Cinderella (1950, G)

There are still other old-school Disney films on my list to rewatch (thank you, Disney+!), but this is the last of the princess films I hadn’t gotten around to yet. Like some of the other half-century-or-older Disney princess movies I’ve revisitd, I’m struck by the fact that while, yes, it leaves a lot to be desired compared to its more recent/enlightened counterparts, it’s better than my memories of it.

Cinderella is forced to work as a servant for her cruel stepmother and selfish stepsisters, who treat her like dirt. When the king holds a ball for his son and invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to attend, Cinderella’s stepmother contrives to keep her away, but Cinderella’s fairy godmother has other ideas about that.

It’s all the classics I remember, of course. The glass slippers, the pumpkin-turned-carriage, the last stroke of midnight. All this stuff is beautifully animated, the music is lush (when it’s not sung by mice, natch,) and the most iconic sequences still hold up. I especially like Cinderella’s first attempt at going to the ball, her hurried flight at midnight, and the sequence at the end with the glass slipper.

I remembered all of Cinderella’s animal friends (who could forget Gus-Gus?), including the birds helping her get dressed in the morning. It’s one of those things that’s become twee, and it is, but it also demonstrates a couple of important things. First, it shows Cinderella’s kind heart. As deprived as she is, she still takes time to look after, clothe, and befriend the mice, and especially in these earliest Disney princess movies, the heroine is marked for her kindness. Second, it shows that, before the fairy godmother comes along, the only ones who are rooting for Cinderella and want to help her are these animal friends of hers. She’s a teenage girls who’s trapped in a pretty horrible situation with people who verbally abuse her, exploit her, and get off on making her miserable, and these tiny little mice are the ones doing everything in their limited power to try and make her life better, which is very sweet. Not to mention, their expanded presence also helps pad the film, offering opportunities for comic/action sequences featuring Jaq and Gus’s run-ins with the cat Lucifer.

As far as Cinderella goes, it’s important to remember just how desperate her situation is, and she really doesn’t have a lot of options. Not that fighting back or escape wouldn’t be possible, but even if she were to get away, her prospects would still be limited and she might find herself in danger from other avenues. As such, she doesn’t really try to openly rebel against her abusers, but she does manage to maintain her own sense of self despite everything that’s happened to her. She makes (lightly) snarky comments to her animal friends, she tries to reason with her stepmother where she can, and she keeps a spark of hope/optimism alive by holding to her dreams. Obviously, Disney princesses’ agency has come a lot further since then, but it still isn’t nothing.

Warnings

Thematic elements, scary moments for kids, and brief violence.