Cinderella
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: March 13, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
17
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMar 16, 2015
As a picture that celebrates one of the greatest archetypes in literature while freshening countless familiar details, I doubt it can be bettered. Read full review
90
SlateKaty WaldmanMar 16, 2015
With his live-action retelling of Cinderella, director Kenneth Branagh accomplishes a wonderful bit of spellwork: He manages to de-toxify Disney’s flagship fairy tale without overcorrecting away its prettiness, sincerity, or charm. Read full review
90
TimeRichard CorlissMar 16, 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. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 12, 2015
As pure of heart as its heroine, Cinderella floats across the screen like a gossamer confection, full of elegant beauty and quiet grace. Read full review
90
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekMar 10, 2015
Like all of Branagh's films, even some of the bad ones, Cinderella is practically Wagnerian in its ambitions — it's so swaggering in its confidence that at times it almost commands us to like it. But it's also unexpectedly delicate in all the right ways, and uncompromisingly beautiful to look at. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 13, 2015
Cinderella is a wonderfully realized family feature that retains the strengths of its source material while at the same time updating it for today's audiences. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Nathalie AtkinsonMar 12, 2015
Like its titular fairy tale heroine, Cinderella is sincere, not an ironic bone in it. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 12, 2015
The world didn’t need yet another Cinderella story, but the one we got is one of the best versions ever put on film. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangFeb 16, 2015
With no sheen of reflexivity, and no in-jokey admission of its hokiness to hide behind, can this non-ironic un-re-invention possibly work? Actually, yes it can, and does surprisingly well, by approaching the story with a sincerity and sweetness that defy cynicism, and by casting Cate Blanchett. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramMar 23, 2015
Loving and lavish, Kenneth Branagh’s take will please traditionalists more than revisionists, but there’s enough here to enchant both young and old. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 16, 2015
Screenwriter Chris Weitz embraces both the magic and the humanity of the classic fairy tale. He underlines the virtues of kindness and courage in a heroine right out of the pages of a traditional storybook, who gradually reveals the qualities of a self-possessed modern girl. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMar 11, 2015
Mention must be made of James’ guileless turn as Cinderella. Like the beautiful crystalline-blue ballgown worn in the film’s centerpiece section (you can’t take your eyes off it; it literally dazzles), she looks as if she’s lit from within. Read full review
75
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMar 16, 2015
There’s a lot to like about director Kenneth Branagh’s gorgeously fanciful tale. Read full review
75
HitfixGregory EllwoodMar 16, 2015
It's hard for any actor or director to pull off love at first sight, but Branagh is lucky enough that James and Madden have just enough genuine on screen chemistry to make you at least want to believe it's possible. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 13, 2015
Although James and Madden are no Fred and Ginger when it comes time for the fabled ball, her breathy swoons and glitter-splashed décolletage and his personable imperviousness bode well for the couple's future. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 12, 2015
With its vibrant sparkle and enchanting visuals, Cinderella almost makes you believe in magic. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 12, 2015
Cinderella — the new, live-action Cinderella, that is — is an attempt by the Mouse House to revive one of Walt’s oldest fairy-tale adaptations with care and class and modernity and timelessness. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMar 12, 2015
Still, you can’t fault a family entertainment extravaganza too much if it actually goes out of its way to integrate the ensemble of a fairy tale in an Old World European setting with a diverse array of supporting players. Branagh deserves an extra bravo just for that. And we mean it sincerely. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 12, 2015
Branagh's regular composer, Patrick Doyle, delivers a persistent dribbling stream of forgettable mood music, and that's too bad; most of the scenes are acted so well, you don't want anything competing with them. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleMar 12, 2015
Blanchett manages to project the idea that there’s more to this woman than mere banal evil. Cinderella may well be the heroine of this story, but if you wanted someone to have a few drinks with, you’d pick her stepmother in a heartbeat. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 12, 2015
The fizzy cocktail combination of Blanchett’s cartoonish hauteur and Branagh’s visual razzle-dazzle and confectionary sets (courtesy of the legendary Dante Ferretti) manages to take a tale as wheezy as Cinderella and make it feel almost magical again. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 12, 2015
Count Cinderella as a dazzling dream of a movie from director Kenneth Branagh, who can leap from the Bard (Henry V) to the boffo (Thor) with no apparent sweat. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 11, 2015
Every generation gets a new one, and this time, replete with computer graphics and singing mice, Kenneth Branagh has created a live-action fairy tale that pulls out every stop and spares no expense. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 12, 2015
Disney’s new live-action version is for the most part beguilingly good, even though it’s no replacement for the studio’s 1950 animated classic. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 12, 2015
It's beautiful to behold and wears its magic on its well-appointed sleeves, daring the audience to crack wise. Read full review
70
Screen DailyLee MarshallMar 11, 2015
A delightfully clear-eyed adaptation of Charles Perrault’s fable of goodness triumphing over adversity, which brings psychological depth to characters like Cate Blanchett’s magnificent, believable stepmother. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMar 9, 2015
Indeed, there is barely a frame of Branagh’s film that would cause Uncle Walt to finger his mustache with disquiet. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 16, 2015
Though this Cinderella could never replace Disney’s animated classic, it’s no ugly stepsister either, but a deserving companion. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 13, 2015
The result is more of an illustrated storybook of a cherished classic than a living thing in its own right. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsMar 23, 2015
A retrograde fantasy with the depth of a dressing-up box, but it’s spirited, genuinely funny and played to the hilt by an excellent cast. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 13, 2015
An enchantment, plain and simple. And while it won't make many forget Disney's iconic animated version, it certainly joins it as one of the more enjoyable re-tellings of this classic tale. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 12, 2015
Branagh, working from a script by Chris Weitz, gives the film emotional heft. James’ performance — never saccharine, often staunchly independent — makes the story’s more regressive elements float away. Read full review
60
CineVuePatrick GambleFeb 16, 2015
Despite Blanchett's resplendent performance and the comforting assurances that are inherent with any excursion into the reliably innocuous Disney universe it's tough to overlook the fact that there's something depressingly antiquated about Branagh's dazzling fairytale and its regressive sexual politics. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 16, 2015
Very little is out of place in Branagh’s do-over, but that’s almost a problem: there’s a feeling, throughout, of going perfectly through the motions. The film is all smoothly-operated crane shots, excellent hair, gleaming teeth. Originality is the glass slipper it never even tries on. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeFeb 16, 2015
It’s all very sweet and harmless, though you can’t help wishing that Cinders got her happy ending for more than being kind to her digital mice and weathering a lot of crap with a never-ending smile on her face. Read full review
60
The GuardianGuy LodgeFeb 16, 2015
Branagh and Weitz stick lovingly to the legend throughout; and while it might have been nice to see the new-model Cinderella follow Frozen’s progressive, quasi-feminist lead, the film’s naff, preserved-in-amber romanticism is its very charm. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 12, 2015
This Cinderella is achingly old-fashioned, with scant humor, a regressive heroine and godmother effects that aren't special. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 11, 2015
Clothed in a colorful mishmash of historical fashions and scored to sweeping strings, the movie is like an antique cut-crystal vase: gorgeous, fragile, empty. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 13, 2015
The curious thing about this new Cinderella is that every old and familiar element is done beautifully. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 12, 2015
Mr. Branagh’s ascension into big-budget studio directing largely remains a mystery, and there’s little in Cinderella beyond its faces and gowns that captures the eye or the imagination. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartMar 12, 2015
This Cinderella is all dressed up with nowhere very interesting to go. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMar 12, 2015
In the quest to purge this Cinderella of anything sly or post-modern, though, the filmmakers have eliminated any wit or distinction, making this a pre-modern disappointment. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 12, 2015
For all its gossamer, gauze, filigree and refinement, Cinderella drags when it should skip as lightly as its title character when she’s late getting home from the ball. Read full review
50
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiMar 11, 2015
Most of Cinderella’s costuming and production design takes a “glitter first, taste second” approach that embodies the film’s cotton-candy style of filmmaking: a heady sugar-rush in the moment, but empty and a little nauseating over the long haul. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 11, 2015
The filmmakers cut the film to emphasize the story's familiar plot points, rather than highlight any instances of personal visual artistry. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 10, 2015
The pre-teen girls this is intended for have a right to expect more laughs, broader villainy and more fun. This time out, the glass slipper doesn’t fit. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 12, 2015
Cinderella is so scrubbed of personality, it’s not even worth calling a mess. Read full review
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