Cinderella Blu-ray Review

By: Lynn Barker

In Cinderella, beautiful, well-off Ella goes from being the apple of her dad’s eye to a “Cinder” sleeping in front of a dying fire to keep warm. After her father’s death, she is turned into a house slave by her mean stepmother and two vain daughters. Can sad Ella ever have a happy life again and win her prince?

Cinderella (Lily James) says goodbye to her fatherCourtesy of Disney

Story Goes

Young Ella (Lily James) lives in a very posh home with a loving mom and dad.  When mom passes away, dad remarries and self-centered Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and her snobby daughters Anastasia (Holiday Grainger) and Drizella (“Downton Abbey’s” Sophie McShera) gradually push Ella out of her room after her dad’s death and she is relegated to the servant’s quarters.

Stepmom and stepsisters at the ballCourtesy of Disney

A handsome prince (Richard Madden), called “Kit” by his dad the king (Derek Jacoby), is struggling with his ailing dad’s command that he marry a princess soon in order to secure his small nation and prepare to take the throne. While out riding/hunting in the woods, he meets Cinderella who has ridden there to escape her horrible life. She insists he not kill a beautiful deer and wins his heart before riding away not having given him her name.

Prince Kit and his dadCourtesy of Disney

Hoping to find the girl in the woods again, Kit asks the king to invite all of the maidens in the land to a grand ball where Kit will choose his bride. Of course, Stepmom is overly confident that one of her daughters will score and Ella is told she can’t go. Ella’s sadness summons her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) and you know the rest; mice to horses, a pumpkin for a carriage, a duck for a driver and lizards as footmen. Oh, and glass slippers, an amazing, fluffy, sparkly blue ball gown and “Be home by the final stroke of midnight!”.

Fairy Godmother in her glittering gownCourtesy of Disney

Ella blows everyone away at the ball, especially the prince. The glass slipper gets left on the steps at midnight. The prince starts searching for the wearer of the shoe while stepmom plots with an evil Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgard) to make sure that no matter who the price marries, she and her girls will be well off and Ella will get nowhere near that slipper! Will fate bypass all the evil plotting and give Ella her prince? What do you think?

Cinderella makes a grand entranceCourtesy of Disney

Special Features

On this Blu-ray you get the fun short film Frozen Fever that was shown with Cinderella in theaters. Nice to have included.

• In A Fairy Tale Comes to Life, director Kenneth Branagh and his cast talk about the making of the live-action film. Kenneth says that everyone connects to the story, Cate Blanchett says it teaches that there is magic in kindness and Cindy herself Lily James loved all the animals she worked with. Helena Bonham Carter talks about her amazing fairy godmother dress which lit up with lights and the screenwriter tells us he wanted the prince to not only look good but have a good heart.  Overall, this is a nice “making of” featurette.
• The short extra Costume Test Run, is the video of each major actor first wearing his or her costume for the film. They dance around, look silly and mug for the camera. Short and cute.

Dancing and falling in loveCourtesy of Disney

• Staging the Ball is a wonderful extra about the creation of the ginormous ballroom set on the James Bond 007 stage at Pinewood Studios in England. We learn how the ballroom was decorated complete with real lit candles on the many chandeliers and how each extra was put in a magnificent costume with hair, make-up and amazing blingy jewelry included. Makes you wish you could have been one! Director Branagh says he wanted the scene to be grand and so that everyone would want to go to this ball.
• We hear from the costume designer and actors on their costumes. Lily talks about wearing the huge blue ball gown with all the sparkly crystals and admitted she could barely breathe in her corset. The music and dance choreography is shown. A very beautiful extra!

Cinderella and the prince meeting in the woodsCourtesy of Disney

• Alternate Opening just shows more of Ella’s childhood. There is more with Ella and her animal friends and happy parents. Sweet but not really needed for the story.
• Ella’s Furry Friends presents the animal trainer talking about getting so many different animals to work together. Director Branagh admits that sometimes they would leave a poopy “gift” in a scene requiring a re-shoot. Lily admits that she had never ridden a horse before but it looks like she’s a natural at it.  A fun and cuddly feature especially for us animal lovers.

Cinderella admires her gorgeous ball gownCourtesy of Disney

Wrapping Up

Although a gag or blooper reel of flubs and silly things while shooting would have been fun and an audio commentary by director Branagh on how he approached each scene would have been a good addition, this Blu-ray/DVD set looks and sounds wonderful and the extras provided are colorful and fun. Actors are great in their parts and the modern CGI used to morph the animals and pumpkin for Cinderella’s magical ride to the ball is perfect.  You should add this one to your collection. We go 4 stars.

Cinderella Blu-ray Rating:

Cinderella Blu-ray CoverCourtesy of Disney

Cinderella is now available on Blu-ray + DVD!