Cinderella (1997)

Cinderella, Cinderella, Cinderella. How many versions will there be to this tale? How many movies? How many books? How many versions of the movies and books?

Too many. Far too many. I must admit, that not all of them are bad. Some are worth the excess that surrounds them. The newest one has its place on the list of decent versions, but my favorite might very well be a version in 1997 with Whitney Houston, Brandy Norwood, Victor Garber, Jason Alexander, Bernadette Peters, and Whoopi Goldberg. I mean, what a cast? True, there are some strange things. Like the white king (Victor Garber) and black queen (Whoopi Goldberg) having a Filipino son (Paolo Montalbán). So, perhaps some of the casting was based on name and talent rather than how well they actually fit the character appearance. And you know what I say to that, good. They are in a world with magic, so why can't people just be people regardless of skin color. Maybe they adopted their son, it doesn't need to say. They love him, he is their son, regardless of how he became so.

Yet, with all the talk about Once Upon a Time's black Rapunzel, it is surprising to me that this movie didn't get more buzz on sites like Tumblr that are all about re-casting (or sometimes just correctly casting) characters with diversity. True, Tumblr wasn't around yet, but it sure spends a lot of time on other movies and TV shows that pre-date it that were far more obscure. (Sometimes Tumblr seems to just breed contrarians.)

Anyway, none of that has to do with the movie itself. I like the movie because the Prince doesn't have a "love at first sight" moment. They talk, she throws some sass at him and educates him on how to treat women (or, at least, that he shouldn't assume all women want to be treated the same). He says she women she treated like a princess, she says no they she be treated "like a person, with kindness and respect."

My absolute favorite part, other than the catchy songs and banter, is that Cinderella DOESN'T get saved by the Prince. Unlike other versions, after the ball when she goes home and is mistreated by her step-family, she doesn't sit idly by. She realizes that things aren't going to get better, and maybe she could wait for the Prince, but she doesn't. She packs her things and decides to start making her own dreams come true. As the her fairy godmother tells her, "You know what the problem is with most people? They sit around wishing for something to happen instead of doing something about it."

I mean, yes. Her prince shoes up in the end, but she would have been just fine if he hadn't. Unlike the new Cinderella where in the end she goes back as if nothing happened and cannot even be bothered the effort of lifting her hand to open the window herself, this Cinderella packs her stuff and leaves her cruel step-family behind.

I would definitely recommend this movie.

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