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Cinderella (Wide World of Disney)

Cinderella (Wide World of Disney)

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Wonderful Bernadette! Talentless Brandy!
Review: This could have been such a wonderful film. There are many outstanding performances including Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother and Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen. Paolo Montalban makes a good prince, not great, but good.
Far and away the best performance is given by Bernadette Peters as the wicked stepmother. She is the only one who manages to present a fully fleshed out character. Also "Falling In Love With Love" is the best sung number in the movie (even though it is not r&h). She sings excellently and also acts at the same time (wich in this movie is a novelty). She comletely steals the show.
There were two very unfortunate performances. Jason Alexander is NOT funny playing the doormat to the king and queen.
One of the worst performances I have ever seen is given by Brandy. She cannot and should not sing in a musical! Also, her acting is absolutely painful!
This movie, however, is not without its charms (thanks to the supporting cast) and is worth a look.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brandy Is Magical
Review: This is by far the best Cinderella move made yet. Brandy as Cinderella is magical. She has acted better than any of the other Cinderella's to date, and not only is her acting good her singing is even better. She made the part. They needed a sweet extraordinary singer/actress to play the part and they got well-rounded diva Brandy. Whitney was extraordinary as the fairy-godmother. The rest of the cast was great too. Especially the prince, Whoopi, and the two hillarios step-sisters. Not only will your children love this movie but you will too. So if you want a movie to watch with your whole family, or a role model (Brandy) for your kids this is definitely the movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wonderful Musical
Review: This was an excellent movie. Children and adults will enjoy this classic tale, with its modern twist. It is EXCELLENT!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: poor thin stuff . . . .
Review: A weary attempt to multiculturalise an old European legend, lifeless and bland except for a rather cute proformance by Goldberg. Stick with the classic Cartoon version.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Bad outweighs the Good
Review: Everyone knows the story of Cinderella - it has managed to stay around so long because of it's wonderful 'rags to riches' theme. But this version of Cinderella may not be the typical sweet story that you remember.
This version of Cinderella perhaps stands out a little more than others because of it's set designs, costumes and makeup. Depending on the sort of person you are, you'll either find them garish and tacky, or bright and whimsical, but no one can deny that a lot of hard work must have gone into their making. As well as this, dance numbers were pretty well done - especially 'The Prince is having a Ball' routine in the village, and the spinning camera movements during 'I Have Found Her' in the palace, and the ballroom dancing that immediatly follows it.
Songs (when they are Rodger and Hammerstein's songs) are always a joy, and luckily all singing characters *can* actually sing.
However, thanks to this movie, it is now a proven fact that Brandy cannot act. I managed to wince out loud when she was singing 'My Own Little Corner', as her facial expressions were so horribly un-natural. Moving away from the old gentle-dear-sweet godmother is Whitney Houston who tries to steal the show as a hip cool granny in a skin tight body-dress. It didn't quite work for me.
Furthermore, Jason Alexander as Lionel, the palace servant who doubles as palace road-kill (and who for some reason adopts a french accent) may either tickle your fancy or annoy the heck out of you. Kids will probably enjoy his multiple accidents though.
However, there are some good cast choices. Whoopi Goldberg as the melodramatic Queen Constantina and Victor Garber as King Maximillian who just keeps putting up with her get some genuine laughs, and Bernadette Peters as the evil stepmother is outstanding, managing to bring some depth to her character with the song 'I Fell in Love with Love', as well as being one of those villians you just love to hate.
Paolo Montalban is a reasonably interesting Prince, as well as a miracle child - he is an Asian son born to an African-American mother and a European father! What are the odds?!
The stepsisters are mostly there for slapstick purposes, and here is where I felt the film was a bit hypocritical. The casting director goes all out for a multi-racial cast, and yet one of the stepsisters, Minerva, seems to be cast as 'ugly', simply because she is overweight. That's a good message to send out to the kiddies.
Overall, this movie wasn't really the movie it could have been, and worth watching only for the songs, dancing, costumes, and Bernadette Peters.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LOVED IT!!!!!!!
Review: I really enjoyed this version of Cinderella. I love all of the actors voices. I also really liked the fact that there were no color lines as far as casting and who was paired with what role...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How to ruin a classic
Review: If you're a student of the works of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, you may have to wonder sometimes why the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, with its reputation for keeping the reins tight on the authors' productions, allow so many of the R&H masterpieces to be massacred. While the notion of a multi-culture cast has its appeal, and many of the songs are done well here (including Rodgers' "The Sweetest Sounds"), the problem with this film is it can't let fairy tale be fairy tale. In this age, where bookish know-it-all's, so worried about the messages that children are receiving and how they think those children receive those messages, have to re-work basic plots to have a politically correct message. In the original, it was the simple message, that even the ugliest duckling can really be a beautiful swan. But now, it's all about believing in yourself. So once again, the great Hammerstein script gets thrown out (even though the credits still read "Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II), for this new politically correct treatment. And a few songs are added to the score, unnecessarily, in my opinion. "Falling in Love With Love" is a great Rodgers and Hart tune, but it really doesn't belong here, nor does "The Sweetest Sounds," with words and music by Rodgers. (The whole creative message Rodgers and Hammerstein strived to get across to their generation was that songs weren't to be added willy-nilly to the book, but rather that songs should be written that are so character-specicific they drive the plot. Deciding to just throw in a song from another show totally contradicts everything Rodgers and Hammerstein stood for.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Choice!
Review: My 3 year old daughter is in love with this video. She knows the words to the songs as well as the actors lines. She can identify with the characters (especially Cinderella) and when she sees other versions of the book or the video she says that they are not the real Cinderella. I am concerned about positive images for her self esteem and this video has served the purpose of introducing her to some of those images.

The cast of characters is made up of a great mixture of races which displays the diversity that I want my daugter to be comfortable with. My concern is the absence of African American Males in the video. There is not one except for the extras in any significant roles. Unfortunately, I cannot find everything that I am looking for in one video but again the presentation of those in the video is done well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Uniquely done musical
Review: Frankly, I'm surprrised at how much effort this was put in this made-for-TV version of the hit Disney animated classic. A multiracial cast was set, casting Bernadette Peters as the deliciously nasty stepmother, a lovely Brandy Norwood as Cinderella and Victor Garber and Whoopi Goldberg as the king and queen.

The movie is uniquely done, lavishly done, fine songs and chereography. The movie itself is a work of love, but it'll never compare to the glitzy, emotion-driven musical power of "Moulin Rouge." But the movie is special in its own way.

Give it a look, it's a special musical.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A magical and touching version of the classic Disney Film
Review: Looking for a movie made for all ages? Hoping it's not another cutsey-pie film with no storyline? I would highly recomend "Rodger and Hammerstein's Cinderella", a wonderful musical version of the classic Disney film. With such a convincing cast, the film may seem like reality , despite its fantasy setting. Brandy leads the beautiful film, along with other well-known actors such as Jason Alexander, Whoopie Goldberg, Whitney Houston, Victor Garber, and newcomer Paolo Montalban. I recently bought Cinderella after seeing it on television, and it instantly became a family favorite. Buy "Rodger and Hammerstein's Cinderella" as soon as possible, and believe me, you won't regret it.


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