the new cinderella movie review

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A modern movie musical with a bold take on the classic fairy tale. Our ambitious heroine has big dreams and with the help of her fab Godmother, she perseveres to make them come true. A modern movie musical with a bold take on the classic fairy tale. Our ambitious heroine has big dreams and with the help of her fab Godmother, she perseveres to make them come true. A modern movie musical with a bold take on the classic fairy tale. Our ambitious heroine has big dreams and with the help of her fab Godmother, she perseveres to make them come true.

• Camila Cabello
• Billy Porter
• Nicholas Galitzine
• 2K User reviews
• 107 Critic reviews
• 41 Metascore
• 1 win & 6 nominations

Top cast 99+

• Fabulous Godmother

• Prince Robert

• Queen Beatrice

• Princess Gwen

• Thomas Cecil

• Count Wilbur
• Princess Laura
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick previously designed the costumes for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997) .
• Goofs While there are some aspects of the film that would fit into the 19th century, the show isn't set in a specific time frame. The costumes range from medieval styles through 17th, 18th, and even 1950s styles.

Queen Beatrice : [about King Rowan] Oh, no, he's going to sing.

• Crazy credits The Fabulous Godmother says one more thing after the end credits.
• Connections Featured in The Late Late Show with James Corden: Camila Cabello/Rufus Du Sol (2021)
• Soundtracks Rhythm Nation/You Gotta Be Written by Janet Jackson , Jimmy Jam (as James Harris III), Terry Lewis , Des'ree (as Des'ree Annette Weekes) and Ashley Ingram Performed by Camila Cabello , Idina Menzel , Charlotte Spencer and Maddie Baillio

User reviews 2K

• Sep 5, 2021
• How long is Cinderella? Powered by Alexa
• Will this version of Cinderella take place in current times?
• Didn't Disney already do a live-action remake just 5-6 years ago, or why is this coming so soon after that last one?
• Since this is categorised as a musical, is it using the same musical numbers as in Disney's animated 1950's version, or is there going to be new songs written specifically for this version?
• September 3, 2021 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Official site
• Lọ Lem Thời Đại
• Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (Palace Interior and exterior)
• Columbia Pictures
• DMG Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 52 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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Camila cabello and billy porter in amazon’s ‘cinderella’: film review.

In this take on the classic fairy tale, the princess doesn’t need a man.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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Cinderella suffers from a host of problems, but its real curse is terrible timing. If this most recent reboot, with its heavy-handed feminist messaging, had been released decades ago, it might have stood a chance at being subversive. But it’s 2021, and additions to the crowded and underwhelming field of #girlboss narratives require a bit more style and depth to keep even young audiences engaged.

Written and created by Kay Cannon ( Pitch Perfect ), this new but not so improved Cinderella recasts the heroine (played by Camila Cabello ) as a career-driven woman. In the rare moments when her exigent stepmother (Idina Menzel) and her barely wretched stepsisters (Maddie Baillio as Anastasia and Charlotte Spencer as Drisella) aren’t yelling for her, Cinderella hides away in her basement, sketching gowns. She wants to be a designer, and, by the looks of the pages strewn across her work desk and tacked to the walls of her sun-flooded basement room, she seems close to realizing that dream. This Cinderella, ambitious and quick-witted, has no time for a prince.

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Release Date: Friday, Sept. 3 Cast: Camila Cabello, Billy Porter, Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine Director-screenwriter: Kay Cannon

As promising as that premise sounds, Cinderella buckles under the weight of its intentions, and not even its formidable cast — Menzel, Billy Porter , Minnie Driver and Pierce Brosnan — can save it. It lacks magic and elegance, the magnetic qualities that made the 1997 Rodgers and Hammerstein reboot, for example, irresistible. In that version of the film, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston, a Black Cinderella marries a Filipino prince (Paolo Montalban). Her feminism isn’t reduced to a choice between a man and a career, and when asked by her royal soon-to-be husband how a girl should be treated, Cinderella, shy but assertive, says, “Like a person, with kindness and respect.” By comparison, with its ham-fisted script and uninspired production, the new Cinderella goes down like medicine.

The musical film opens with the townspeople singing Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” and Cinderella herself belting Des’ree’s classic “You Gotta Be.” The energetic medley — one of many throughout the film, all arranged by Keith Harrison — is a timely shortcut, nudging viewers in the right emotional direction. Here you should feel optimistic and inspired, there sad but hopeful. Despite the talented performances (I’m sure the soundtrack album will be a hit), the music does not help make sense of the rules governing this fictional universe.

In this world, where the cruelty of the stepmother and stepsisters is considerably softened, the script doubles as an extended motivational Instagram post. “I think you look so pretty, but honestly who cares what I think, who cares what anyone thinks,” Cinderella lovingly says to one stepsister as they stare at their reflections in the mirror. “What matters is how you feel when you look in the mirror.” When Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) and Cinderella meet for the first time in the town square, he, disguised as a commoner, asks her why women should be allowed to own businesses. An irritated Cinderella rolls her eyes before triumphantly exclaiming, “We women give birth, we run entire households. Surely we can run a business — it can’t be that hard!” Cinderella possesses enough self-awareness to clock its own ridiculousness, and statements like these are sprinkled throughout the movie with a wink and a smile. But without the foundation of a reliable narrative (after all, kids aren’t stupid), the jokes don’t land.

Where Cinderella could have made a splash but doesn’t is in its design elements. It’s hard to see the overall vision for the sets and costumes, which feel like they’ve been plucked at random and assembled with little thought as to how any of this would work within the story’s world. Nothing defies expectations, and everything looks cheaply made: The palace decor abuses the use of velvet and gold, and the royal family — with the exception of the Prince’s sister, Gwen (Tallulah Greive) — dons stiff garments that don’t tickle the imagination; the townspeople, for the most part, wear muted colors. There are hints of what could have been, however, as when Cinderella’s fairy godparent (played by Porter) rocks a structured diamond-studded orange piece that is matched only by the actor’s vibrant presence.

As a big-budget film with a star-studded cast, Cinderella meets the relatively low bar set by most contemporary reboots, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. The classic fairy tale and its straightforward but powerful lessons in self-confidence, perseverance and the power of imagination provide an alluring foundation for ambitious and visually stunning storytelling. It’s sad that, watching this version, you wouldn’t be able to tell.

Full credits

Distributor: Amazon Production company: Columbia Pictures Cast: Camila Cabello, Billy Porter, Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine Director: Kay Cannon Screenwriter: Kay Cannon Based on the story by Charles Perrault Producers: James Corden, Jonathan Kadin, Shannon McIntosh, Leo Pearlman Executive producers: Josephine Rose, Louise Rosner Director of photography: Henry Braham Production designer: Paul Kirby Costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick Editor: Stacey Schroeder Composer: Jessica Weiss Casting directors: Pat Goodwin, Reg Poerscout-Edgerton, Bernard Telsey

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‘Cinderella’ Review: Camila Cabello Rocks Out in Kay Cannon’s New Musical Reimagining

Kristen lopez.

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Easily one of the most adapted fairy tales, there aren’t too many new avenues to go down when telling Cinderella ‘s story. Name a “fresh” angle and there’s likely already a film or a television series that has adapted that same “clever” idea for its own use. Even the marketing and promotion for the newest version of “Cinderella,” which all lean heavily into the film as being a contemporary take on the classic story, has been done before, and recently: look no further than “Ever After” or “A Cinderella Story.” So with the deck quite literally stacked against the film, it’s remarkable just how effervescent and charming Kay Cannon ‘s “Cinderella” actually is.

The story follows our eponymous character, played by singer Camila Cabello in her cinematic debut, who dreams of rising out of her basement and becoming a dressmaker. The problem? Her tiny village is incredibly old-fashioned and doesn’t allow its womenfolk to be in business. As Ella chases her dreams, they put her in the path of Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine), who is similarly struggling with his own career problems (in his case, he doesn’t know whether he wants to be king, that old story).

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Cannon, who directed the raunchy teen comedy “Blockers” back in 2018, understands that there’s little that can actually be done to set the story apart from its predecessors, and thus decides to intensify the fun of it all. The addition of music is also nothing unique to Cinderella tales, especially for those who grew up with either of the three Rogers and Hammerstein versions, but the choice to turn this oft-portrayed fairy tale into a jukebox musical is the smartest element of “Cinderella.”

We meet Ella and the townsfolk during a mixed rendition of Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” and Des’ree’s “You Gotta Be.” Jessica Weiss and Mychael Danna’s musical compositions are fantastic, creating a weight and intensity to all the song-and-dance sequences, especially a mashup of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and Salt-N-Pepa’s “Whatta Man” that draws comparisons to the tango in “Moulin Rouge.” Ashley Wallen, who choreographed “The Greatest Showman,” another unexpected musical delight, brings a similar verve to her full-scale dance scenes, all of which are captured in full, sweeping crane shots by cinematographer Henry Braham for a touch of Old Hollywood musical panache.

With so many songs in the film, it’s odd that Cabello herself only gets one major solo, the infectious “Million to One.” It’s the film’s Oscar song, and boy, does the production want you to know that, having Cabello sing it three times in the film’s near-two-hour running time. To her credit, Cabello does well in her first feature film. Her Ella is spunky, with clearly believable aspirations, but the film never feels comfortable making her the star of it all, despite marketing trading on her name recognition. Long stretches of film go by without Cabello present, whether she’s running away to the marketplace while her stepmother (deliciously played by Idina Menzel) and stepsisters perform, or in favor of giving the prince more to do. It will be interesting to see what other acting gigs Cabello nabs next, if only so that we might finally get a chance to see her fully inhabit a role.

At times, it almost feels as if Prince Robert is the star of this “Cinderella,” with so much screen time devoted to his struggles against his stodgy father King Rowan (Pierce Brosnan), who so desperately wants to own a sea monster (just go with it), and his younger sister Gwen (Tallulah Grieve), a born ruler with the unfortunate impediment of being born a girl in a decidedly man’s world. The relationship between Robert and Ella, on the surface, feels like the film’s take on the Harry and Meghan story, which works for the most part, but Ella’s dream of dressmaking is often thrust into the backseat in the face of their blossoming romance.

Many of the moments involving the village’s anti-female tone are settled so quickly you’ll wonder why they weren’t solved years ago. There are glimmers of a darker examination of the ways women are cast aside for having ambitions, most notably in Menzel’s Vivian. The evil stepmother of the “Cinderella” tale has become notably less evil over numerous iterations; in this case, Menzel crafts a character who believes that her dreams for herself were the cause of losing out on love. Cabello and Menzel have a strong chemistry and it’s a shame they don’t share more scenes together.

This is probably because “Cinderella” has to accomplish so many things, from including musical moments to hitting all the necessary beats of its fairy tale story, in one single film. We see Ella designing out of her swank basement — Billy Porter’s fairy godfather character, Fab G, can call it dingy all he wants, but you know that it would go for a mint on Zillow — and is made fun of once or twice, but there aren’t stakes to her not accomplishing what she wants. Later, Ella’s trip to the ball is inspired by getting business connections, and it’s hard not see that her being a princess would make her dreams attainable. By the third act, the entire dressmaking conceit is all but a loosely stitched feather, blowing in the narrative wind.

Still, Cannon’s take on “Cinderella” looks to be this year’s “Greatest Showman,” where the flaws in the narrative are nothing in comparison to the vibrancy and energy on display with each and every musical number, worth dancing for, maybe even in a pair of glass slippers.

“Cinderella” will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, September 3.

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Camila Cabello’s Girlboss Cinderella Is Nothing to Sing About

Once upon a time, in the dark, algorithmic heart of Hollywood, James Corden had the idea to make another Cinderella movie. And then, years later, after a pandemic forced the movie onto Amazon Prime Video , his wish came true: Hark, fellow peasants, we now have a new Cinderella movie — only this time, she’s a girlboss, and also James Corden is in it as a mouse. Let us thank our overlords for this kind gift to the masses.

The overarching tone of this new version of Cinderella is self-congratulation. The movie, not to be confused with the recent live-action Disney Cinderella or the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical , takes it upon itself to reinvent the classic not-so-feminist tale of wish fulfillment for 2021 with grating results. As far as I can tell, the germ of the pitch really did come from Corden himself but was expanded into a screenplay by Kay Cannon, who also directs. She pulled off the pleasantly fun studio comedy Blockers (and, fittingly, wrote the Pitch Perfect s and tried to make Netflix’s Girlboss series work ), but here seems overwhelmed by a plot made up entirely of studio notes.

In this version, Camila Cabello’s Ella dreams of opening her own dress shop instead of just marrying a prince, while the prince is the one who wants love. Plus, he has an aggressively barretted sister who really should rule the kingdom. Plus, Billy Porter shows up as a gender-bent version of a fairy godmother referred to as “Fab G.” The results feel so schematically unobjectionable they’re lifeless. After transforming her into a ball gown, Fab G tells Ella, “Yass, future queen, yass,” in a clip that’s already been roundly mocked online . But what happens later is potentially worse: Once the mice are transformed, the movie tries some feeble lines about how Ella assumed they were women (because to her, mice are female and rats are men), and Fab G ends the scene with a “moving right along.” Not a joke so much as a vague gesture at humor, and about par for most of the other dialogue.

On top of all this, Cinderella is a musical, primarily a jukebox of the Moulin Rouge! variety, though the song choices are less than inspired. We start off with the villagers all singing “Rhythm Nation” to indicate, well, boring routines. Later, we hear the prince (an actor named Nicholas Galitzine, who I assumed was Shawn Mendes before questioning whether I ever really knew what Shawn Mendes looks like) sing “Somebody to Love” about his quest to … it pains me too much to complete that sentence. There are two new songs: one for Camila Cabello about the odds of her dream coming true being “Million to One,” and one for Idina Menzel’s wicked stepmother that serves to humanize her, because it’s about how it sucks to be a woman.

Menzel’s stepmother is as close as the movie gets to having a villain, though it attempts conflict with as much enthusiasm as it aims for jokes. She threatens to marry off Ella instead of letting her go to the ball, because she believes that women are only valuable as objects. She explains her perspective with a performance of “Material Girl” that’s obvious but at least fun in that it takes advantage of Menzel’s natural hauteur. The movie quickly forgives the stepmother, however, in the way it steamrolls over pretty much all the other character dynamics, including a brief hint of marital squabbles between the king (Pierce Brosnan, who looks unaware that this isn’t just another Mamma Mia! ) and queen (Minnie Driver, for whom one always wants better). In Cinderella , nobody is ever in the wrong, especially the women, because women are good and they are capable and they should be allowed to participate in capitalism too, darn it.

Cinderella arrives amid a glut of movie musicals that have clustered around the second half of 2021, seemingly all encouraging audiences to enjoy some spectacle as the pandemic drags ever onward. There was In the Heights , promising a summer of jubilation that didn’t really happen (and stumbling on its own promises of representation ), the surreal high-art anxiety of Annette , and now acid-sherbet-colored Cinderella , with other movies advancing toward us in a chorus line: Dear Evan Hansen , Everybody’s Talking About Jamie , Tick, Tick … Boom! , and finally, the much-delayed West Side Story . That collection encompasses a whole range of genres, and I’m happy to see so many variations in the form get made. But there’s something about their relentless advance that smooths them together. Why are all these people singing at us through the screen? Is it for a sense of community? For the spectacle? Simply a quirk of the pandemic colliding with the aftershocks of the success of Hamilton , Disney’s live-action remakes, and The Greatest Showman ?

Cinderella will not answer that question, but it provides a sort of anti-insight: that a musical will make no sense if there’s no reason for these characters to sing at all. The whole project is hermetically sealed, predictable from the moment Cabello tries to play Ella as Beauty and the Beast ’s Belle as if she is attempting a TikTok challenge. A musical, theoretically, could reveal something under the surface, whatever thoughts her character isn’t able to articulate in dialogue. But there’s nothing under the surface here, just a girl trying to sell you a dress.

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Cinderella Reviews

It’s a musical without good songs. It’s a comedy that isn’t funny. It’s a romance that lacks spark. The biggest casualty is Cabello who has some noticeable charm and even a little swagger.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 17, 2022

If the trailer and a mouse-costumed James Corden’s aggressive pelvic thrusting at Los Angeles drivers weren’t red flags, let’s assure you: Camila Cabello’s Cinderella is banana-ooh-na-nas.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 8, 2022

Is it bad? Absolutely. But it's also delirious camp. (There's also something very entertaining about how bad it is).

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 9, 2022

This new take on a classic tale is a worthy addition to the long list of Cinderella adaptations.

Full Review | Apr 5, 2022

Cabello acquits herself well in her first leading role, though Menzel almost steals the movie outright.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 13, 2022

Handsomely mounted and filled with energy, Cinderella is desperate to be a crowd-pleaser as it aspires to Frozen and Greatest Showman levels of theatrical drama. Unfortunately, it misses many notes,

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 3, 2022

If that viral video of James Corden humping on a guys car wasnt enough to scare you away from this movie, allow my words to confirm it: its really, really bad. Also, who decided to let Pierce Brosnan sing again? What did we do to deserve that?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | Feb 28, 2022

The new version of Cinderella doesn't take itself too seriously, so you probably shouldn't take it all that seriously either. Perhaps that's what elevates the movie from just your run-of-the-mill Disney adaptation.

Full Review | Feb 20, 2022

Cinderella looked terrible on paper and sadly is terrible in its execution not even being so bad it is fun.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Feb 12, 2022

Amazon Studios' Cinderella is far from boring. It is, in fact, endearingly stupid in a way that's very easy to nitpick and mock.

Full Review | Dec 27, 2021

The thing is, despite how utterly silly the entire enterprise was, I had a grand old time watching, because it just wasn't serious enough to merit any involved critique.

Full Review | Nov 6, 2021

Kay Cannon brings her ability to combine upbeat songs with female characters who are warm, flawed and inspiring to this new classic. I had a blast, even though Camila Cabello's acting couldn't match the depth of the rest of the cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 7 | Oct 30, 2021

Cinderella is not inspired by creativity but by the merely utilitarian with a leaden sense of narrative. Not much here is magical and very little sparks wonder.

Full Review | Oct 26, 2021

Cabello's performance is a delight and I enjoyed the incorporation of modern music. I enjoyed the feminist premise. My three daughters enjoyed it, the demographic this movie is aimed towards.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 9, 2021

An adaptation of Cinderella that seems to actively take issue with the source material. There's some cute moments here and there, but overal a misfire that underutilizes it's most talented cast members.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Sep 24, 2021

Instead, go to Disney+ and watch the live action Cinderella (amazing costumes), animated classic, or Ever After, which is the superior update.

Full Review | Sep 24, 2021

Cinderella offers a bland reimagining of a classic tale that spends more time pandering to than empowering its viewers.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 20, 2021

Throw in some dodgy editing choices, clunky dialogue, and wedged in songs that don't fit, and the whole thing falls flat.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 18, 2021

The nastiness of Cinderella's stepmom and stepsisters has been toned down. All three are more pouty than perilous. Thank goodness [Idina] Menzel has talent to spare and knows how to give banality a boost.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2021

A joyful, mostly enjoyable revision, although if you dislike "woke" entertainment, you're likely to hate it

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 17, 2021

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Cinderella (2021), common sense media reviewers.

Musical fairy tale about following dreams has risqué jokes.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Viewers will learn that fairy tales can be retold

Messages about staying true to yourself, not judgi

Ella is determined, disciplined, hardworking. The

Fabulous Godmother is played by Black LGBTQ+ actor

Stepmother is very cruel to Ella, speaking unkindl

Ella and prince dance, flirt, embrace, caress, eve

"Holy hell," "what fresh hell," "jerk," "disgustin

People drink and eat at a ball (it's unclear wheth

Parents need to know that Cinderella is a musical romcom retelling of the classic fairy tale, starring Camila Cabello as main character Ella. From writer-director Kay Cannon, this version has more of a girl empowerment spin than other takes on the story (it is decidedly not about a damsel in distress…

Educational Value

Viewers will learn that fairy tales can be retold with new, different elements and endings.

Positive Messages

Messages about staying true to yourself, not judging others based on social status or birthright, prioritizing mutual respect and encouragement in romantic relationships. Other themes include growing up, following your passion, taking chances, the importance of kindness, believing in your skills. Positive messages about women and girls, how they're capable of much more than finding a prince to rescue them. Characters demonstrate perseverance, empathy.

Positive Role Models

Ella is determined, disciplined, hardworking. The prince evolves and doesn't care about the social status of his potential beloved; he values her independence, confidence, talents, while also acknowledging what he wants from the future. Stepmother is vile to Ella but eventually exhibits some personal growth, apologizes for her cruelty. The queen is a loving mother who stands up to and challenges the king in public, making it known that she doesn't have to agree with everything he says. The king, like his son, exhibits personal growth. Princess Gwen is a progressive leader in waiting, full of plans to improve her kingdom.

Diverse Representations

Fabulous Godmother is played by Black LGBTQ+ actor Billy Porter. Actress Camila Cabello is Latina, but Ella is not. The rest of the main characters are White; supporting characters are more diverse. Strong, independent female protagonist refuses to be a damsel in distress. A negative representation: Thomas uses a cane not because he has a mobility disability but because "chicks dig it."

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Stepmother is very cruel to Ella, speaking unkindly, purposely ruining her dress, forcing her to accept a betrothal she doesn't want. A character jumps out of a moving carriage. Disagreements.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Ella and prince dance, flirt, embrace, caress, eventually kiss. A few suggestive jokes and comments, like "chicks dig it," "blossoming daughters," "that mental image will nourish me through the day." A woman declares that the prince doesn't have much to work with upstairs and likely other places as well. A potential wife tells the prince that they won't have to do much together except for the "disgusting practice of making a son."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Holy hell," "what fresh hell," "jerk," "disgusting," "idiot," "commoner," and "mama's boy" (said in derision).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

People drink and eat at a ball (it's unclear whether the drinks are alcoholic).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Cinderella is a musical romcom retelling of the classic fairy tale, starring Camila Cabello as main character Ella. From writer-director Kay Cannon , this version has more of a girl empowerment spin than other takes on the story (it is decidedly not about a damsel in distress), as well as themes of perseverance and empathy. The romance is limited to flirting, dancing, and a climactic kiss, but there are a few suggestive jokes that tweens are likely to pick up on, like when a woman says that the prince doesn't have a lot to work with upstairs and likely "anywhere else," or when a creepy neighbor thanks Ella's stepmother for the mental image that her "blossoming daughters" have given him for the day. While several unkind things are said (language includes "hell," "jerk," "idiot," and "mama's boy"), there's no violence. Supporting characters include people of all shapes, colors, and sizes, but the main cast isn't notably diverse, and there's one comment about a man who uses a cane not because he needs it but because "chicks dig it." The musical numbers are mostly pop covers, and the all-star cast includes Billy Porter (as the Fabulous Godmother), Pierce Brosnan , Idina Menzel , Minnie Driver , Nicholas Galitzine , Maddie Baillio , James Corden , and more. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (24)
• Kids say (29)

Based on 24 parent reviews

Wanted to love it, left feeling disappointed

Poor attempt, what's the story.

In this musical version of CINDERELLA, Camila Cabello plays the titular orphaned main character. Her widowed stepmother ( Idina Menzel ) is cruel, keeping Ella in the basement doing the family's chores and sewing with her three mice friends. But her two stepsisters, Anastasia ( Maddie Baillio ) and Drizella (Charlotte Spencer), are more clueless than mean. Meanwhile, Prince Robert ( Nicholas Galitzine ) turns down a profitable proposal to marry the princess of a nearby kingdom, upsetting his father, King Rowan ( Pierce Brosnan ), who demands that his son find a potential wife or forfeit his inheritance to his younger sister, Princess Gwen (Tallulah Greive). After spotting Ella at the announcement of the "find the prince a wife" ball, Robert decides to disguise himself and meet her as a commoner. He encourages Ella, who dreams of designing and selling her own gowns, to attend the ball as a way to showcase her creations. Eventually Ella is helped by her Fabulous Godmother ( Billy Porter ), who helps transform her to get to the ball, where she and Prince Robert share an unforgettable evening together -- until midnight, of course.

Is It Any Good?

There's a lot to enjoy about writer-director Kay Cannon 's musical adaptation of Cinderella , which is ultimately a lighthearted tribute to pop songs and love stories. It's Pitch Perfect mixed with Moulin Rouge , by way of a classic fairy tale. The song selection is particularly fun, including a mashup of Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" with Des'ree's "You Gotta Be"; the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and Salt-N-Pepa's "Whatta Man"; plus Madonna ("Material Girl"), Jennifer Lopez ("Let's Get Loud"), Queen ("Somebody to Love"), and a couple of original tracks sung by Cabello and Menzel. Cannon mixes large ensemble numbers (the mashups) with smaller, more intimate numbers. There's also a positive representation of Cinderella as a confident, independent, talented young woman who doesn't need Prince Robert to save her: She has big goals and the skills she needs to make her dreams a reality. This isn't a knight-in-shining-armor romance; in fact, at some point, viewers might wonder if the romance will actually end in romantic "happily ever after" at all.

If the musical numbers are the movie's strong point (although not all of the singers have Cabello/Menzel-level voices), the writing comes up short, including a few too many unnecessary risqué jokes and double entendres. While plenty of kid-aimed movies have jokes and comments aimed at older audiences, the ones here include a borderline predatory neighbor coming by to ogle Ella and her sisters and say things like he's happy to see the "blossoming young daughters" who've provided him "with a mental picture to nourish him throughout the day." Ew. Still, it's (mostly) forgivable, because there's enough humor (Brosnan and Driver are great as bickering royals) and positive messages to outweigh the missteps. Cabello holds her own as an actor, and her chemistry with Galitzine is sweet enough for the movie's target tween audience. And it's always a win to see scene-stealing Porter in a dazzling outfit (kudos to costume designer Ellen Mirojnick for the expressive gowns, especially Fab G.'s). While this Cinderella is unlikely to become the default version of the story, it's good enough to merit a family viewing.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the fact that many traditional fairy tales are criticized for having female characters who have to be rescued by a prince/man. How does this take on Cinderella change that expectation? Does it still "feel" like Cinderella despite the changes?

What does it mean to be a brave and kind person? How do the characters in the movie demonstrate empathy and perseverance ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Why do you think there are so many adaptations of Cinderella? Which ones are your favorite, and why? What do they have in common?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : June 21, 2022
• Cast : Camila Cabello , Billy Porter , Nicholas Galitzine , Idina Menzel , Minnie Driver , Pierce Brosnan
• Director : Kay Cannon
• Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors, Latino actors, Gay actors, Black actors
• Studio : Sony Pictures
• Genre : Musical
• Topics : Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More , Fairy Tales
• Character Strengths : Empathy , Perseverance
• Run time : 113 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : suggestive material and language
• Last updated : October 28, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Cinderella Reviews Are Live, Here's What Critics Are Saying About The Amazon Musical

A dream is a wish your heart makes, and if you were wishing for a new musical to obsess over, you’re in luck. We’re about to see a modern take on the traditional fairy tale Cinderella , and this upcoming film is appropriately titled Cinderella . The romantic musical comedy stars Camila Cabello in her acting debut as the titular princess, and also features Idina Menzel , Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine , Billy Porter, and Pierce Brosnan . This fairy tale marks the first live-action adaptation remake since Disney’s Cinderella in 2015.

In this fairy tale with a modern twist, we see a young Cinderella who lives with her abusive and overprotective stepmother and stepsisters after her father’s death. We’ll be able to see the musical soon, as Cinderella releases on Amazon Prime Video this Friday, September 3. Let’s check out what critics are saying.

We’ll start in-house, as usual. Our very own Sarah El-Mahmoud enjoyed the musical overall, rating it 3 out of 5 stars. She doesn’t necessarily consider this remake a total reinvention of the original story; it’s enjoyable enough, but there are too many Cinderella stories out there already. She also thought some of the movie’s attempts to add a modern-day twist were hit and miss, but overall she still enjoyed Cinderella , shouting out the dynamite cast (especially Cabello and Menzel). El-Mahmoud said:

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does have fun spinning it in its own way.

Courtney Howard from Variety also enjoyed Cinderella overall, but had some criticisms. While she praised director Kay Cannon’s inspired creative approach to make this musical into a fantasy unlike any before it, Howard thought the execution was flawed. She was frustrated with the movie’s inconsistent pacing and character development, which somehow was both underdeveloped and overstuffed at the same time. While she pointed out one musical number as “empowering,” she thought the rest of the set pieces were uninspiring and exhausting and hindered by the cinematography. But Howard did praise Cabello’s performance, as well as Porter’s, whom she thought absolutely stole the show. She said:

While it’s a noble effort from a capable director, this glass slipper proves frustratingly ill-fitting.

Leigh Monson from WhatToWatch also praised Billy Porter’s standout performance, as well as some fascinating subplots, but also had some criticisms. She was frustrated by the movie’s futile attempt to insert feminism into the classic story, as well as the desire for progression for the current age while retaining the whimsy of the fairy tale. Overall, Monson said:

There needs to be more to modernizing a classic than slapping a coat of corporate-approved girl power on top.

Lovia Gyarkye from The Hollywood Reporter was also pretty disappointed with Cinderella . She thought this “new but not so improved” story should have made more of an impact with its sets and costumes, especially considering that the titular Cinderella wants to be a fashion designer. She also thought the narrative was too thin and didn’t provide enough foundation for the limited amount of jokes to land. Gyarkye wrote:

Cinderella buckles under the weight of its intentions, and not even its formidable cast can save it.

Kristen Lopez from IndieWire had a more positive review of the musical comedy. She highly praised the musical numbers, giving recognition to the composer Jessica Weiss and the choreography from Ashley Wallen ( The Greatest Showman ). She also complemented Cabello’s performance, and said:

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Cannon’s take on Cinderella looks to be this year’s Greatest Showman, where the flaws in the narrative are nothing in comparison to the vibrancy and energy on display with each and every musical number, worth dancing for, maybe even in a pair of glass slippers.

Well, critics mainly seem to be relatively disappointed with Cinderella . But you can decide for yourself soon as the musical starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video this Friday, September 3.

In the meantime, if you're looking for some more love stories to watch this year, check out our release guide here.

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‘Cinderella’ Review: Camila Cabello Delivers An Absurdly Hilarious Fairy Tale

Where to stream:.

• Cinderella (2021)

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Cinderella' On Amazon Prime Video, A Fresh Take On The Classic Tale Starring Camila Cabello

'cinderella' cast guide: who stars alongside camila cabello in amazon prime's 2021 reboot, what time will ‘cinderella’ be on amazon how to watch the camila cabello movie, camila cabello's 'cinderella' trailer features a more business savvy fairy tale.

Like most film critics with a Twitter account, I went into the new Cinderella film—which will begin streaming free on Amazon Prime this Friday—with low expectations. The musical comedy has already been a dubbed tacky, off-base “girl boss” version of Cinderella , produced by the increasingly unpopular late-night host, James Corden . And yet, there’s just one problem with this cursory assessment that has most of the internet’s mind made up: This Cinderella is genuinely hilarious.

Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with writer/director Kay Cannon ‘s previous work, which includes Blockers , all three Pitch Perfect films, and New Girl . Cannon works her one-liner magic on Cinderella , and while this doesn’t quite justify the film’s existence, it does make it far more enjoyable than it has any right to be.

Pop star Camila Cabello is in the lead role, in a surprisingly charismatic feature film debut. It’s doubtful you need the plot of one of the oldest fairytales in the book summarized for you, though there are a few changes made in the name of feminism—namely, Cinderella is now an aspiring dress-maker who is more interested in becoming a fashion designer than the next queen of the land. That works out, because Prince Charming (Nicholas Galitzine), aka Prince Robert, isn’t actually that interested in becoming the next king. Unfortunately for him, his parents Queen Beatrice and King Rowan (played by the pitch-perfect Minnie Driver and Pierce Brosnan) expect him to find a wife and settle down into the role of royal ruler.

You know the next part—the prince hosts a royal ball, which Cinderella is forbidden from attending by her evil step-mother (played by Broadway legend Idina Menzel). Then Billy Porter shows up, looking fabulous as ever, as Cinderella’s fairy godmother—aka “Fab G”—gives her a dress, a carriage, and some footmen transformed from mice (James Acaster, James Corden, and Romesh Ranganathan). The rest is history.

I started chuckling when Cinderella’s step-sisters (Maddie Baillio and Charlotte Spencer) had a fourth-wall-breaking conversation behind their mother’s back. I was stifling full-blown laughter when Brosnan admitted to making his throne just a few centimeters taller than Driver’s, then again when Galitzine cried, “You can’t leave actors alone without attention! They’ll die!” By the time the royal chorus started singing “Bum bum bum” after Brosnan said something particularly dramatic, I was ready to admit to myself that I was having a great time.

This is not the condescending, self-righteous girl boss version of Cinderella that you think it is. OK, yes, there is a teensy bit of girl bossing—but this movie doesn’t take itself even a little bit seriously, and that’s how it should be. The vibe is reminiscent of the 1984 action comedy Top Secret!  Cannon’s take on the fairytale is absurd, over-the-top, self-referential, and at times, parody. The jokes—too many to count—are consistently laugh-out-loud funny. It couldn’t be clearer that this is a script penned by a comedy veteran, someone who has studied the craft. We even get some old-school, Chaplin-esque visual gags, like the Princess (Tallulah Greive) making her entrance via the cut-out eyes of a painting.

The downside is the production. This movie, with its overly bright lighting and bare-bones production design, looks more like a low-budget Disney Channel Original than a star-studded studio film. The music, too, is a tad disappointing. (Mostly covers, with a few originals thrown in.) That said, the presence of crowd-pleasing hits from rock bands like Queen and The White Stripes somewhat makes up for the basic arrangements and overuse of autotune. (Who in their right mind autotunes Idina Menzel!?)

But no one can say that performers don’t give it their all. Cabello proves she’s a capable comedic actor, particularly when she’s fibbing her way through high society, or stumbling over her words when a queen asks where she got her dress. (“Me did… it’s what I done!”) Galitzine is charmingly arrogant as a harmless bro, Brosnan is absolutely hysterical as the narcissistic king, and Porter was clearly born to play a fairy godmother. The entire cast gels with Cannon’s signature manic sense of humor, to maximum comic effect.

Look. Did we need another Cinderella ? Of course not. The original story is not nearly interesting enough to earn even half of the retellings it’s seen over the years. But while it wouldn’t have been my first (or second, or third) choice for Cannon’s next project, this is what the people with the money wanted. And what Cannon delivered is far better than what the internet has led you to assume. Don’t believe every tweet you read!

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‘Cinderella’ 2021 Review: This is an Amusing Retelling Full of Fun Musical Numbers

Camila Cabello stars in the latest adaptation of the classic fairy tale.

CINDERELLA  2021 REVIEW:

The new Cinderella is a jukebox musical, bringing something fresh to the hundreds of versions told before. It’s a mostly pleasant revision, although Cinderella is an imperfect and polarizing film sure to garner mixed reactions from the audience.

THE STORY OF  CINDERELLA  (2021)

Cinderella  – 2021 musical style – follows the story closely, showing influence from previous versions. She has the spunk and independence of Danielle in  Ever After , the determination of Ella in  Ella Enchanted , and there are even talking mice like the Disney cartoon.

Where this retelling diverges, however, is with the focus on female empowerment and career ambition. 

Cinderella (Camila Cabello) longs to be a fashion designer and business owner more than she wants to marry a prince and become queen. That is the more significant conflict of the movie than Cinderella trying to escape her stepmother.

RELATED: Ranking The 16 Best Adaptations Of The Beauty And The Beast Story

Here, she wants to have a career and reach for her dreams, putting a spin on the Cinderella/Prince relationship. Can they find a way to be together since he’s supposed to be king, but she doesn’t want to be queen?

So, with the help of her Fabulous Godmother, she fights to make her dreams come true – even if the handsome prince keeps getting in the way.

The new  Cinderella  movie is a unique twist on the story, fitting a modern audience looking for a fresh take on the familiar tale.

The movie starts strong with an entertaining remix of Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation,” where the town gets to sing and dance.

From there, many of the musical numbers were a whole lot of fun to watch – from the original song sung by Idina Menzel, “Dream Girl” to “Whatta Man” and even “Somebody to Love” – recalling  Ella Enchanted’s  own musical version of the same song.

RELATED: 7 of the Greatest Underrated Fairy Tales You Will Really Love

The story is light-hearted and empowering, with a couple of entertaining romances. The Prince and Cinderella have a sweet romance, plus the Queen and King come together as they work through their differences (due to his misogyny).

THE NOT SO GOOD

However, a few parts in the film designed to be inspirational felt a little too self-absorbed. The whole “I choose me” statement, if not executed well, can lean more toward narcissistic self-absorption than the more inspirational message of following your dreams while also aligning them to a purpose. The message fell a little in-between.

Still, the female empowerment in the movie worked – especially when Idina Menzel was singing about it.

Overall, some of the dialogue was cringy, some of the music mixing messy, and the editing was choppy. But it still had a catchy soundtrack with cheery dance numbers.

CINDERELLA  2021 CAST

The  Cinderella  2021 cast includes Camila Cabello as Cinderella ,  Nicholas Galitzine as the prince, Billy Porter as the Fabulous Godmother, Idina Menzel as Vivian – the wicked stepmother, Pierce Brosnan as King Rowan, Minnie Driver as Queen Beatrice, James Corden as a mouse, Romesh Ranganathan as the other mouse, Tallulah Greive as Princess Gwen,  Sanditon ’s  Charlotte Spencer as Narissa – one of the stepsisters, and Maddie Baillio as the other stepsister.

Camila Cabello wasn’t bad – her acting was decent, and her singing passable. But her musical style was not to my taste. Her words were often muffled, and I preferred a Broadway singing style like other cast members.

RELATED: Top 10 Fairies From Fairy Tales And Literature

But it’s sure to please Cabello’s fans. And it’s not like I can begrudge her the chance to act in a movie – Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears both did it before her to middling success. And as a fan of both, I was the first in line to see their films ( Burlesque  and  Crossroads ).

The standout in this adaptation was, no doubt, Idina Menzel. She played the wicked stepmother to perfection, belting out pop numbers like the Broadway star she is. Billy Porter was also excellent as the Fabulous Godmother in a campy way. At the same time, Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver enjoyed chewing the scenery.

Nicholas Galitzine showed promise as Prince Robert, playing the spoiled prince with romantic charm.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE NEW CINDERELLA MOVIE

Overall, while it doesn’t have the heart of  Ever After  or the comedic charm of  Ella Enchanted , it’s still a fun watch with good messages and a refreshingly diverse cast.

Some of the musical numbers worked better than others, but the mishmash of pop music felt a bit like  Moulin Rouge  for teens – which was enjoyable.

All in all, the new Cinderella was a pleasant diversion that may garner a cult following over time.

Content Note:  PG for mild innuendo. 

Where to Watch:  Amazon Prime Video

Have you watched the new  Cinderella  movie yet? What did you think of it? Did you love the film? Dislike it? Did you agree with our Cinderella review and were more in-between like us? Let us know in the comments below.

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Amber works as a writer and digital publisher full-time and fell in love with stories and imagination at an early age. She has a Humanities and Film Degree from BYU, co-created The Silver Petticoat Review, contributed as a writer to various magazines, and has an MS in Publishing from Pace University, where she received the Publishing Award of Excellence and wrote her thesis on transmedia, Jane Austen, and the romance genre. Her ultimate dreams are publishing books, writing and producing movies, traveling around the world, and forming a creative village of talented storytellers trying to change the world through art.

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A Fairy Tale That Hollywood Didn’t Need to Modernize

Perhaps a girlboss Cinderella was inevitable.

What would a modern Cinderella look like? The classic fairy tale has been told so many times on film, always following the same basic arc: A charming girl, who is forced into servitude by her mean stepmother and wishes to go to a ball, ultimately gets what she wants with the help of three mice and a magic fairy. Cinderella is the world’s most famous underdog, but she’s also more of a plot vehicle than a deep character. She embodies the moral principle that goodness—along with some fancy slippers and Prince Charming’s hand in marriage—is its own reward. Can she ever actually be three-dimensional?

Kay Cannon, the latest director to adapt Charles Perrault’s story, certainly seems to think so. Her entire project is apparently based on an idea from James Corden, who appears as one of Cinderella’s helpful mouse friends. It’s a loud, brassy update that mixes in pop songs, self-referential jokes, and a thuddingly obvious message of empowerment. The film, out on Amazon Prime Video this Friday, is a mess.

Despite the modern dialogue and contemporary soundtrack, Cinderella is set in some vaguely defined, medieval fantasy kingdom ruled by a surly king (played by Pierce Brosnan), his wise queen (Minnie Driver), and their ne’er-do-well son, Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine). The setting is little more than an opportunity for Cannon, who wrote the Pitch Perfect movies and directed the uproariously sweet Blockers , to dole out easy criticisms of feudalism in the name of female agency. Why is Robert in line to inherit the throne when his sister, Princess Gwen (Tallulah Greive), is the one pestering her dad about tax reform and public-works projects? Why should the grumpy king make all the decisions when his wife is far more levelheaded?

Read: Cinderella , and the virtues of being old-fashioned

And then there’s Cinderella herself (Camila Cabello). No longer a mere prisoner of her nasty stepmother (Idina Menzel) awaiting salvation at the hands of her beloved prince, this Cinderella is a strong, business-minded dressmaker who wants to work in high fashion. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with giving her greater aspirations than marrying into royalty, but the movie forgets to add anything beyond these career goals. The character may embody a new value system—one that refutes the stuffy traditionalism of past adaptations—but she’s as one-dimensional as ever. What should be a triumphant piece of storytelling renovation instead comes across as deeply cynical, given the character’s lack of depth.

This is not to say that any other character is more fully developed. In case any ensemble member’s motivations aren’t readily apparent, each gets a pop song that lays out exactly what they’re thinking. Prince Robert sings “Somebody to Love,” by Queen, because he’s looking for somebody to love. The wicked stepmother belts out “Material Girl,” by Madonna, because she’s a bit of a material girl (living, of course, in a material world). The hardworking townspeople perform Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” because, well, they work in rhythm, I suppose. Nothing thematically links any of the songs that were chosen to knit this film into a musical; an Ed Sheeran number co-exists on the soundtrack with an Earth, Wind & Fire anthem. They’re all just loosely appropriate for the moment at hand.

Read: The cowardice of Cruella

Like the worst modernizations, Cinderella feels like the result of out-of-touch executives trying to identify the hip new thing. A town crier raps the news with all the bravado but none of the skill of a Hamilton song. The Emmy and Tony winner Billy Porter zaps into frame as Cinderella’s fairy godparent, dubbed Fab G, giving Cinderella a fancy dress to wear and yelling “Yassss, future queen, yassss!” Because I watched the film at home (it was intended for an exclusively theatrical release until Sony sold it to Amazon Prime), these wink-to-the-audience moments played to stunned silence in my empty living room; maybe Cinderella would feel a little livelier with a crowd—but only a little.

The work seems to want to be a campy cult classic, the kind of movie you see at a theater that serves bottomless cocktails and encourages audiences to sing along and laugh. But this is far from the berserk artistry of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge , another jukebox musical that successfully reinvigorated an old tale. It’s not even as fun as Tom Hooper’s Cats , an objectively horrible—yet compellingly strange —film (also featuring James Corden as a talking animal). Everything in Cinderella , admirable as its message may be, is soulless—and that robs it of any joy.

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Camila Cabello's 'Cinderella' Finds Its Modern Form As A Musical Ode To Girlbosses

Linda Holmes

Nicholas Galitzine and Camila Cabello in Cinderella . Christopher Raphael/Amazon Studios hide caption

Nicholas Galitzine and Camila Cabello in Cinderella .

What happens when you throw a ton of great talent at a listless idea?

The new Cinderella that's out on Amazon this weekend is not a good idea. The concept apparently originated with James Corden , our sweatiest late-night host (comedically, not literally) and one of the stars of Cats , a movie that has done for hallucinogens what Oreos did for milk.

Loosely stated, the concept is that Cinderella is now what we might call a girlboss, played by pop diva Camila Cabello. She does have a stepmother, and she does have stepsisters, and she does live in the basement. But rather than being stuck doing menial chores, she just hangs out down there and designs dresses, which makes her life probably one that a lot of crafty young women would envy, except for the fact that she has mice for friends (they are voiced by Corden, Romesh Ranganathan, and James Acaster). She dreams of her own dressmaking empire, while singing and longing and so forth.

Her prince is named Robert (...sure) and is played by Nicholas Galitzine, who has chiseled cheekbones, an earring, and often a tiny upturned thumb of hair just above his forehead. Your brain will try to tell you he has probably been making Disney Channel musicals since he was 14, but it's lying to you. There's a good chance he's not familiar to you; he just seems like the weighted average of all the guys who could play a prep school villain on a procedural or the detective's son who turns out to be the real murderer in a prestige drama. Robert is an ambivalent prince whose sister Gwen (a woefully underdeveloped character given the weight the story tries to place on her) is better-qualified for leadership than he is, and while he is constantly pursued by veritable scads of women, he only has eyes for this young woman he saw in town.

With a song in your heart

There is also music. This is a musical Cinderella , but it is not the musical Cinderella you know either from the Disney cartoon or from the Rodgers & Hammerstein show in which both Julie Andrews and Brandy have starred. Instead, it's primarily a pop jukebox musical, using extant songs within scenes the same way you'd use original songs.

The jukebox musical — or the library musical, I suppose you could call it, since "jukebox musical" now seems mostly reserved for single-artist shows like Mamma Mia! -- is a long and honorable tradition. No less a standard than Singin' In The Rain used mostly existing songs from other musicals; the song "Singin' In The Rain" wasn't even written for it. So the fact that the songs here, while they include a couple of originals, are mostly things like "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree and the Jennifer Lopez hit "Let's Get Loud" isn't as weird as it might seem.

It is a little weird that the film opens with a montage of the townspeople, who look kind of generally old-timey as you might see in a fairy-tale kingdom, performing their daily tasks and singing "Rhythm Nation." (This also means that if you watch with the captions on, you will see that at one point, the mice are "squeaking 'Rhythm Nation.'") More than once, I found myself watching all this and thinking ... why does this exist? There are plenty of versions of Cinderella , and some have music. Why do we need one that starts with "Rhythm Nation"?

People who need people

Despite the fact that this movie doesn't make a very good case on a conceptual level for its existence, what it has in spades is talent. The director and writer is Kay Cannon, who also made Pitch Perfect . She's genuinely exactly the right person to head up this kind of effort, and her comedy skills shine in little moments like the choir that starts to chime in during an argument between Robert and his father, played by Pierce Brosnan. There are absolutely solid pieces of comedy business here, and the sillier they get, the better they work (she also wrote for 30 Rock ).

Camila Cabello and Billy Porter get sparkly in Cinderella . Kerry Brown/Amazon Studios hide caption

Camila Cabello and Billy Porter get sparkly in Cinderella .

They've also stacked the deck with people who are very beloved by fandoms of various sizes: Cabello, Billy Porter (playing the fabulous godparent or "Fab G"), Idina Menzel, Minnie Driver, and I suppose James Corden. I also watched with bated breath to see whether Pierce Brosnan would "sing" again as he did in Mamma Mia! , and suffice it to say Cannon's solution to this did not disappoint. Billy Porter does a few minutes of high-octane Billy Porter-ing, Idina Menzel hits some high notes, and Minnie Driver remains one of my absolute favorite comic actresses. They've put a lot of people to work here, and they all do just fine.

What does disappoint is the watery effort to make this story feel satisfyingly feminist. I wrote about Cinderella as an enduring idea back in 2015, and one of the few things that's consistent across the many retellings of it is that it's a story about status: a lower-status person has to persuade a higher-status person to literally recognize her as the person he loves when she is not in disguise as someone who shares his status. Here, there's an effort to modernize, which is always a potentially interesting way to approach a folk tale. But the way they go about it is a blunt shortcut, where instead of anyone on any side of the equation thinking that it matters that he's a prince and she's a commoner, the issue is that she doesn't want the constricting position of princess, because she wants to sell dresses.

In other words, the stakes are no longer really part of Cinderella folklore where the question is the viability of love across status divides; they are part of Hallmark-movie folklore where a woman wants to fall in love and also have a successful small business. That's not to say the updating has no charm: There are some nice grace notes — that, again, I credit to Cannon's comedy talent — in which trappings like carrying a woman in your arms are affectionately teased through a sort of feminist-ish lens. And Cabello does just fine, even if the character is sometimes sort of a YouTube makeup tutorial/daily affirmation in human form.

A Girl, A Shoe, A Prince: The Endlessly Evolving Cinderella

But it's crucial to note, any time you see something promoted as a thing you haven't seen anyone try before (Amazon presents this as a "bold new take"), that those claims are often exaggerated. In fact, Cinderella , like any folk tale, does nothing but adapt to its time; even the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical doesn't draw Cinderella as passively as some old versions do. And the 1998 movie Ever After , starring Drew Barrymore — which is my personal favorite film adaptation — tries to bend the notions of passivity and rescue that infect old tellings, without abandoning the central themes of status and acceptance. That film plays with the relationships with the stepmother and stepsisters in some of the same ways this one does, except without everyone singing, you know, "Rhythm Nation."

Cannon also wrote and directed Blockers , a film that's much more successful as a bending of a familiar story (there, the idea of teenagers trying to lose their virginity) in a way that really did seem feminist and fresh. As I noted in 2015, though, it's hard to write a Cinderella story at all if you don't build in the idea of a person who might reject someone they fall in love with based on status. Without that element, without that risk, it's perhaps got one less trap to fall into, but I'm not sure it's Cinderella . Because Cinderella isn't about mice or dances or fireplaces; it's about an elemental fear: This person would never love me if they knew who I was.

The problem with an adaptation that wanders this far afield is that it becomes difficult to gracefully incorporate basic elements that people expect to see. Why, for instance, does Cinderella need to run away from the ball at midnight? With the story done this way, where her identity is not ever really a secret to the prince, what is she doing? The answer seems to be that she runs from the ball because it's Cinderella , but even a movie where magic helps you walk in high heels needs more internal logic than that.

It's hard to describe something with this many nice touches as bad; it will make a nice weekend watch for a lot of people, I think. But it also feels uncomfortably algorithmic, an exercise that shows that if you don't start with much of a foundation, there's only so much fancy dress you can drape all over it.

‘Cinderella’ Review: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Fairy Tale Redux Opens at Last

By David Benedict

David Benedict

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Where do you go after you’ve seen “Wicked”? That worldwide smash has built a vast young audience hungry for stories propelled by power ballads of female empowerment, and it’s clearly that crowd that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s much-delayed new musical version of “ Cinderella ” is eager to please. With actor/singer and internet sensation Carrie Hope Fletcher wholly energizing the new-wine-in-old-bottles story of a self-assured heroine defiantly refusing to fit in with the fairytale world that despises her, he’s halfway there. But the ride he’s written for her with Oscar-winning screenwriter  Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) is seriously bumpy.

Our heroine, the black-lipsticked and goth-laced “Bad Cinderella” (as she’s called in the punchy, calling-card number that leads the overture and is reprised on umpteen occasions) lives in Belleville, which, according to lyricist David Zippel, is “a town so picturesque/ every other seems grotesque.” The rest of the population consists of under-dressed men who are buff and manly, and over-dressed women who are blonde and perfect. Not for nothing is the arch, opening scene-setter entitled “Buns’n’Roses.”

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But things swiftly go awry when it’s revealed that Cinderella has defaced the new statue, which causes Belleville to lose its crown as “Most Attractive Town.” The waspish Queen – played by Rebecca Trehearn, whose deliciously withering grandeur would give Marie Antoinette pause — is not, to put it mildly, pleased. In part, that’s because the statue is of her dead son Prince Charming. To fill the coffers, she whips up  a royal wedding complete with a ball, at which a wife will be chosen for her hapless and, in her eyes, hopeless second son, Prince Sebastian (young Ivano Turco in his West End debut.)

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Unhappy about this, Sebastian confides in his best friend — who is, natch, Cinderella. And for most of the otherwise predictable first act, everything sticks fairly closely to the standard one-girl-against-the-world plot, peppered by Fennell with faintly dated nods to what used to be called “girl power.” The difference is that Cinderella realizes that she’s is in love with Sebastian. She must get to the ball to marry him before anyone else can.

At which point, after a mix of everything from comic one-liner put-downs to adult-pleasing double-entendres, there’s one of the show’s many tonal lurches when Cinderella finds herself in a cross between a bridal shop and an icy operating theater, presided over by a stalking, Grace Jones-like Godmother (Gloria Onitri, in perilous heels and a voice of doom) who promises her perfect beauty via temporary plastic surgery. For reasons never properly explained, after inveighing against superficiality, Cinderella goes along with it.

Released from the standard fairy-tale plot, the more involving second act goes up a dramatic notch at the ball where Cinderella and Sebastian have a row, after which events take several turns for the unpredictable. But with a vital key character introduced very late, just at the point at which you wish the show and the score would let rip for its climax, several chunks of exposition appear with Fennell’s book bogged down in perilously drawn-out false endings and resolutions.

On the plus side, the show is often fun, with a welcome comic bounce almost entirely absent from Lloyd Webber’s work after “ Starlight Express ” in 1984 until “ School of Rock ” in 2015. Costume designer Gabriela Tylesova has a serious budget and an absolute field day with the sisters (sneering Georgina Castle and Laura Baldwin), and with the succession of ravishingly preposterous costumes and millinery for the stepmother. Detonating every second of her stage time, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, her body viciously, comically skewed, leaves standard Cruella de Vil antics standing. Instead she kills the audience with constantly surprising line-readings like Zsa-Zsa Gabor crossed with Alan Rickman via Sean Connery’s consonants. Her tart, French-style duet with Trehearn, like a wonderfully mean-spirited revamp of Lerner and Loewe’s “I Remember It Well” from “Gigi,” is the score’s comedy highlight.

With no-holds-barred, on-the-money vocals, Fletcher has the lion’s share of the best numbers. She’s alive to the teen-queen power of the Phil Spector, wall-of-sound-like “I Know I Have A Heart” (because you broke it) and touchingly sincere in beguilingly gentle ballad “Far Too Late.” But director Laurence Connor has not managed to curb Lloyd Webber’s earnestness. Was it really necessary that, at the point of her dreams collapsing, Cinderella should reprise not one, not two, but three of her big numbers in what amounts to a shameless lovestruck megamix?

Connor’s four-square staging is also not helped by choreography that almost always feels symmetrical. The numbers have plenty of well-executed moves but only express a single intention, never building in excitement.

From the book’s adult nods to its wannabe young girl’s guide to feminism, the show entertains moment by moment but rarely adds up. If, for example, Sebastian is supposed to be a non-starter physically, how come he is revealed to be the best dancer?

Its mixed messages are exemplified by Tylesova’s sets. Ignoring lyrics that talk of everyone living in “in Plexiglass houses,” she presents Belleville in folding fairytale cut-outs which, charming in themselves, look peculiar against a permanent, metallic-looking backdrop that gives off the aura of a contemporary sculpture screensaver.

As with all good versions of the story, Tylsevova creates a defining transformation. Unfortunately, it’s not Cinderella who is transformed, it’s the seating. As famously happened with the original incarnation of the composer’s “Cats” at this venue, at the start of the ball scene, the front seating block begins to move round, turning a proscenium-style theatre into an in-the-round space. The effect, aided by lighting designer Bruno Poet’s multiple star-effect lights, is dazzling. But when that’s close to the evening’s most dramatic effect, questions need to be asked. Chief among them: Since this show is so knowing, what is it that it actually knows?

Gillian Lynne Theatre, London; 1,297 seats. £135 ($185) top. Opened, reviewed Aug 18, 2021. Running time: 2 HOURS, 45 MIN.

• Production: A Really Useful Group, No Guarantees and Len Blavatnik presentation of a musical in two acts, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, book by Emerald Fennell and lyrics by David Zippel.
• Crew: Directed by Laurence Connor. Musical direction, Ben van Tienen; musical supervision, John Rigby and David Wilson; choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter. Sets and costumes, Gabriela Tylesova; lighting, Bruno Poet; sound, Gareth Owen; orchestrations, Andrew Lloyd Webber; production stage managers, George Cook and Jo Hinton.
• Cast: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Ivano Turco, Rebecca Trehearn, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Laura Baldwin, Georgina Castle, Gloria Onitiri, Caleb Roberts, Michael Afemaré, Michelle Bishop, Lauren Byrne, Sophie Camble, Tobias Charles, Vinny Coyle, Nicole Deon, Jonathan David Dudley, Michael Hamway, James Lee Harris, Kate Ivory Jordan, Jessica Kirton, Kelsie-Rae Marshall, Sam Robinson, Giovanni Spano, Georgia Tapp, Matthieu Vinetot, Rodney Vubya, Alexandra Waite-Roberts.
• Music By: Andrew Lloyd Webber (score) and David Zippel (lyrics).

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Scary or Not Scary? A Parent’s Review of Camila Cabello’s ‘Cinderella’

Best For Ages 8 To 14

*Warning: Minor spoilers ahead*

Are you the kind of parent who has qualms about your child’s penchant for princess dresses, feeling like it’s a vestige of an older cultural mindset that told girls they’d be lucky to be swept off their feet and marry a prince? Or do you and your 12-and-under kids live for dancing around the living room with a fun singalong sesh? If so, pull on a tulle party frock and settle in to watch Cinderella starring Camila Cabello on Amazon Prime. It’s a contemporary corrective to all the passive princesses you’ve ever rolled your eyes at, and a toe-tapping spectacle that’s ideal for family movie night to boot. Find out everything parents need to know about the buzzy reboot in our Cinderella review.

The 83 Best Family Movies of All Time

In this version, written and directed by Kay Cannon of Pitch Perfect fame, Cinderella is introduced as Ella who gets cinder smudges on her face while catering to her stepsisters (they’re funny) and stepmom (played by a stern Idina Menzel). Stepmom coaches the girls—primarily her bio daughters, and to a lesser extent Ella—to find rich husbands since, as she explains to Ella in a mean tirade and to her daughters by singing Madonna’s 1984 hit “Material Girl,” it’s the only way women can have security since they can’t work. But Ella’s unmoved, because as she’s belted out in a showstoppery number at the outset, she’s shooting to be a million-to-one success story as a fashion designer.

Meanwhile, at the castle, the handsome-but-unserious prince, played by dreamboat Nicholas Galzatine, is refusing to marry a titled princess from a nearby kingdom because he’s not in love with her. The king (Pierce Brosnan) suggests he find a suitable bride at the ball, the queen (Minnie Driver) agrees and our prince unenthusiastically goes along with the plan, expressed through his winning rendition of “Somebody to Love.” (Parents in the audience will enjoy the nostalgic warm feels recalling Freddie Mercury’s 1981 rendition with Queen). However, Prince Ne’er Do Well perks up when he spies a peasant girl—our heroine Ella, natch—in a crowd, sassing the king during a royal address. When the prince disguises as a commoner and chats Ella up in the town square, he’s ensorcelled by her plucky personality, creative ambition and candid assessment of how the townspeople regard him as a bozo. He suggests she come to the ball to meet wealthy patrons to buy her dresses, but doesn’t reveal his true identity.

Later, when Ella is dressed for the ball, her stepmother throws ink on her, ruining her dress. Poor Ella’s told to forget her silly fashion designing ideas and going to balls in general because she’s been promised as a bride to a local well-off but creepy suitor. By the time Ella’s Fairy Godmother shows up (played by the fabulous Billy Porter in a dress that looks like exactly what the Broadway and TV star usually rocks on red carpets), we’re ready for our girl to enjoy a little magical good luck. But how is she going to be swept off her feet by the prince, and also become a ball gown designer for the rich and famous? You’ll have to stream the flick to find out.

What Parents Need To Know

Cinderella clocks in at just under two hours, and while it does have a few CGI mice (including James Corden) who turn into footmen for the ball, there’s not a lot of movie magic (like animated characters) to keep very small kids entertained. But the hook-laden songs, fast-moving camera and quick edits, along with a couple of big production numbers, are sure to engage older elementary school age children. They’ll also enjoy the rags-to-royalty story (even though, at this rather lengthy run time, the action does sag a bit in the middle). There’s no swearing and no scary parts, except for a couple of dramatic moments when Stepmom gets all mean and judgy on Ella. And there’s only one happy-ending smooch between the Prince and Ella, even though they have a winning romantic chemistry. As for relationships, there’s a nice subplot in which the king and queen have a disagreement but eventually make up, which says something about trying hard in long-term relationships. (So there’s a bone thrown to you, parent viewers.)

For older kids, say musical theater lovers and Camila Cabello fans ages 12 and up, the movie affords an opportunity to talk about how the fairy tale the story is based on dates back to the 1600s, and how in those days the heroine had fewer choices in life, since in the original tale she wasn’t given a talent or any opportunity other than marrying a prince. And parents will appreciate how the prince’s proposal pans out and that Ella really does manage to “have it all” in career and life. And finally, parents can’t help but chuckle at the humor woven throughout. Writer-director Cannon wrote for uber-clever 30 Rock , a show’s whose offbeat sensibility shows up here in lines like “I’m the new town cryer, I took over from Gary. I know that you miss him, but he died of dysentery.”

Run time: 113 minutes

MPAA rating: PG

Purewow Rating: 4 Stars

A feminist retelling of the classic tale has humor and action for the littles, light romance and plot twists for the tweens and catchy tunes for the whole fam.

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The new 'Cinderella' movie starring Camila Cabello premieres today—here's how to watch

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The film that everyone’s been talking about is finally here. Camila Cabello, singer and former member of Fifth Harmony, stars in a new live-action  Cinderella remake with a modern twist. The film comes from the mind of Kay Cannon, who wrote 2015’s musical phenomenon Pitch Perfect, and stars Cabello alongside a fantastic cast that includes Billy Porter as the Fabulous Godmother. In the adaptation, Cinderella is a talented dressmaker who dreams of opening her own store and establishing financial independence from her wicked stepmother. 

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The film is already garnering some impassioned reviews, and audiences everywhere will be able to catch the musical on Amazon Prime Video on September 3, 2021.

How can you stream Cinderella?

You can watch Cinderella through your Amazon Prime Video subscription. Amazon Prime Video comes as a perk of a general Amazon Prime subscription, or can be signed up for independently as its own streaming subscription. Amazon Prime Video is available to Prime customers in over 200 countries and territories and can be accessed through web browsers with Internet connection. Prime Video is also available as a streaming app on many devices, including iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku devices, XBox, PlayStation, some smart TVs, and more.

You can watch the new Cinderella film as well as other Amazon Originals, popular films and series, and over 100 additional channels like Starz, HBO Max, Shudder, and more through your Prime Video subscription.

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What is cinderella about .

From writer and director Kay Cannon comes a modern retelling of Cinderella starring Camila Cabello as Cinderella herself. The movie musical also stars Billy Porter as Fabulous Godmother and Nicholas Galzitine as Prince Robert, as well as Idina Menzel as Vivian (the evil stepmother character in this iteration), Minnie Driver as Queen Beatrice, Pierce Brosnan as King Rowan, and James Corden as James. Cinderella will feature original, brand new songs like “Million to One,” and will also employ popular songs like “Somebody to Love” (coincidentally, this won’t be the first time the song has appeared in a Cinderella retelling, as it was the focus of one excellent scene in 2004’s Ella Enchanted) and “Seven Nation Army.” 

From the trailer, it seems as though Cabello’s Cinderella is committed to pursuing her dream of running a dressmaking shop, Dresses by Ella, and runs from the prince out of fear of a life lived without purpose. We also get a glimpse of Billy Porter’s dazzling turn as the fairy godmother, as well as a brief look at comedians Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster as mice turned into footmen alongside James Corden. 

You can watch Cinderella on Amazon Prime Video on September 3, 2021.

How can you sign up for Amazon Prime Video?

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Through Prime Video, subscribers can get access to Amazon Prime Originals, including series like The Boys , Good Omens , The Expanse , and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , films like The Big Sick , Love & Friendship , and more. Prime Video is also home to popular films and series Midsommar , The Americans , Knives Out , 30 Rock , Downton Abbey , Orphan Black , and more, with 100+ additional channels accessible through additional subscriptions.

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Why cinderella 2021's reviews are so negative.

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Despite a stellar cast and significant hype,  Cinderella's reviews have so far been predominantly negative. Although the new movie – which is available on Amazon Prime  – has really resonated with audiences, currently holding an 87% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, critics have not been so enamored. By contrast, the film holds an unenviable 39% rotten rating on the popular review aggregator site, suggesting that – despite occasional high notes – the movie as a whole ultimately falls flat.

The new Cinderella adaptation follows in the footsteps of numerous versions of the popular fairytale. Among the most celebrated is the classic animated Disney movie from 1950, as well as the more recent Kenneth Branagh-directed  Cinderella from 2015. In this version, the starring role of Cinderella is played by singer-songwriter Camilla Cabello, alongside a strong supporting cast including the likes of Idina Menzel, Billy Porter, Minni Driver, former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan , and James Corden. The entire project was actually spearheaded by Corden, who approached studio Fulwell 73 with the idea of an updated adaptation.

Related:  How Cinderella Broke A Common Disney Princess Trope

Although the movie boasts serious talent both in front of and behind the camera, the reception has been extremely lukewarm. Although the new songs and musical elements of the movie have generally been praised, many critics have taken issue with some heavy-handed dialogue and surprisingly mediocre acting. One particular criticism has been the over-reliance on archetypal, poorly realized characters. As the most successful cinematic musicals invariably prove, it takes more than good songs to make a great movie. Here's what some of the critics have been saying about  Cinderella :

Chicago Tribune : 

"Tropes and archetypes are the engine of this film, thinly sketched characters whose development seems to have been jettisoned for endless belting"

The AU Review:

"Likely to be more warmly received by the family markets, especially those with young girls, Cinderella is an innocuous diversion that feels like it should be so much more."

"The movie mostly feels like Disney Channel fare with a pinch of Moulin Rouge, a colorful distraction lacking enough magic to fulfill dreams or wishes."

Screen Rant:  

"Cinderella’s music is enjoyable, but it's hollow, the performances flat, and the dialogue often cringe-worthy."

However, while most critics agree that the writing and characterization are two major flaws with the movie, many recognize that the musical elements often more than live up to their billing. In fact, almost across the board, the one area of strength in the end result is the songs, both original and recycled. In addition, some critics have highlighted the film's positive, albeit maladroit feminist message. Here are a few of the more enthusiastic responses:

Globe and Mail:

"It's just too bad there's a pandemic going on, because this latest reboot of a beloved fairy tale is perfect for a sing-along."

Film Festival Today:

"[T]he message of female empowerment, even when it feels like it was designed by committee, transforms what could have been just froth into something a little more solid."

It's clear from the overall reception that the new  Cinderella movie has some major flaws. However, despite the general negativity around the release, the film does have some redeeming qualities that make it work watching. If nothing else, its impressive audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes highlights its plus points. It might not be a critics' favorite, but that doesn't make it irredeemable.

More:  Why Reminiscence's Reviews Are So Negative

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Running time: 113 minutes. Rated PG (suggestive material and language.) On Amazon Prime.

Writer-director Kay Cannon has shattered Cinderella’s glass slipper. And we, the audience, are forced to walk across the shards barefoot.

Yes, the new “Cinderella” movie — out Friday on Amazon Prime — is that excruciating.

The rotten revamp is pseudo-feminist claptrap that begs us to feel empowered when Ella’s (Camila Cabello) evil stepmother, now named Vivian (Idina Menzel), confides to her stepdaughter that she is a classically trained pianist who never got to play professionally. So, she’s a cruel parent because she didn’t become Liberace? Brave!

The Queen (Minnie Driver), meanwhile, keeps complaining that her “voice has been completely silenced” by her husband, the King (Pierce Brosnan) . How is this serious marital issue resolved? During the grand finale, the Queen yells, “You’re wrong!” at his majesty and gets applauded by her subjects. Groundbreaking!

When Cinderella marries Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) — I’m sorry I’ve just spoiled this centuries-old fairy tale — she refuses to be called a princess.

Pandering nonsense.

“Cinderella” is a musical, which makes sense for Cannon, who wrote the far better “ Pitch Perfect ” series. However, unlike Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway show that had an original score, this is mostly a jukebox affair cluttered with disparate pop and R&B songs.

The Prince croons Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” and Vivian (Menzel has been costumed to look like Imelda Marcos) belts Madonna’s “Material Girl.” The townsfolk sing Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” at the start. All of the performances are ho-hum, and Cannon doesn’t shoot them with any flair.

One of the few original tunes is called “Million to One” and is sung by Cabello , whose Cinderella is oatmeal-bland. Of the few lyrics I understood through the singer’s garbled, nasal, corporate pop sound, I caught these blazingly original lines: “You’re gonna know my name” and “If it’s a million to one, I’m gonna be that one.” This drivel is reprised twice more.

Cannon is occasionally a very fine writer. The aforementioned “Pitch Perfect” films are funny, catchy and smart. This “Cinderella” script, meanwhile, misses the mark in every conceivable way. The dialogue — which clumsily blends classical speech and modernisms like “she cray!” — is on par with Netflix’s “A Christmas Prince.” As one of Cinderella’s helpful mice, James Corden gets the line “Holy fudge!”

Billy Porter is all right as the fairy godmother, now called Fab G, but it’s a relatively small part.

Let me end with a fairy tale: Once upon a time, a movie that was supposed to have a theatrical release was instead picked up by a streaming service and debuted at the end of summer when very few people watch movies. You know the rest. It’s a classic.

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June Squibb Is Endlessly Fascinating in ‘Thelma’

June squibb makes every scene and every line so natural that when you laugh, you’re reacting to genuine humor, not calculatedly constructed punch lines..

June Squibb , the larky senior citizen who walked away with Nebraska, has deservedly landed her first starring role in the giddy action thriller Thelma. Although she’s 94 years young, it’s an event that’s been worth waiting for. This is a feel-good comedy bordering on farce, but she makes every scene and every line so natural that when you laugh, you’re reacting to genuine humor, not calculatedly constructed punch lines. When she saws away at her needlepoint, you fear she will puncture something besides her canvas. Every sag in her neck indicates she’s lived a real life, each line in her face suggests an actual life experience, and she is endlessly fascinating. 

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The film that earns this much praise is not unimpeachably perfect. It’s slow, clumsily written, and sometimes awkwardly directed—both by writer-director Josh Margolin , who based it on actual events in the life of his own grandmother, who is still going strong at 104 and makes a sweet cameo appearance at the end. The “movie Thelma” is a 93-year-old Los Angeles widow who has resisted every attempt by her clueless daughter and son-in-law ( Parker Posey and Clark Gregg ) to send her to a senior living facility, staying up to date learning computer skills from her 24-year-old grandson Danny (well-played by Fred Hechinger ), and developing a keen passion for Tom Cruise and sushi.  

One night, someone claiming to be her grandson calls and informs her he’s in jail and desperately needs $10,000 to get out. Happens all the time these days in prevalent telephone crimes aimed at milking vulnerable, elderly victims of their life savings. Thelma falls for it and mails the money to a post office box in Van Nuys, but when the real Danny clues her into what she’s done, the old bird goes into revenge mode and embarks on a plan to find the crook who robbed her and get her money back. Embarrassed but undeterred, Thelma sets out on her own, traveling across L.A. in a stolen mobility scooter with the help of her best friend Ben, played, in his last film appearance, by the late Richard Roundtree , better known as Shaft. Thelma even “borrows” a gun for her adventure, utilizing elements of the plot in Mission: Impossible .  “Do you even know how to use it?” asks Ben. Her response: “How hard can it be? Idiots use them all the time.”

It all leads up to a patently ridiculous resolution, with a guest appearance by Malcolm McDowall as the villainous scammer who adds some wry humor of his own. The result is a mixed bag, ranging from clever to predictable. But the film makes interesting contrasts between the elderly and the carelessly deviant society they live in, and there’s something to applaud about a character more in charge of her casualties than her peers, most of whom are dead or flirting with senility. There’s no old-age funk about June Squibb or the spirited way she jazzes up Thelma.

• SEE ALSO : Will Keen On Playing Vladimir Putin On Broadway in ‘Patriots’

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7 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about.

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By The New York Times

Critic’s Pick

Male posturing never looked so good.

‘The Bikeriders’

This crime drama follows the rise and fall of a fictional motorcycle club in the 1960s.

From our review:

The first essential thing to know about “The Bikeriders” is that the writer-director Jeff Nichols has, improbably, based the movie on a totemic photography book of the same title by the great American photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon . The second thing is that the movie stars Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy, a troika of charisma bombs who just have to show up for me to do the same. Nicely supported by a sprawling cast of other good lookers and hard workers, these three are among the draws in a movie that understands the seductions of beauty, the sensuous lines of a human body, the curves of a chassis.

In theaters. Read the full review .

Yorgos Lanthimos gets weird (again).

‘kinds of kindness’.

The latest from Yorgos Lanthimos is made up of three stories about dominating and being dominated, and features performances from Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Willem Dafoe, who play different characters in each segment.

“Kinds of Kindness” is a return to a certain form of form, if you will, for the director Yorgos Lanthimos, fresh off his warmer, cuddlier films “The Favourite” and “Poor Things.” His earlier movies, “Dogtooth,” “Alps,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “The Lobster” — all four written with Efthimis Filippou, who was his collaborator on “Kinds” — are less accessible, more deranged, less logical, more disturbing. Which is of course why they’re so polarizing. And so beloved. I expect “Kinds of Kindness” to take its place among that latter group, with its vibrantly, defiantly off-putting stance and sidesplittingly sick sense of humor.

Mother and daughter, both coming of age.

‘janet planet’.

Playwright Annie Baker makes her first foray into film with this charming drama about a transformative summer for misfit tween Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) and her mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson).

“Janet Planet” is a tiny masterpiece, and it’s so carefully constructed, so loaded with details and emotions and gentle comedy, that it’s impossible to shake once it gets under your skin. … The graceful observations of “Janet Planet” render the two characters’ development almost imperceptible, hidden behind silences and what goes unsaid. You’ve got to lean in to catch some details: the moments framed from Lacy’s perspective, the look behind her eyes, the smile on Janet’s face. Movies are often built on moments of revelation, but in “Janet Planet” they’re more of a slow roll, a lot more like life.

When your fake exorcist needs a real exorcism.

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Netflix’s Trigger Warning, The Beast, and every movie new to streaming this week

Jessica Alba stars in a brutal new action thriller

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Share All sharing options for: Netflix’s Trigger Warning, The Beast, and every movie new to streaming this week

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

This week, Trigger Warning , the new action thriller starring Jessica Alba as a hardened Special Forces commando, premieres on Netflix. That’s not all, as plenty of other exciting new releases make their streaming debuts this week, including a documentary on tennis legend Roger Federer on Prime Video, Kung Fu Panda 4 on Peacock, Sometimes I Think About Dying on MUBI, and more. There’s also several highly anticipated releases on VOD this week, including animated sci-fi noir mystery Mars Express and dystopian sci-fi romance The Beast starring Léa Seydoux.

Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!

New on Netflix

Trigger warning.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Genre: Action thriller Run time: 1h 46m Director: Mouly Surya Cast: Jessica Alba, Anthony Michael Hall, Mark Webber

The Alba-naissance is here. Five years after her last film role (crime thriller Killers Anonymous ), the onetime Sue Storm is teaming up with Indonesian director Mouly Surya in an action-packed movie inspired by the John Wick franchise (and produced by John Wick producer Basil Iwanyk). Trigger Warning is Surya’s English-language debut and was filmed three years ago, but is finally dropping on Netflix this week.

Black Barbie

Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 40m Director: Lagueria Davis

This doc from Shondaland digs into the first Black Barbie and three Black women at Mattel who made it happen: Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins, and Stacey McBride-Irby.

New on Prime Video

Federer: twelve final days.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video

Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 40m Directors: Asif Kapadia, Joe Sabia Cast: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic

Arguably the greatest men’s tennis player to ever live, Roger Federer finally hung up his racket for good in 2022. This documentary, co-directed by Senna and Amy director Asif Kapadia, focuses on the final 12 days of the Swiss legend’s illustrious career.

New on Peacock

Kung fu panda 4.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

Genre: Martial arts comedy Run time: 1h 34m Director: Mike Mitchell Cast: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Bryan Cranston

The fourth entry in the Kung Fu Panda saga sees Po taking on a new apprentice to succeed him as the Dragon Warrior. When a mysterious sorceress plots to resurrect Po’s past adversaries, he’ll need to call upon all his strength and allies to save the day.

From our review :

While the individual scenes and moments in Kung Fu Panda 4 are entertaining (and sometimes even great), it never quite gels as an enjoyable movie on its own. The message of change tying it together is flimsy, and the plot feels strung along, trying to get the characters in the right place to launch a few seconds of cool action. After four movies, it isn’t really a surprise that the Kung Fu Panda machine is running out of steam — thankfully, though, it has just enough power left to churn out some genuine laughs at the end.

New on MUBI

Sometimes i think about dying.

Where to watch: Available to stream on MUBI

Genre: Romantic drama Run time: 1h 34m Director: Rachel Lambert Cast: Daisy Ridley, Dave Merheje, Parvesh Cheena

Star Wars icon Daisy Ridley takes a dramatic turn in this new existential drama, playing the role of a socially awkward office worker who tentatively attempts to come out of her shell. It’s dark, funny, awkward, and achingly human.

Not much happens in Sometimes I Think About Dying , but that’s the point of the movie. Even the smallest thing, like Fran mustering up the courage to say goodbye to someone after work, is given huge weight. The movie lingers on the mundane, using it to paint a thorough portrait of who she is, without having her say or act much. The steps she takes to help overcome her social anxiety might seem small, but they’re all hurdles to her. It’s a movie made up of quiet moments: pauses in conversation, lingering glances, and outstretched hands. Lambert emphasizes the importance of these small interactions, and the ways they build up to connections. It’s a quiet story that aches in the best sort of way.

New on Metrograph at Home

Last night i saw you smiling.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Metrograph at Home

Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 18m Director: Kavich Neang

In the final days of a condemned, iconic building, director Kavich Neang follows three families who live there (including his own). This is the streaming premiere of the movie, which first came out in 2019 and won awards on the international festival circuit, and is a part of Metrograph’s “Davy Chou Selects” series.

New to rent

Handling the undead.

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon , Apple , and Vudu

Genre: Horror drama Run time: 1h 37m Director: Thea Hvistendahl Cast: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bahar Pars

There’s tons of horror movies about the dead coming back to life. None of them are quite like Handling the Undead , though. Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2005 novel, the film follows the story of three families living in Oslo whose loved ones all mysteriously rise from the dead as semi-sentient corpses. How will they handle this new phenomenon, and is it a second chance to say goodbye... or a curse?

I Used to Be Funny

Genre: Comedy drama Run time: 1h 45m Director: Ally Pankiw Cast: Rachel Sennott, Olga Petsa, Jason Jones

Rachel Sennott ( Bodies Bodies Bodies ) stars as Sam, a stand-up comedian living in Toronto who takes on a nannying job in order to earn some cash. After the young girl she was caring for goes missing, Sam is stricken with PTSD and no longer performs comedy, haunted by the loss of her charge and her own helplessness.

Genre: Fantasy comedy Run time: 1h 44m Director: John Krasinski Cast: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski

Remember Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends ? Well, imagine that, but set in New York and starring Ryan Reynolds and not so imaginative. IF follows Bea (Cailey Fleming), a young girl who works alongside her neighbor to help imaginary friends whose real-life friends have grown up. It’s ostensibly a kids’ movie, but with a message that’s slightly... off .

Mars Express

Genre: Sci-fi action Run time: 1h 25m Director: Jérémie Périn Cast: Léa Drucker, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Njo Lobé

This sci-fi noir thriller follows a private detective and her android partner who are hired by a wealthy businessman to track down an elusive hacker. Their investigation dovetails into a search for a missing woman before inadvertently spiralling into a vast conspiracy that threatens to unravel the fabric of human civilization.

Mars Express is the rare example of an animated feature that warrants an almost immediate rewatch upon completion, if only to appreciate the craftsmanship of its presentation. It’s a densely layered sci-fi story that’s light on proper nouns, but heavy on subtext. It’s set in a world that doesn’t tell so much as it shows the depth of its narrative and worldbuilding, by trusting its audience to pay close attention and connect the dots alongside the film’s characters. In short, it’s a rare example of “adult” animation that treats its audience like adults, and its execution elevates its premise until it stands confidently as one of the year’s best animated features.

Genre: Sci-fi romance Run time: 2h 26m Director: Bertrand Bonello Cast: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda

Imagine Cloud Atlas meets The Age of Innocence meets Mulholland Drive . That’s about the simplest way of describing The Beast , Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi romance drama. Léa Seydoux ( Spectre ) stars as Gabrielle, a woman living in the near-future who undergoes a process to “purify” her DNA of strong emotions by reliving her past lives. Her procedure becomes more complicated after crossing paths with Louis (George MacKay), a man whom — in a past life — she may or may not have loved.

The Beast ’s three timelines play with seemingly unmixable genres: a classic period romance, a gripping horror-thriller, and dystopian sci-fi. That places them at a logistical disconnect, but Bonello binds them aesthetically and emotionally. Through his lengthy, thought-provoking close-ups of Gabrielle and Louis in each section, he creates a sense of longing and isolation across time, binding together human experiences of the past, present, and future, and putting them into sharp and chilling context.

We Grown Now

Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 33m Director: Minhal Baig Cast: Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson

Set in Chicago in the early ’90s, We Grown Now centers on the story of Malik and Eric, two young boys growing up in a housing complex who survive the mundanity of school life and the perils of their environment through the strength of their friendship. When a sudden tragedy threatens to strain their bond, Malik and Eric will have to grow up fast and make a choice between what to hold on to and what to let go of.

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House of the Dragon finally gives a tour of Harrenhal, Westeros’ most haunted castle

Demon Slayer’s final arc will arrive as a trilogy of movies — and here’s the first look

Furiosa, Netflix’s A Family Affair, The Boy and the Heron, and every movie new to streaming this week

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'Five Nights at Freddy's' Review: A Horrifyingly Robotic Video Game Adaptation

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The Big Picture

• Five Nights at Freddy's fails to offer any scares and instead focuses too much on explaining the lore of its world, resulting in a dull and uninteresting experience.
• The movie's reliance on flashbacks and excessive exposition feels exhausting and demonstrates a lack of trust in its audience.
• The film fails to capture the terror and simplicity that made the game successful, resulting in a forgettable and banal horror flick.

Of all the elements that a video game adaptation like Five Nights at Freddy’s would decide to focus on, it is baffling why it insists so much on hammering home the lore of this world. While there is a vast timeline spanning both the games and novels to draw from, this is only worth exploring if the central conceit of the story being told is actually scary enough to get invested in. Yet over the course of its nearly two hours, there is next to nothing that manages to execute on this. Not only does this misfire of a film lack any sense of earned dread, it is comprehensively dull with only brief bursts of silliness. Everything just feels like a hollow skeleton that is as creaky as the ones that hold up its murderous animatronic mascots. Even when there are hints that it might be starting to get somewhere, it falls back into so incessantly explaining itself and its backstory that it feels more like homework than horror.

Five Nights at Freddy's

Can you survive five nights? The terrifying horror game phenomenon becomes a blood-chilling cinematic event, as Blumhouse — the producer of M3GAN , The Black Phone , and The Invisible Man — brings Five Nights at Freddy’s to the big screen. The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.

What Is 'Five Nights at Freddy’s' About?

This all begins with an intro of a security guard working at the abandoned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Something is after him and it culminates in a scene that feels like it could initially be taking a page out of the recent Saw X only to kneecap its own impact in what feels like one of many PG-13 concessions . We then get to know the down-on-his-luck Mike Schmidt ( Josh Hutcherson ) who is looking for a job after he got fired from his last gig working security at the mall for beating up a man he mistakenly thought was kidnapping a child. Limited on options, he seeks the help of the career counselor Steve Raglan ( Matthew Lillard ) who informs him of this night shift working at the aforementioned Chuck E. Cheese-esque establishment. Though Mike initially turns it down, he eventually takes it so that he can keep custody of his sister Abby ( Piper Rubio ) and keep her away from her Aunt Jane ( Mary Stuart Masterson ) who wants her for self-serving reasons. Of course, once he starts working, something strange begins to happen each night that could prove dangerous to all who enter.

For those unfamiliar, the hook of the whole thing is that the animatronic mascots come to life and can tear apart any who they catch in their grasp. Why is this happening? Oh boy does the film really want to make sure to lay this all out for you. In repeated and tiresome flashbacks to a trauma from Mike’s past, we get all of the details spoonfed to us. Rather than feeling like it is illuminating something about his character or creating some more emotional depth, each of these moments just comes across as empty. Even if you weren’t familiar with the source material, it is obvious almost immediately what it is that the film is getting at with this.

We can easily piece together how this past is connected to the present, but the story also introduces the character of Vanessa ( Elizabeth Lail ) to come into the picture to explain it even more. It is all oddly exhausting as it seems like the film lacks any sort of trust in its audience to get invested if it doesn’t bludgeon us over the head with all of this lore. Each and every time the experience grinds to a halt to do so, there is a sense that the film is going nowhere fast.

Who Is 'Five Nights at Freddy’s' Even For?

For those who may say that this is all in service of speaking to the gamers in the audience who want to see the familiar elements recreated on screen, it certainly doesn’t do a good job of it. Where the game found terror from the simplicity of being trapped in a single room and having to monitor cameras, the film never seems confident enough to even attempt to pull this off. It may be a tall order to replicate the visual language of a video game without coming across as hokey, but then you’ll have to find some way of crafting some fear of your own.

Director Emma Tammi has shown she can more than do this with her last feature The Wind , but this film does her no favors. The majority of this comes back to the way that it uses the original story by Scott Cawthon , who has a co-writing credit here, as a closed loop rather than a launching-off point. It all just feels like it is more invested in references to the game rather than standing on its own. For a good chunk of the film, multiple nights pass without much of anything happening. It doesn’t do so to be a slow burn as much as it halfheartedly flickers.

There are moments where it feels like it could have become a more gleefully mean-spirited horror ride by really sinking its teeth into the story and actually biting down, but it remains hamstrung by the rating as well as a lack of creativity. Though the finale provides what should have been an electrifying shock to its system, it is all both too little and too late. Even as there have been rather soulless horror films lacking in scares this month, Five Nights at Freddy’s takes the cake for being the most forgettable. The most lasting scene to be taken from the whole thing is a positively cringeworthy cameo that, just like Mike desperately hopes he'll be able to forget his past, is one you’ll wish you too could wipe from your memory.

Five Nights at Freddy's is in theaters and available to stream on Peacock in the U.S. starting October 26. Click here for showtimes near you.

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