Cinderella

A Disney Tale: A young girl is forced into drudgery by her step-family, only to win the heart of the kingdom's Prince and live happily ever after.

Disney Hero: Ostensibly, the 'hero' of Cinderella is the Prince (never actually referred to as Prince Charming, despite that being what he is generally known as today.  Some sources have him named as Henry.).  It is he who romances Cinderella and desires her as his wife after the ball.  But, actually, the real heroes of Cinderella - for me - are Jaq and Gus, Cinderella's mice friends.  They are the one's who rescue Cinderella from her attic room.  Jaq is also responsible for battling Lucifer and saving many of his mouse friends.  I love Jaq and Gus!

Disney Heroine: Cinderella is the first heroine of a Disney movie since Snow White to have a life outside the movie.  As a character, she is iconic and forms an integral part of the 'Disney Princess' branding.  Now, I had a lot of issues with Snow White as a character and, fortunately, the script and story for Cinderella get a lot more right, although Cinderella's character is tied to the tropes required of her due to being a 'fairy tale princess'.  I think a clear difference between Cinderella and Snow White is that Cinderella feels like a grown-up.  Despite being forced into a life of drudgery by her horrendous step-family, she continues each day to meet their demands whilst still believing in her dreams.  She's a hard worker too and, although she probably should be kicking up more of a stink considering how unfairly she is treated, she performs her tasks diligently and competently.  I like Cinderella in a way I definitely did not like Snow White.

Disney Villain: Cinderella presents us with a triumvirate of villains in the shape of Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's stepmother, and Drizella and Anastasia, her vile stepsisters.  Lady Tremaine is the focus of the villainy and has a truly malicious attitude towards her stepdaughter.  Tremaine isn't a villain who seems to have entered into the top tier that's occupied by the likes of Ursula, Cruella de Ville and the Evil Queen.  She tends to get forgotten and I think that's a huge shame.  She is a great villain - she's manipulative, scheming and downright nasty throughout the film.  Maybe it's the fact that her villainy is on such a small scale, or that she has no extremes to her character, or even that she isn't a magical character.  But whatever it is, Lady Tremaine, for me, deserves more recognition. 

Alongside Lady Tremaine are Anastasia and Drizella.  In a way, they are Tremaine's bumbling, comic sidekicks is a similar vein to Iago, Le Fou or Pain and Panic.  They are spoilt brats who like to bully Cinderella.  What's interesting is I know that Anastasia becomes slightly more sympathetic as a character by the time Cinderella III: A Twist in Time comes around.  But for now, they exist only to be horrid to Cinderella, especially in the scene where they rip her dress apart to prevent her from going to the ball.  They also have the classic scene where they try on the glass slipper only to find their feet are far too big and clumsy.  The original version of Cinderella has the stepsisters cutting off their toes and heels to make the slipper but Disney hasn't pursued this element (although it does finally appear in Into the Woods along with other less savoury aspects of various fairy tales).

There is, of course, one more villain in Cinderella - Lucifer, the cat.  He is the nemesis of Jaq, Gus and the other mice.  There is a very long sequence involving Lucifer and the mice which is hugely entertaining.  Cinderella wasn't a film I'd ever paid much attention to before this marathon and one of the delights has been discovering Lucifer.  He is a great character and a brilliant foil for the mice.  The cat and mouse chase scenes, particularly with him and Gus, are some of my favourite parts of the film.  Lucifer is an amalgam of his mistresses, in a way - he has the scheming, sinister nature of Lady Tremaine accompanied by the clumsiness of her daughters.

Disney Sidekicks: Cinderella is also gifted with some classic Disney sidekicks in the form of Jaq and Gus.  With their 'not quite English' style of speech and high-pitched voices, they are a great addition to the film.  Their battles with Lucifer and their friendship with Cinderella are, for me, at the core of the film - probably moreso than the romance between Cinderella and the Prince.  Jaq's bravery and Gus's naivety give us likeable characters.

Disney Creatures: Accompanying Jaq and Gus are a plethora of other mice, including the girls, Perla and Mary and Suzy, Bert and Luke who accompany Jaq and Gus on their food raid and various others who aid in the making of Cinderella's dress.  Cinderella also features a template for Disney creatures which reoccurs in quite a few other films.  At the house there is Bruno the dog, a horse and various birds.  A group of animals residing in a barn, including horses and dogs reappear in The Aristocats and 101 Dalmatians  with variations on this theme popping up in Lady and the Tramp and The Fox and the Hound.

Disney Magic: Cinderella includes one of Disney's most famous magical characters - the Fairy Godmother.  She is iconic in her hooded, blue cloak and large purple bow and thanks, in no small part, to her catchy song.  What tends to be forgotten is that she doesn't actually appear in the film for very long and is really just a plot device to get Cinderella to the ball.  The magic she casts is primarily of the transformative kind, although like all magic, it comes at a price.  The transformations only stay until midnight.  It suggests that, ultimately, she isn't the most powerful of magic wielders.  Unlike a character like the Genie, she can't create something out of nothing and with all the items needs something ordinary to transform into something special.  She is fun, though.

Disney Land: It isn't clear exactly where Cinderella is set.  The original fairy tale of Cinderella is actually common in many countries in various forms, but the Disney version is most closely based on the French version.  Certainly the presence of a mouse called Jaq would suggest a French setting, but that is about the only clue.  The clothes worn by the characters are at the very least European in style probably from around the 18th or 19th Century.

Disney Songs: Cinderella, as a film, is not actually packed with songs although it does feature some which are recognised as classics.  Principal among these is the Fairy Godmother's song, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.  This is a fun song accompanying the transformation scenes.  It has been rerecorded numerous times over the years by various artists and my favourite is probably Louis Armstrong's rendition.  The film version actually has quite a long instrumental section which I often forget is there having listened to the song countless times on 'Best of Disney'-style soundtracks.

Cinderella has her own song, A Dream is a Wish  your Heart Makes, which opens the film after the prologue and serves to introduce Cinderella's situation and worldview.  It has clear echoes of Snow White (and Sleeping Beauty to come) with the animals sitting around listening to her sing.  Later in the film, she joins in with Anastasia and Drusilla's music lesson, singing Sing, Sweet Nightingale whilst washing the floor.  Needless to say, her rendition is a lot better than Drizella's singing.  So This is Love is another song revolving around Cinderella which is sung by Cinderella and the Prince whilst they dance at the ball.  It's not a song I particularly like, although there have been a couple of covers which have been, in my opinion, better arrangements of the song.

The other principal song is The Work Song, sung by the mice as they make Cinderella's dress.  It's cute, catchy and contains the classic word 'Cinderelly'!  It definitely ranks in second place, behind Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo as one of my favourite songs from this film.

As with Snow White, the traditional 'villain song' still isn't a definite presence in Disney films (and it will be sometime before it is) although, technically the villains do get a song as Lady Tremaine also joins in a little of Sing, Sweet Nightingale along with Drizella.

Disney Finale: Cinderella is a film which, up until this marathon - and also rewatching it with my children - had been one I'd dismissed from an age of Disney which never appealed to me as much as others.  I think, mentally, I had it lumped in with Snow White and Sleeping Beauty as twee princess films with not particularly good songs.  Having rewatched it, I found much to enjoy and, as I say, find Cinderella a much stronger character than Snow White ever was.  I was surprised by how much the mice and Lucifer feature and how entertaining their segments are. 

I also rather like the King and Grand Duke, desperate to see the Prince married.  The King's love for his departed wife is actually rather sweet and the Grand Duke's bumbling is fun. 

Cinderella has definitely gone up in my estimation and is a true Disney classic.