The last Disney movie I saw was Into the Woods, and I didn’t care for it. Disney is also focused on turning many of their beloved animated classics into live action movies (Dumbo was just announced with Tim Burton helming, for example). There are a lot of them coming, so expectations have to be high for Cinderella, both from the studio and audiences. So the question is – are those expectations met?

Frankly, yes. And it bodes very well for the rest of the upcoming roster, most particularly Beauty and the Beast (the jury’s still out on the whole live action Dumbo idea).

There are no real liberties taken with the Cinderella story everyone knows – the screenplay hews very closely to the animated Disney version we all know, with some extras that enhance the story or the characters. The sets are gorgeous, the costuming stunning, and the acting excellent. The biggest differences are that there is almost no singing, the animals only talk to Cinderella (Lily James) in animal or when they’re turned into humans, and the only dancing is at the ball.

The other difference is that you see Ella’s life before her stepmother and stepsisters come to live with her. As in, you meet her mother and father, and, since this is a fairy tale, they’re a deliriously happy little family. And also because this is a fairy tale, Ella’s mother (Hayley Atwell) has to die (it’s in the rules somewhere), essentially onscreen, after having Ella promise to always have courage and be kind. Of course, after he’s married to the stepmother, Ella’s father (Ben Chaplin) also has to die, which he does, offscreen.

The stepmother is gorgeous (she’s played by Cate Blanchett, so that goes without saying), vindictive, evil, and cruel. The stepsisters (Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger) are pretty, petty, vindictive, stupid versions of their mother. So other than all being beautiful, they’re very close to the animated versions. There’s even the cat, Lucifer, but in this movie his role is insignificant.

The best character enhancement is the prince (Richard Madden). In the animated movie, he’s incredibly dull, just there to give Cinderella someone to dance with and to save her from her sad life of drudgery. In this movie, he actually has character, and is someone who both wants to be a dutiful son and still marry for love.

The prince’s best bud is the Captain of the Guard (Nonso Anozie) and this is an incredibly integrated kingdom, which is refreshing. Cinderella’s household staff, dismissed after her father’s death, still are in the village, so she has people to go visit and explain why she’s hanging around being treated like dirt.

The prince and Cinderella meet cute in the forest where she’s trying to save the stag he and his retainers are hunting. (Disney remains possibly the most anti-hunting company out there.) She charms him but doesn’t tell him her name, he pretends to be an apprentice not the prince and gives her his nickname, Kit, and then they part.

The prince is, of course, supposed to marry a princess, and the Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgard) has a lot of them lined up for perusal. But the prince wants to find the girl he met in the forest, so he suggests opening the “find me a bride” ball up for all the people.

Unlike the animated movie, the Grand Duke isn’t hapless comic relief. He’s someone focused on protecting the kingdom. The king (Derek Jacobi) is dying, and that means the prince needs to marry a princess to bring more money and power into the land as well as start making the babies. The Grand Duke’s not evil so much as really focused on the bigger picture, versus true love, though he’s not above doing the wrong thing for, in his mind, the right reasons.

Of course, the wicked stepmother is wicked, and so she and her daughters destroy Cinderella’s dress and leave her instead of letting her go to the ball with them, which gives Cinderella the chance to follow her mother’s dying wish and be kind to an old woman who wants a bowl of milk. Said old woman turns into Cinderella’s fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) and the funniest scenes in the movie are with her.

There are no surprises in this movie, but no one’s going to see it to be surprised. Yes, you’ve seen a lot of the movie if you’ve seen the trailer, and so what? Only the little ones may not know the Cinderella story and if it’s their first time, this is as good a choice as the animated one (a better choice if they’re boys – Kit is actually someone you might want to aspire to be, since he’s not totally dull). For everyone else, you don’t go to Cinderella to necessarily see her turn ninja on her stepmother (though I wouldn’t be against that version). You go to see the story told the same only a little differently.

The biggest shock is the number of parental deaths we have. We see the king die essentially onscreen, too. Living parents are, apparently, a real barrier to ever finding true love, and essentially this movie has 5 dead parents in it – both of Ella’s, both of Kit’s, and the stepsister’s father who they don’t seem to care about so we don’t either, other than to assume that he killed himself to get away from his wife and daughters. They add depth to the characters and the movie, but still, parents of younger children should be prepared to possibly have to give reassurances that they’re not going to drop dead suddenly.

This was directed by Kenneth Branagh, whose direction I never fail to enjoy, and who really seems to get fabulous, natural performances out of his characters, even when those characters are talking to mice or being the worst version of Mommy Dearest possible.

The Frozen short, Frozen Fever, which comes before the movie, is also really good and enjoyable. It’s clearly animated by the same team who did the movie and all the vocal talent are back as well.

All in all, it’s a nice time at the movies for families and those who still believe that a dream is a wish your heart makes when it’s fast asleep.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars