Amid all the horror and noir we focus on this time of year you'd be forgiven for thinking we'd forgotten about ranking all the Disney movies. Well...we haven't. And we're coming back with a big one.
For those just joining us, this is a movie marathon with a twist. Myself (cranky 30s blogger), my son Josh (stoic 10 year old Nintendo obsessive) and my daughter Amelia (drama llama 8 year old princess) are watching Disney movies in a random order and ranking them. We hope to see interesting differences in how we organise our lists.
Released: 1950
Director: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson
Cast: Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, William Phipps, Mike Douglas, Lucille Bliss, Rhoda Williams, Jimmy MacDonald, Luis van Rooten
Plot: Orphaned Cinderella lives a live of forced servitude for her cruel step-mother and step-sisters. When the king hosts a lavish ball for the Prince to find a bride, Cinderella has a chance to see her dreams come true.
Review: This movie is a pain in the ass.
Everything has been said about it, both for good and for bad. It has been praised and criticised for laying out the template for the Disney Princess trope, the merchandise being especially lucrative. It has been deemed a classic and had fun poked at it. It's been broken down so many ways there's nothing unique left to say. We'll start by checking off the plot and sharing our thoughts as we go.
The prologue spells things out for us in a plain and direct manner, with a voice-over explaining to us how Cinderella (Woods) wound up running around after her demanding step-mother (Audley) and -sisters (Bliss and Williams). The first act gives us a day-in-the-life of our oppressed heroine, preparing breakfast, feeding animals and doing the cleaning. In spite of Cinderella being such an iconic character, it's her supporting cast who prove more interesting. We have the mice Jaq and Gus (both Macdonald), who have exciting adventures with their feared nemesis, the cat Lucifer. We also have the comically animated step-sisters and the fearsome Lady Tremaine. Whilst they're all having a fun time, Cinderella is cheerfully getting on with her work in the hope that her dreams will find her eventually.
Cinderella sometimes gets painted as being a weak character through this sequence, but that's missing the fact that she doesn't have much wiggle room in her situation. She's a young woman at a time when she couldn't go out and get herself an apartment and a job. Maintaining a positive demeanour is a show of strength onto itself, and it's her good will that gives her the karmic reward later in the film. What they should do is a #woke live action remake that depicts Cinderella in a much more active role.
The other side of the story involves the King and his Grand Duke (van Rooten), the former being concerned that his son has not yet chosen himself a bride in other to carry on the royal line. His harried Grand Duke is tasked with hosting a lavish ball with every maiden in the kingdom invited. The one character who is weirdly left out of this discussion is Prince Charming himself, who barely registers as a person. He joins the movie very late in the story, is mostly shown from a distance and says no more than a sentence or two. He could literally be replaced with a standee and it wouldn't have changed much of anything.
This is one criticism of the film that I can get behind. Not only does it make it hard to invest in these two characters getting together, but there was amble opportunity to include the Prince in the scenes already featuring the King talking about him.
When movie hits its stride, it really is a wonderful experience. The scene where Lady Tremaine subtly encourages her daughters to destroy Cinderella's dress is so cold and cruel that it breaks your heart. The sudden appearance of the Fairy Godmother and her jolly magical routine is equally uplifting. It's a nice story.
For all the holes in the story and the few aspects that aged poorly, it is a delight these 70 years on. The animation looks fantastic, in part to the film being filmed live action being the animators went to work with the footage. It's a solid technical achievement that made animation feel more cinematic than Disney's previous offerings.
Best Song: 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo' is the most fun, but 'A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes' is so heavily ingrained in our modern culture you may not be aware of its origin.
Weirdest Trivia: The clip of Cinderella's dress transforming was Walt Disney's favourite piece of animation.
Rating: SEVEN out of TEN
THE RANKING MEI'll always have a strong appreciation of the history represented by this film, but it's not one I'd often feel compelled to pop on to watch.
Click those titles if you want to see what we said about the other movies.
AMELIAAmelia has a strong attachment to this film because she was turned into Cinderella at a Disneyland park. Still, she did some more reorganisation of her list, putting some of the funnier stuff further up the list.
- Frozen
- Moana
- Tangled
- Emperor's New Groove
- Zootopia
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Home on the Range
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Mulan
- Hercules
- Alice in Wonderland
- Cinderella
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Bolt
- Pocahontas
- Dinosaur
- The Aristocats
- The Princess and the Frog
- Robin Hood
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Three Caballeros
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Sword in the Stone
- Saludos Amigos
- Oliver & Company
- Aladdin
- Treasure Planet
- Big Hero 6
- A Goofy Movie
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- Chicken Little
- Fantasia
Joshua didn't feel strongly one way or the other here, and placed it around halfway.
- Zootopia
- Big Hero 6
- Aladdin
- Emperor's New Groove
- Treasure Planet
- Moana
- Ralph Breaks the Internet
- The Three Caballeros
- Saludos Amigos
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Frozen
- Mulan
- The Princess and the Frog
- Robin Hood
- Bolt
- The Sword in the Stone
- Beauty and the Beast
- Oliver & Company
- Tangled
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Cinderella
- Home on the Range
- Pocahontas
- A Goofy Movie
- The Aristocats
- Fantasia
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Dinosaur
- Hercules
- Alice in Wonderland
- Chicken Little
