Cinderella Reviews

The narrative of "Cinderella" follows the fortunes of young Ella whose retailer father remarries after the death of her mother. Eager to encourage her adoring father, Ella frees her new stepmother and her daughters Anastasia and Drisella to the family home. However, when Ella's daddy suddenly goes off, she finds herself at the mercy of a jealous and unkind new household. Finally relegated to nothing more than a slave woman covered in ashes, and spitefully renamed Cinderella, Ella could readily start to get rid of hope. Yet, regardless of the cruelty imposed upon her, Ella is determined to honor her mother's dying words and also to "have courage and be kind." She won't give in to grief nor despise those who loathed her. And then there's the running stranger she meets in the woods. Unaware that he's really a prince, but not only an apprentice in the Palace, Ella eventually feels she's met a kindred soul. It appears her fortunes may be about to change as soon as the Palace sends out an open invitation for many maidens to wait for a ball, raising Ella's hopes of once again beating the charming Kit. Alas, her stepmother prohibits her to attend callously rips her clothes. However, as in all fantastic fairy stories, help is at hand, and a kindly beggar woman steps ahead and -- armed with a pumpkin and a couple of mice -- changes Cinderella's life forever.