Kay Cannon’s “Cinderella”, the 2021 remake of the classic 1950 Disney movie  “Cinderella”, was not good by any means—but it was better than could’ve been expected. 

The typical “Cinderella” storyline has not tired since it has been recreated continuously with altered storylines over the years. However, Amazon Prime’s decision to be included in the “Cinderella” hype, seemed to make fans cringe away.

The movie poster for Amazon Original “Cinderella.”

The film was released on Sept. 3, with the ambitious take on the main character, Ella played by singer-songwriter Camilla Cabello, whilst the love interest, a handsome Prince Robert, is played by Nicholas Galitzine. Other notable characters include Minnie Driver who played Queen Beatrice, Pierce Brosnan who played King Rowan, and Idina Menzel, who played Vivian, the evil stepmother. 

This version of “Cinderella” is obviously meant to be a romantic comedy and musical, but the plotline is a cheesy retelling at best. 

It is a modern version of “Cinderella”, representing a lot of Gen Z references including slang like “poppin”, along with popular songs ranging from The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”, Madonna’s “Material Girl”, Salt-N-Pepa’s “Whatta Man” and even Queen’s “Somebody To Love”. 

The song choices and dance moves were obviously meant for a target audience of current teens, but this generation was probably not the right choice for an audience. 

“The movie’s modern references … feel very much like an older person trying to appeal to a Gen Z audience without really understanding the slang used,” Insider stated.

The movie makers even tried to include popular new stars, which definitely benefited the attraction to the film, but that couldn’t carry it to success.

There were as many good moments in the movie as there were bad ones. The inclusion of a gender neutral Fairy Godmother, played by Billy Porter, didn’t feel forceful and represented the LGBTQ+ community in a positive, relevant light.

The chemistry between Ella and Prince Robert also made the movie pretty appealing, even if Ella did give up their love at first to follow her dreams. 

Fans were probably going into this movie thinking Camilla Cabello was going to be like Addison Rae in “He’s All That”: a social media star thrown into the movie mix with little acting skills to pull off a successful movie. However, Cabello certainly surprised the audience with her impressive singing, dancing and acting skills. Unlike Rae, Cabello was able to show off her character’s development, emotional connections and girlboss attitude quite wonderfully throughout the movie. 

Speaking of those girlboss tendencies, it’s obvious women didn’t get the same rights as the men did during this age, but the way the movie showed progressiveness was interesting. However, the idea was not historically accurate. 

Since the movie remake is a modern perception, it is reasonable to include empowering scenes of women rights, especially for younger generations of girls to see this retelling portraying a strong, independent woman succeeding on her own. 

Princess Gwen, played by Tallulah Greive, was granted to become the future queen instead of her older brother. This was a big power move that the directors made for the movie’s idea of female empowerment. Even Ella’s drive to start her own dress business gave the film a nice twist to modern times, making it so the slow change of women’s rights is being included in this medieval society. 

Another notable moment was when Ella convinced her step sister, Drizella, played by Charlotte Spencer, that only her own opinions of her appearance in the mirror mattered. It was a sentimental moment, but it was interrupted by the awkward pause and air-headed response that Drizella made about Ella having dirt on her face. 

Overall, this movie was just average, with most of the basic ideas just retold and altered. Obviously, the mash-ups and modern references were entertaining, but some of the jokes were just not up to comedic standards and the “dialogue [was] often cringe-worthy”, according to ScreenRant.

The film also gave no older fans any real connection to it, though the superficiality of its hot, relevant celebrities, popular trend references and catchy songs may appeal to younger audiences who aren’t as set on looking for the deeper characteristics of the movie as older audiences and movie critics are

The AU Review says the movie is “likely to be more warmly received by the family markets, especially those with young girls …” The classic fairytale remake is one that younger adults or Cabello fans wanted to enjoy, but in the end, the film was better suited for younger “Cinderella” fans. 

This “Cinderella” is simply referred to as a basic depiction of what a current day Disney princess would be like. Nothing more and nothing less.

Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_young3.