It's such a rote recitation of a story we've heard a thousand times that it's hard to imagine why on earth they're telling it to us again.

| May 28, 2016

A good story can cover up all manner of sins. But that ball gown is indicative of the film's whole approach - covering a thin, needlessly bloated story with beautiful surfaces.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 17, 2015

If the young girl who sat in front of me is to speak for children everywhere, they are going to adore this film.

| Original Score: B | Apr 17, 2015

For the adult viewer, one of the joys of the film is the presence of Cate Blanchett, gloriously gowned, evoking the great female movie stars of the past (Joan Crawford, Bette Davis) as the Wicked Stepmother.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 2, 2015

There's plenty to like, and a little to love.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 29, 2015

Darlings, just breathless with the news: Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella is a sumptuous, candy-coloured rush of romance, with added thespian backbone from Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2015

Chris Weitz's screenplay updates the old Charles Perrault yarn in a fresh and witty way. The performances are very lively too.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2015

In its lack of experiment, this latest Cinderella does feel positively experimental.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2015

A remarkably faithful, full-hearted live action rendition of Cinderella, well cast and sumptuously staged, picking its way carefully between Walt Disney's classic musical animation of 1950 and Perrault's definitive text.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2015

Slightly eerie in its dead-eyed coldness, but you get used to it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 26, 2015

There is a lot of dying early on and also quite a lot later on, when you will feel you are dying, of boredom, of ennui and, possibly, the full weight of the patriarchy, pressing down hard on your chest.

| Mar 26, 2015

It's good-natured and silly, with nice support from Rob Brydon, Nonso Anozie, Derek Jacobi and Katie West.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 26, 2015

Nearly a century after that black-and-white cartoon short, and 65 years after a "classic" animated feature that missed the mark, Disney finally got Cinderella right -- for now and, happily, ever after.

| Mar 16, 2015

The colors - good lord. They're like nothing you could experience in the real world. Cinderella's behemoth of a ball gown alone is 50 shades of blue.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 15, 2015

Some of the supporting players, most resplendently Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother and Derek Jacobi as the ailing king, are very fine. The film never soars, though.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 13, 2015

I'm all for confection, but this movie takes that too far. Cinderella and the prince look like they belong on a wedding cake.

| Mar 13, 2015

The new film... is nothing if not a tribute to old-fashioned virtues, of care and craft and modesty, of simple stories well told.

| Mar 13, 2015

"Cinderella" feels real enough to be sincerely touching at the same time it's visually inventive enough to be magical. We've all seen this story, true; but we haven't seen it told this effectively.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 13, 2015

Directed by Kenneth Branagh with a sprinkling of stardust, dashes of good humor, and a respect for the corniest kinds of romance, Cinderella is a winning re-do of Disney's 1950 animated classic.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 13, 2015

In being faithful to the traditional tale interpreted by Disney in their animated 1950 classic, this Cinderella is crisp escapist enjoyment.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 12, 2015