Cinderella (February 15, 1950)

Upfront, this is my favorite Disney Princess movie (might even be my favorite Disney movie). I have such fond childhood memories of his movie, even dressing up as her for Halloween. I will try to be as objective as possible in view the favors and faults in this movie. The protagonist, Cinderella, lives with her evil stepmother and vile stepsisters, forced to do their biddings day in and day out. One night, her fairy godmother appears and, with her magic, enables Cinderella to attend the ball at the castle where she steals the heart of the prince. The movie begins with a wonderful storyboard sequence chronicling what lead up to Cinderella’s current predicament. Then it breaks into the iconic song, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” which perfectly encapsulates Cinderella’s strong and wishful personality as well as her boundless kindness. Her movements are dainty and graceful- in stark contrast to those of her oafish sisters and her conniving mother, the latter of which moves with the poise of a snake. In fact, all the characters (especially the mice, Gus, and Jaq as well as lucifer and Bruno) have distinctive personalities. This is not to say the animation is perfect as it has some slight inaccuracies and inconsistencies, but they are mostly easily miscible unless you are going through the film with a fine-toothed comb like I did. The animators did a particularly fantastic job with the magic sequences! The story is so lovely and simple, though by now it has been told and retold hundreds of times in various mediums (even by Disney in their 2015 live action film) it is always nice to revisit this most famous version. I do wish the prince had gotten more characterization as well as the stepmother. The music is spectacular (a running theme among these classics!) Overall, this film is nearly perfect and holds up even after repeated viewings.

Final Rating: 9/10