6 Cinderella Movies to Watch This Week
Lily James and many of the cast from the new live action movie Cinderella have been walking the red carpet at premiers in Mexico, Milan and Moscow over the past few weeks. Now North American audiences are ready for the release of this fairytale reboot starring the Downton Abby star as the orphaned princess and Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother.
The tale of the little girl forced to cook and clean and meet the demands of her evil stepfamily may be one of the most popular fairytales ever told—and retold. To get ready for the new release, here’s a list of a few other adaptations of the famous narrative.
Disney’s animated Cinderella is the story of the beautiful girl who finds her prince thanks to some help from her fairy godmother. The production, that included songs with silly lyrics like “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, has also put stepmothers at a disadvantage for more than six decades and made glass slippers a popular dress up item. Cinderella was the twelfth Disney Animated Classic to release when it came to theaters in 1950 and became the studio’s biggest hit since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs released in 1937.
Hillary Duff stars as a modern-day girl on the hunt for her Prince Charming in A Cinderella Story. After Sam Montgomery’s father dies, the girl is left in the hands of a malicious stepmother and two nasty stepsisters who take over the family diner and force Sam to wait tables and wipe counters. But between shifts at the diner, this girl focuses on getting into Princeton.
Drew Barrymore plays a feistier version of the cinder girl in Ever After. Rather than being a victim, this take-charge orphan doesn’t need a fairy godmother to help her get things done around the farm or to win the heart of the handsome prince.
Another spunky version of Cinderella comes to the screen in Happily N’Ever After. This computer animated tale sports a brunette in the lead role. She, along with several other well-know fairytale characters, have to stop the wicked stepmother from putting an end to “happily ever after” in the kingdom
The movie Ella Enchanted is based on a Newbery Honor book written by Gail Carson Levine. In this retelling of the Cinderella story, Ella is blessed with the gift of perfect obedience when she is born. But that proves to be a problem when her father sends her off to finishing school with two nasty girls who take advantage of Ella’s gift. Anne Hathaway stars as Ella and Hugh Dancy stars as Prince Charmont.
Cinderella doesn’t take a starring role but she makes an appearance in the musical fairytale fusion Into the Woods. Played by Anna Kendrick, the mistreated Cinderella wants nothing more than to go to the ball and dance with the Prince (Chris Pine). But once she meets the eligible bachelor she begins to question if he is really the man she wants.
The live action Cinderella opens in theaters March 13.
