i watched camila cabello's cinderella so you don't have to (cinderella 2021 review) 👗🦋🎤

[Music] i watched camila cabello's cinderella so you don't have to everyone knows the story of cinderella the disney fied version at the very least and the term a cinderella moment has even become shorthand for dramatic transformations in the years since the fairy tales popularization the generic version of the century's old folk tale follows a beautiful young orphan girl who lives with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters all of whom mistreat her and force her to work for them as a servant when the entire kingdom is invited to a royal ball cinderella hopes to go but is prevented by her stepmother however with the help of some form of magic she is transformed and able to attend at the ball she meets the kingdom's prince and the two instantly fall in love but before they can make things official she runs out of time with the magic that transformed her beginning to wear off forcing her to run back home before she's discovered in the mayhem she leaves something behind usually a glass slipper which the prince uses to find her after searching the entire kingdom he and cinderella are eventually reunited and the two are married with cinderella's wicked family typically receiving some sort of comeuppance for their misdeeds she and the prince go on to live happily ever after the end iterations of cinderella's story have been found in numerous cultures and countries from china to germany to greece with one of the most popular and recognizable versions being charles perots with his take on the tale introducing the fairy godmother glass slippers and a transforming pumpkin carriage you likely recognize this version of the fairy tale as the one that was adapted back in 1950 by disney and is the version that is most popularly adapted to this day the character of cinderella has made numerous appearances in film and tv over the years from the many contemporary adaptations in the cinderella story franchise to historical fiction like 1998's ever after and of course who could forget the rogers and hammerstein's musical that has been adapted and remade for tv an assortment of times most recently in 1997 with whitney houston brandy whoopi goldberg and bernadette peters the story of cinderella has been retold on so many occasions that at this point it hardly seems necessary to make it again unless it adds something new to the idea but unfortunately for us hollywood didn't get that memo and as a result we wound up with yet another cinderella adaptation a jukebox musical starring singer camila cabello in the title role in today's video we're going to be reviewing the new cinderella film specifically its characters message music and costume design this is going to be a very in-depth review of the film so obviously there will be spoilers stop watching now if that's something you're concerned about anyway let's get into it first let's look at the plot of the film itself unsurprisingly it follows in the footsteps of most adaptations of cinderella the few creative if you can call it that additions that the film makes to the story is that in this world ella is an aspiring dressmaker with her goal being to own her own store someday this is not only difficult because she doesn't have the support of her family but also because the kingdom itself doesn't allow women to own businesses and sons to think that any girl let alone you would have the audacity to engage in matters of business it's insane the prince of the kingdom robert is currently being pressured to find a bride with his father hopeful for a beneficial match while robert wishes for love in a compromise they decide to host a royal ball to help him find someone ella and the prince first meet in town where he has disguised himself as a commoner in the hopes of seeing her again after a nonsensical interaction earlier it's just really hard to see in the back might i suggest you put some bleachers back there give us short peasants a chance he didn't think that was funny didn't he oh she's she's beautiful she's witty she's fearless and holy hell did you see the way she talked to my father and after buying one of her dresses he recommends that she attend the royal ball as she might be able to sell her designs there she initially attempts to go in a dress that she's designed but her stepmother throws ink on it and ruins it but she's assisted by her fabulous godmother who creates a dress for her out of one of her own designs while attending the ball ella meets a visiting royal queen tatiana who is impressed with her dress and requests a meeting the following day so she can potentially hire her ella also meets the prince and the two fall in love with the prince immediately proposing however ella declines the proposal after realizing that she would have to give up her dream of becoming a dressmaker okay we'll get married and you will live the rest of your life as royalty royalty what about my work my dress that would most likely be frowned upon women have a very prescribed role in court but at midnight the magic granted by the fabulous godmother begins to wear off and she runs back home throwing her glass slipper at one of the royal guards as they try to catch her back home she is found out by her stepmother who reacts by insisting that she marry the prince so the family can prosper financially but ella declines resulting in the stepmother sending her off with another suitor she and the prince cross paths and ella is able to make it to her meeting with queen tatiana which goes successfully the king who has been convinced by his wife that love is more important than alliances allows robert and ella to be together putting his daughter princess gwen in charge of the kingdom instead now that you're familiar with the plot of the film let's look at what worked and what didn't the message a large part of the marketing for this film was focused on how it was a supposedly modern reimagining of the fairy tale that pushed for inclusivity and diversity now that's a very nice idea in theory but they completely failed in execution writer and director kay cannon said of the film quote i really wanted to modernize it in a way that i felt was maybe a little bit more relatable to what girls and how girls and young women in particular are viewing themselves these days i could rewrite the story and take all the things that we love about it but then give cinderella a drive and make her active and vocal and going for something and pursuing her dreams within a society that isn't allowing her to female empowerment is a clear overarching theme of this version of cinderella but unfortunately all of their attempts to push for feminism in the film come off not only as pandering but as incredibly tone deaf and trivial and instead of creating topical critiques on other aspects of society and culture they breeze right past it would this be a good time for me to bring up my comprehensive plan to reduce poverty in the urban row housing no darling never oh the town's people's tax dollars wasted on a ball and for what for you to make a complete fool out of me and smile every girl is worth more when she smiles don't even think about it gwen you're literally not even going to let me have a seat at the table ella is depicted as a progressive and non-conformist young woman who is being stifled by societal norms and patriarchal systems she believes women are capable of doing anything that men can do but her character is rarely if ever shown actually solving her own problems us ladies give birth we run households surely we can run a business can't be that hard she can't sell her first dress the prince buys it she can't make it to the ball her godmother shows up she's not going to make it to her meeting the prince brings her there she doesn't want to lose her independence in marriage the king randomly changes his mind this girl literally can't do anything on her own except trip over things [Applause] oh my god that didn't happen it didn't happen if the point of your film is to highlight the difficulties women face and their ability to overcome that then that actually needs to be reflected in the plot not just in cheesy girl boss quotes you need to let characters accomplish things on their own not just have them handed to them on a silver platter this is the one-of-a-kind design i'd stop while you're ahead missy who on earth do you think you are honestly instead of the prince buying her dress why not have her character successfully sell it herself not only would this show that she actually has talent but it would strengthen her resolve and give the prince a reason to fall for her it wouldn't be her awkwardness endearing her to him but instead her drive and confidence if her stepmother ruined her dress with ink of all things why not show her capabilities as a dressmaker by having her create a new one herself screw fairy godmothers the magic is inside of you if the king's laws are holding women back why not have ella change his mind imagine if she'd stood up to him in public prompting other women in the village to do so as well then his wife and daughter making him realize how much he's underestimated the women of his kingdom this problem extends to other female characters as well take princess gwen for instance even though the film makes it glaringly obvious that she is more than capable of ruling when it finally does happen it hardly seems based on her own merits she's basically chosen because her father has no choice since the prince wants to travel why not have her actually solve a problem they're having before having his decision come out of nowhere honestly according to the film you'd think the only women whose lives actually have the ability to improve are those with privilege it's ironically accurate yes but hardly inspirational or purposeful the film's message also suffers from the fact that the majority of its female characters lean into generic stereotypes about women many of them negative and instead of having it serve a purpose it's just meant to show how cool ella is in comparison take this scene where she's asked by her stepsisters how they look honestly who cares what i think who cares what anyone thinks what matters is how you feel when you look in the mirror that's deep this point doesn't land however considering the stepsisters are portrayed as ditzy and dumb for no apparent reason other than it's funny haha they're not even jealous of her in this story they're just rude to her because their mother is almost this exact same scene happens in 1997 cinderella but in that film it actually serves as a way of developing character showing how that version of cinderella is confident and self-assured regardless of how others treat her considering this movie was attempting to be a progressive and modern take on the fairy tale i feel it was a wasted opportunity to not change the one obvious thing that all versions of cinderella have in common a heterosexual relationship instead of having cinderella fall for prince robert why not have her be in a relationship with princess gwen someone who actually has as strong a desire as she does to be independent and respected for her actions and talent imagine if you'd introduced both the prince and princess to ella individually but had her developed feelings for gwen you could have the prince misinterpret his friendship with ella even if it's obvious to the audience that she's actually interested in princess gwen and have him propose leading to a moment where she has to admit the truth to him or alternatively have him recognize that gwen and ella are in love before they do then have him be the fairy godmother working as their little matchmaker and confidant come on that would be so cute of course you're my best friend yeah i thought so beautiful human as part of its attempt at being modern the film includes a lot of slang which will not only wind up dating the film exponentially but also isn't funny so we good cause i got a thing yeah what does that mean it's how old people say pop it you must anyone you look like a pirate you look like a pirate unnecessary this is gorgeous yes future queen yeah [Music] at least movies like the flintstones or ella enchanted leaned into the idea of mixing the past with the present cinderella couldn't commit and as such the moments that are purposely modern are incredibly jarring the fact that the film has proudly declared itself as the first feminist cinderella would almost be funny if it wasn't so insulting over the last 30 years we've seen numerous instances where cinderella has subverted expectations 1997 cinderella featured an incredibly diverse cast the result of the film's colorblind casting process 1998's ever after focuses on characters who challenge both their class and gender in 2004's ella enchanted she not only saves her prints on numerous occasions but is able to solve her problems without the help of her fairy godmother even 2015 cinderella was modern in how it depicted its characters with lady tremaine's motivations being fully fleshed out and cinderella's kindness showing her strength of character not naivete 2021's version of cinderella is notably shallow in comparison the characters moving on to the characters themselves i have to be honest and say that the only people i could somewhat stand were the queen and the prince and only because they kind of felt like actual people not caricatures or tropes what fresh hell is this compared to the rest of the characters they actually have motivations growth and development albeit very little of it even this version of the step family is one of the weakest i've seen the stepmother's preoccupation with beauty and the girls getting married is intended to be a commentary on the idea that women can also perpetuate misogynistic ideals but considering she and ella effortlessly make up after she quite literally marries her off to a random man the character doesn't have any growth that represents how wrong she's been and while the stepsisters are mean to ella it's seemingly only because their mother does so not out of jealousy like most interpretations plus as a whole they don't actually seem to be that cruel to her they let her make her dresses in peace and even do housework where's the cruelty now many people find the idea of someone who is originally a singer starring in a film as off-putting but this kind of thing has happened so many times at this point that it shouldn't be judged negatively on that alone just look at barbara streisand jennifer hudson cher queen latifah or mandy moore however camila cabello's acting experience is incredibly obvious with ella's character only coming across as goofy and not much else now i will say that this isn't entirely her fault the character is terribly written but her quirky not like other girls persona comes right out of a parody film she only ever seems to make funny faces and say socially awkward things hardly making her a character we relate to or want to root for and as previously mentioned in spite of the film being advertised as a progressive take on the fairy tale it's actually incredibly straight and cis with the only exception being the character of the fabulous godmother played by billy porter despite what may have been good intentions the character itself has received backlash from many audience members with some saying the character's behavior came across as quote anti-lgbtq mockery according to actor billy porter the character was intended to be genderless quote it evolved and the thing that came out of the evolution was magic has no gender so make it genderless gender free gender fluid whatever you want to say there is no gender so they probably should have been referred to as the fabulous god parent not godmother huh considering the importance of what the character stood for it's pretty ridiculous that they're only present for a single scene and as such seemingly has no personality it's a shame that a character that is meant to be so important has such little thought put into their actual role apart from lifting up the main character the music i will admit that i'm not an expert when it comes to this sort of thing but i do have ears and they were hurting while watching this movie as a huge fan of jukebox musicals this should have been right up my alley but instead i found the music actively made the experience worse firstly the song choices themselves were incredibly uninspired in some ways it felt like they picked the songs first and wrote the movie around it instead of the other way around yes one of the appealing aspects of a jukebox musical is that the audience is able to recognize the songs but the choices in the film were far too obvious to the point that it almost seemed like they were initially trying to parody the genre both rhythm nation and somebody to love have been featured in the happy feet films and i'm sorry to say it but the animated penguins did it better and material girl will always make me think of moulin rouge and that film is embarrassingly better than cinderella is i would have preferred if they'd picked some deep cuts songs we'd have recognized but not associated with other superior movies secondly the music didn't match the tone and aesthetic of the film with many of the covers taking on a generic 2020 modern pop sound that somehow managed to ruin the originals something that would almost be impressive if it weren't so offensive the film includes a few rap narration breaks as a way to relay information to both the characters and the audience but besides being a lackluster storytelling device they're also not very well written missing the tongue-in-cheek cleverness that lin-manuel miranda's work has that the film obviously took inspiration from if you watched the bridgerton tv series then you may recall that they included classical covers of popular songs like maroon 5's girl like you billy eilish's bad guy ariana grande's thank you next and taylor swift's wildest dreams by giving these songs a period accurate spin the audience's familiarity with the material doesn't affect their perception of the setting if cinderella had done a similar reinterpretation of the music it would have not only helped achieve the old meets new thing that they were going for but also prevent comparisons to superior works the one time that they did this with their cello focused interpretation of seven nation army is undoubtedly the best song in the film thirdly camila cabello's voice doesn't work like at all in this context now i want to preface this critique by saying this is no way a judgment of the actual music that she releases but her voice has a very distinctive quality that doesn't play well with the other performers in the film especially the ones with musical theater experience and as a result the entire soundtrack feels disjointed also it must be said but james corden does not need to be in every musical i don't care if he produced it truly be what you can truly be not you but me skipping it [Music] the costumes it couldn't be a modern girls movie review without talking about the costume design and this films were unabashedly disappointing i'm not a stickler for historical accuracy especially when the story itself is clearly trying to marry aspects of the past with the present so that wasn't the issue i had with the costuming at least not the only issue i had the problem is way bigger than that i want to preface this by saying that the costume designer ellen maronik who most recently worked on netflix's bridgerton is incredibly creative and talented so i'm convinced that there were aspects of the cost of being for cinderella that she didn't have complete control of from the moment i saw the trailer for the film it was obvious what the influences were when it came to the costume design with the film clearly going for a 2015 cinderella meets 1997 cinderella type of thing considering ellen had also worked on the costumes for the latter film its resemblance is more apparent however the movie suffers from the fact that much like its tone it can't decide what it wants to do with the costumes the characters wear a mishmash of items from various time periods which creates an incohesive look all around and results in the kingdom having no discernable aesthetic or style something that isn't the case in real life the outfit ella wears for the majority of the film is incredibly generic to the point that aside from color she looks like multiple other cinderellas we've seen and even when compared to other people living in the town she looks simple lacking the prints and patterns many other ensembles have if her character was meant to be a dressmaker why not give her something more intricate and modern in comparison after all she's supposed to stand out and be different unfortunately the few other outfits we see her wear are equally unfortunate looking despite an attempt to incorporate modern silhouettes this pink hi-low dress with a belt caused me physical pain when i saw it i couldn't think of a more dated ensemble and the blue suit that was used as a gag is forgettable at best not giving her character more outfits at the very least in a magical montage felt like a missed opportunity in an interview the costume designer said about the design process for the costumes quote in my point of view a fairy tale does not have to take place in the renaissance times medieval times or in the 16th 17th 18th or 19th centuries it can be any time because it's a fairy tale and it's your imagination in this fairy tale we wanted to introduce modern influences without making it a contemporary piece unfortunately the occasional modern influences they chose were already dated leaving the character looking like a project runway reject with excessive amounts of tulle glitter and horrendous ruching it's a shame they didn't go for something hyper stylized like ella enchanted with its 2000s influence helping give the film its unique look ella is even outdressed at the ball what is meant to be the character's most important moment the outfits worn by the rest of the ball goers were actually quinceanera dresses purchased in mexico that were altered to represent other countries and cultures something the 2015 cinderella also did albeit with everything being custom some of the princesses in cinderella have shaved heads shorter skirts and edgier silhouettes so when ella shows up in her purple upside down umbrella looking gown it's disappointing to say the least although tulle seems to be a recurring theme in the character's dress designs in this context the look doesn't work out in her favor as it lacks any structure or color that would prevent her from fading into the background and if she was meant to be such an innovative and unique dressmaker it honestly could have been really interesting if she'd shown up in a gown with an entirely different and new silhouette than other dresses we'd seen throughout the film no poofy skirts just something regal and chic and i can't even get into her finale outfit it just reminds me of bjork's swan dress what's most egregious about ella's lackluster costuming is the fact that this character is supposed to be a dressmaker a designer someone with taste and the ability to make beautiful garments what the hell happened here if this cinderella film had been included in our ranking from last year her dress would have been dead last the only outfit i genuinely found interesting and fitting for the story was that of the fabulous godmother the orange satin immediately draws the eye and is a clever way of referencing a butterfly's wings and considering they were attempting to go for an androgynous sort of look having a sharp oversized silhouette with crystals allowed the look to be equal parts masculine and feminine the modern qualities of the dress also reflect the fabulous godmother's character something that can't be said about many of the other costumes what did you think of cinderella i hope you enjoyed this video don't forget to like and subscribe and i'll see you soon bye [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: ModernGurlz

Views: 709,288

Keywords: style, modern gurlz, 90s fashion, fashion, movie review, movie commentary, moderngurlz, review, movies, Film analysis, movie analysis, analysis, video essay, movie reviews, tv theory, cinema, television, entertainment, deep meaning, tv answers, disney, disney live action, live action reboot, ranking, ranking movies, costume design, fashion analysis, style analysis, cinderella, camila cabello, 2021 movies, cinderella 2021, cinderella review, jukebox musical, costume design review

Id: OjiZEhCOhlU

Length: 23min 46sec (1426 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021