Let me tell you something first. To be honest, I put such low expectation on Cinderella because I was still in my "Maleficent trauma". I guess I put so much expectation on Maleficent that it turned out to be a disappointment. I was very happy when Disney announced that they're going to release a Sleeping Beauty live-action but with a different point of view. That sounded very interesting to me. But when I finally saw it, it disappointed me a lot. So when they announced Cinderella, I was like, "this is going to be another disappointment." Fortunately, I was wrong.

I really enjoyed Cinderella, though it would not be on my "favorite movies of 2015" list. It's not the kind of movie that I'd love to see over and over again, but I still liked it. The story was, well, just like the cartoon version. I wasn't expecting anything on the story since it's a remake. I think they are better at remaking than making a whole different story like they did with Maleficent. 

The dialogues were fine, just like those typical Disney Princess kinds of dialogues. There was nothing special about them, yet they fit for what the movie was quite perfectly. The dialogues were predictable and very easy to forget, not quotable enough. Although there were some lines that are quite unforgettable like, "have courage and be kind" and "just because it's what's done doesn't mean it's what should be done.".  But I think it was because of those lines were being said more than one time, so they got stuck in my head easily.

There were two aspects of the movie that I liked the most: the acting and the directing. All of the cast did a great job in representing their characters. They reminded me so much of the cartoon versions. Lily James was very good. I had never seen any of her performances before (though I had seen Downton Abbey once but I didn't notice her so I didn't remember whether she was good or not), so this first impression of her was promising. She gave a very...., Cinderella-ish performance. I didn't know how to describe it, because she was simply very Cinderella, very Disney Princess, not like Elle Fanning's portrayal of Princess Aurora which was so not Aurora. Well, in my opinion.

Cate Blanchett....., duh! She was the perfect choice for the role of Lady Tremaine. She was very evil and wicked. She also made me go like, "oh you b*tch!". She gave a very powerful performance of the cruel and b*tchy stepmother. Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera were also good. They succeeded in portraying such annoying yet dumb stepsisters. Richard Madden also delivered such a charming performance. Charming enough to make me go a bit crazy whenever he was on screen. And Helena Bonham Carter..., wow! Did she ever give a bad performance? She was excellent in playing the role of Fairy Godmother. Very fairy-tale-ish. The rest of the cast also did a great job in portraying their characters. I guess the acting part was the highlight of the movie. It was the best part of the movie, and it was what made me stayed the whole 1 hour and a half.

Everything in the movie was very fairy-tale-ish, very magical, and very Disney-ish. The director, Kenneth Branagh, succeeded in bringing back the magic and the feel of fairy tale. And I liked the way he did it. He put the tone of magic and fairy tale at the right amount. I liked that Cinderella didn't sing too much. But when she sang, it was beautiful, very magical and very Cinderella. I also liked how Branagh captured the friendship between Cinderella and the rats. He didn't make it look too unreal and too..., cartoon-liked, if you know what I mean.

There were some flawed scenes though, like the scene where Cinderella and the Prince were at his secret garden playing on a swing. I found that scene a bit odd. It looked more like a scene from a cheesy romantic drama movie than from a Disney Princess movie, at least to me. But overall, Cinderella was a very enjoying and magical Disney Princess remake filled with excellent performances by its cast. It was also visually attractive, thanks to its wonderful and magical (I guess I used the word "magic/magical" way too much) costume and production designs. I still compared it with the cartoon version though, since it's a remake. And the result was I still prefer the cartoon version, but this live-action Cinderella was not a disappointment. I was truly a magic (oops, I just said that word again).

My final rating: 8/10.