If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Blistering performances.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

One of the best Disney classics of fairy tales I've ever seen like Peter Pan and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although not my favorite Disney heroine, Cinderella is one of the greatest. Kingdom Hearts knew what they were doing when they made her one of The 7 Princesses of Light. And I absolutely LOVE the mice. I can't get the work song out of my head. Jimmy MacDonald was FANTASTIC as Jaq and Gus. And the scene with the king and the Grand Duke has be in stitches of laughter every time.All in all, I give the first of this trilogy a 10/10.

Let's be clear: a lot of Disney movies are rather oriented for girls: royal romance, love songs, dance and dresses, we boys are not really into that, whatever the feminist and gender extremists would like! If you add the crazy king father, the ugly bad characters (why this link?), the sadistic cat and helpful dog (why this discrimination), the abusive stepmother and stupid henchman, you find finally a universe in which I don't feel happy, in which family love is nonexistent and that's a bit hard!At last, we have those chipmunks-like mice that bring fun and lightness! For me, they are essential to this movie because without them, it would have been simply unwatchable. It's not the speedy, delirious, crazy and funny Sylvester & Tweety but some moments makes me laugh! The other thing i notice is that for that date, this animation was showing the future of the live movies: Colored, powerful visuals and horizon lines, stunning effects, only those things was first delivered then by Disney and it would take 10 years before the gap would be shorten by true movies!If Snow White can appeal to every one, this Cinderella is above all a dream for girls and a honest time for boys!

It's not a complex tale, but it doesn't have to be. It's a simplistic tale about falling in love, and easy to follow. I don't like it as much as other films in it's genre, but it made me laugh a few times and kept me interested. Much like "Snow White", the simplistic plot is helped along by stunning animation and timeless characters. I forgot just how evil the Stepmother and Stepsisters were. But unlike "Dumbo" for instance, Cinderella actually has a personality. She's kind, nice, and optimistic, which makes you actually feel sorry for her when she's abused. A lot of people like to say that the Golden Age of Disney ended with "Bambi", I don't agree with that. Sure they had to do a few package films to still gain income during World War II, but the charm and quality is still alive with "Cinderella". Obviously, the idea of a Golden age is just opinion, but saying Disney peaked with "Bambi" is a little far-fetched to me.

I call this strictly an average film because Cinderella is actually a mixed bag. On my + side, the human characters are strong, the magic works as well as the marketing boasts, and when the mice are actually important, they can keep the movie going enough to continue to watch it. The songs are overall average, with Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo being the only one I enjoyed. The rest, I could merely describe as sufferable. On my - side, I found Jackson, Octavius, and the other mice to have insufferably annoying voices, and when they aren't important to the Perrault plot, I couldn't stay awake. The mice get into all sorts of antics with Lucifer, distracting him to retrieve food, escape the castle, or other things that Cinderella has nothing to do with. The only scene of this Tom and Jerry clone that I enjoyed was the final one, not only because it meant an end to these ripoffs but also because IT WAS ACTUALLY IMPORTANT TO CINDERELLA'S PERSONAL STORY. The rest of them attempted to be like Tom and Jerry with more mice, but quality trumps quantity when it comes to the amount of mice you have against a cat. I don't know if I've been too harsh on it, but personally I would skip these scenes and leave remembering magic and important comic reliefs. Other than the mice vs. Lucifer scenes, this is decisively worth it.