Cinderella

A live-action re-telling of the Disney classic animated one. But some changes were made that I don’t think benefited the story. Here, Prince Charming (“call me Kit!”) meets her before the ball at the palace, and during the ball gets some quality time with her before she has to flee at the stroke of midnight. This may be better in the real world, but of course there is nothing real about this fairy tale. I prefer the old version, as sent up by Sondheim in Into the Woods. There, the moment they are wed, he moves on to his next conquest, a sleeping maiden in the forest attended by seven little men. The way he puts it is “I was raised to be charming, not sincere.” I always predicted this wedding would not last! This version was directed by Kenneth Branagh, and was a monster international hit, but it didn’t do much for me.