Another Cinderella Movie? A Review of the 2021 Film

Kristen Smith, Reporter (She/Her)

Nearly 70 years after the release of the first Cinderella motion picture, we have another take on the tale, and the new film is on Amazon Prime.  

This new film has unique quirks, from its raw emotion and unique cast as viewers find Camila Cabello playing Cinderella, also known as “Ella,” whose dream is to design dresses. There are many musical scenes in the movie, but the film falls short of an enchanting “Happily Ever After” for some viewers.  

The classical fairytale has evolved since its 1950 film debut with countless actors and actresses taking on the many roles of the evil stepmother and stepsisters, Prince Charming and Cinderella herself. 

Disney movies have always been some of my favorite films to watch as a kid, and I still enjoy seeing the remakes and sequels producers come up with, but something about this two-hour movie full of music and dancing wasn’t intriguing to me. 

Throughout the film, the cast breaks out into song and dance, which is a bit confusing with many different styles of music. In fact, out of 16 songs featured in the movie, only three are original pieces made for the film. The rest included modern pop and classic rock songs which don’t quite fit the context of the scenes they were featured in. 

The film makes jabs at the individual characters, which is definitely amusing. This may be because Jay Kannon, who was the producer of the “Pitch Perfect” series, is also the producer of “Cinderella” (2021).

Despite what critics say, however, the film still gets views because of the factor of curiosity.

“The film itself really is a gem and I enjoyed watching it way too much,” Frank Robertson, a film and digital media instructor at South Dakota State University, said. Robertson added there were “genuinely laugh out loud moments” and that the movie itself had a twist on a classical fairytale.  

Viewers know the plot line from the original story and previous movies, but this movie doesn’t match the same story style, and the ending wasn’t what one would expect. Still, there can only be so many adaptations of the princess story before it loses the “wow” factor.  

People can find “Cinderella” (2021) on Amazon Prime, but the advertising aspect for this movie did the movie no justice. Robertson first found out about the movie release after receiving an Amazon package with purple Cinderella packaging. 

“The movie won’t ever be in theatres due to a smaller cast and budget,” Robertson added, as streaming platforms and budgets have changed the game for new movie releases over the years.  

Film releases also haven’t been the same since the pandemic, and going to a theatre to watch a newly released movie isn’t as common anymore. With streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime releasing new content every day, it’s sometimes hard to keep up.  

Virtual seats are more common now than a big screen and a bag of popcorn at a theatre, but in this case, it may be fine. People can only watch so many remakes of the same plotline without it getting old, and I’m afraid that the Cinderella’s story has been re-made one too many times.