"Cinderella" Review

Cinderella


Content: 

-Safe for families
-One or two very mild innuendos

Recommendation:

Adults and children alike will enjoy it. Adults may even like it more. If you have a family, take your kids to see it. Even if you are single, it is worth your money.







When I first heard Disney was going to make live-action versions of their classic animated films I thought it was a dumb idea after seeing Maleficent. However, after seeing Kenneth Branagh's "Cinderella," I am on board. Bring on Hermione playing Belle!

In many ways, this "Cinderella" updates the original, which was released in 1950. It was a simple time when everyone needed to get married in order to move on with their lives, and the animated version reflects this. While there are several lessons girls could take, the one that sticks out is having a man to marry will make their lives better.

Values have shifted over the years, and while marriage is still important, it has become less of an end-all to happiness. Society has learned through the high divorce-rate that if two people get married, they should be in love. It should not be looked at as the only thing that will make one happy. An unhappy single person will still be unhappy after marriage.

The 2015 live-action version changes this in a positive way. The film repeats a different lesson several times: kindness and courage will win out in the end. Cinderella (Lily James), first hears this advice from her mother (Hayley Atwell), and she takes it to heart. While her step mother (Kate Blanchett) and step sisters make her life a living hell, she tries to make the best of things.

When she meets the prince (Richard Madden) for the first time, what attracts him is not her physical beauty but her kindness. She makes such an impression on him that he tries convincing his dad (Derek Jacobi) to let him marry for love rather than politics. Because of her, the prince throws the ball where commoners have just as much a chance as princesses to meet him.

Another way this film improves upon the original is the development of Cinderella's life story. In the animated version, it is introduced through a brief narration. It never introduces the audience to her parents. We simply know they died before the story starts. The 2015 film shows the parents and develops them well enough to create a heart-breaking death scene of Cinderella's mother.

It also does a good job showing how the relationship between Cinderella and her step mother evolves. Kate Blanchett brings a sense of depth to her character. She is evil, but the film hints that the reason for this may stem from jealousy of Cinderella's loving relationship with her father.

While this is undoubtedly a modernized update, director Kenneth Branagh masterfully keeps the same magic that was present in the original. This shows when the fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) transforms animals, clothing and a pumpkin to make Ella ready for the ball. It is also there when Ella dances with the prince in the ballroom. The way the camera moves to the music makes us as an audience feel we are dancing as well.

"Get on Up" Review

Get on Up

3 out of 5 stars

Family appropriateness rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Moderate amount of profanity including two uses of the f-word.
-Moderate amount of sexual content. One scene shows two clothed people having sex standing up, another scene shows a man taking his shirt off as he kisses a woman, but the scene ends after that.
-One scene shows a topless woman hiding her breasts with her arms.
-Several depictions of domestic abuse.






There is no question that Chadwick Boseman does a great job in his portrayal of James Brown, but "Get on Up" is a disorganized look at the singer's life.

James Brown is well known for singing popular songs like "I Feel Good" and "Get Up Offa That Thing." He is an excellent entertainer who knows how to please a crowd, but he is not a very nice person. Brown is a control freak, and he thinks he is God's gift to the world. His personality drives other people away.

His abrasive personality happens to be why he is so successful. He knows what he wants and he will stop at nothing to get it. One scene in particular shows how creative he is in business as he ingeniously promotes his show without hiring a promoter. He decides that he can very well do it himself. He does not want to pay someone to do it for him.

Chadwick Boseman does a great job in his portrayal of the main character. It would not have been an easy role to play. James Brown is a loud, energetic man who has moments of tragedy. The performance was believable, and I came out of the theatre knowing better what what the man was like.

As in recent biopics, this film seems like the CliffsNotes version of his life. It shows various events, but it feels rushed. The way the film is organized does not seem logical especially in the beginning. It starts in one year, then it goes to several decades before, then it shows Brown's childhood and then back to another period. The chronology is confusing, and I do not understand why it was edited that way.

James Brown also gets in relationships with a few different women in this film, but it does not address this aspect very well. The way the audience knows about one of them is because Brown tells his friend/singing partner, Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis), that he plans to get married to Velma (Jacinte Blankenship), who is either not shown before this or the audience is never given any reason to recognize her. The film never addresses whether or not he got married to her, but it shows him several years later leaving his house, kissing her and his infant. It was not until I looked it up on Wikipedia that I found out he did get married to her.

He later ends up in another relationship with a woman named DeeDee (Jill Scott). It shows them together, but it never addresses whether or not they are married -- which according to Wikipedia, they were. It shows him see her, and in the next scene, they are together. The film addresses something dark that happens within this relationship, but I was so confused about what they were that I did not care as much as I should have.

That is how the whole film is. It glosses over important details, especially about his relationships with important people in his life, and it awkwardly transitions into different time periods. I know James Brown's personality better after having seen the film, but I do not know his personal life as deeply as I should.

For a good example of what a biopic should be, see "Walk the Line." Johnny Cash's relationship with his wife in that film is well-defined, and it is easy to see where their marriage goes wrong. It also does a great job at developing his relationship with another woman he falls in love with. "Get on Up" fails at establishing basic relationships the main character has, which would have made it a more powerful film.

This is not by any means a horrible movie. It is just disorganized and does not know what it wants to focus on. I recommend seeing it when it comes to Redbox rather than in theaters.

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