh take on the old story, with plenty of small updates to make the story more modern and more appealing.  The most dramatic change that you will notice is the music of the film.  Cinderella has an updated soundtrack that should appeal to young and old alike.  Like Baz Luhrmann's amazing (and still one of my favorite movies of all time) Moulin Rouge, Cinderella uses some renditions and remixes of modern songs to tell the story.  You will instantly smile when you hear a song you recognize reused in a novel way, and the remixed songs add so much to the enjoyable film. 

Additionally, the story of Cinderella has been reworked.  It's not a huge shift, but little touches are updated here and there to make the film deal with more modern topics.  Cinderella is much more independent, the Fairy Godmother is now the Fabulous Godmother (played by an extremely entertaining Billy Porter), and the prince has a brilliant sister who is hoping to rule.  And the stepsisters are less cruel to Ella (Cinderella's name in this rendition) despite her pretty horrible living conditions.  The stepmother is still mean to her (with some fairly painful scenes to watch now that you have live actors) and the stepsisters don't exactly treat her equally, but overall they are a less toxic bunch.

The film also has jokes that will appeal to young and old.  Some are a little on the edge (a word of warning to those with young kids, some of the jokes a little more mature than I expected from a PG movie, but I don't think my kids understood the context in any event), but overall this is an entertaining revision of the classic story.  It's not perfect, but I do love that the classic tale was taken on and given a fresh, musical update for a more modern time.  The renditions are fun and the fresh take on the story should make for an enjoyable fairytale. 

Cinderella is a fresh take on the classic tale, with a wonderful remixed soundtrack, more independent leading lady, and plenty of smart updates to bring the classic tale to life.

Watch it.

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Cinderella (2021) is in theaters and on Amazon Prime on September 3, 2021.  For showtimes, click here.