Cinderella (2015) vs. Ever After (2002)

Warning: There will be spoilers—lots of spoilers.

   

So, I finally got a chance to watch the 2015 live action remake of Cinderella, and I was rather surprised to find that I liked it. A lot. Since falling in love with a random romance is a rare occasion for me, this warrants discussion. But, I can’t talk about Cinderella without also including Ever After. Hence this post.

Ella and Danielle. Both Ella and Danielle are strong in their own way. While Ella is sweet and kind, willing to endure great cruelty in order to keep the peace, Danielle is fiery and aggressive, eager to fight back when she feels it’s necessary. Each of the two girls serves her stepmother faithfully, and each has a compassionate heart. But that’s where the similarities end. In Cinderella, Ella remains locked in her attic room until the Prince hears her singing and sends his captain up to free her. In Ever After, by the time Henry arrives on the scene to save Danielle from Pierre, Danielle has already escaped.

Ella, always courageous and gentle, offers her stepmother forgiveness, even though the woman has asked for no such thing. She is far too pleased with her happy ending, and far too loving, to return cruelty for cruelty. Danielle, on the other hand, makes it very clear that she cares nothing for her stepmother and stepsister, and while she saves them from execution, she does not hesitate to give them their just deserts.

The Romance, The Ball, and the Slipper. In Cinderella, Ella and Kit meet a grand total of two times (that we know of) before their engagement. Obviously these people aren’t much for procrastination. While both their previous encounters are brief, they do learn more about each other than the characters in the original Cinderella do. Instead of simply falling for her good looks and her mysteriousness, as Prince Charming does, Kit recognizes Ella’s gentleness, courage, and kindness. Still, the time frame doesn’t offer much chance to get to know each other. And I have a difficult time believing it’s a good idea to marry someone you hardly know. At least, though, we can give bonus points to Kit for remembering what Ella looks like.

In Ever After, Danielle and Henry have more of a chance to get to know each other before making the decision to tie the knot. While we do have the ball scene and the slipper scene, they are essential to the plot in a much different way. Up until the ball, Danielle has led Henry to believe that she is a courtier. Admittedly, her original reason for posing as a courtier is justifiable, and it’s understandable that she would be reluctant to reveal her true identity. But the fact is, the two of them have had plenty of time to hang out and build an actual relationship beyond the traditional “love at first sight” plot device.

Here, the ball is a defining moment, not because the Prince falls head-over-heels for her and forthwith decides to marry her, but because Danielle’s stepmother exposes her for the commoner she is, and Henry casts her out. Rather than accepting her, as Kit accepts Ella, Henry nurses his wounded pride, and for a while we have to worry that the two won’t end up together. Only later, at the insistence of Leonardo da Vinci, does Henry seek Danielle out. The slipper scene is thrown in more as a satisfying conclusion to the story, rather than as a search and rescue mission culminating in an aha moment. After all, Henry doesn’t need to know who belongs to the slipper—all he needs to know is if he still belongs to the woman who wears the slipper.

The Stepmother. Both movies share the same stepmother, so to speak. Each stepmother had married the father, hoping to receive love and acceptance, only to find that the Cinderella figure owns all of the father’s heart. Naturally, greed and jealousy combine to make a cruel woman.

The Stepsisters. One major difference here is that, while, in Cinderella, we have the two traditionally evil stepsisters, in Ever After only one of the stepsisters is evil. Another divergence is that, in Cinderella, the two stepsisters really have no chance of winning the prince’s heart, whereas, in Ever After, one stepsister almost manages to snag, if not his heart, at least his hand in marriage.

The Beginnings. Here’s where I get a little nitpicky. While I very much enjoyed both movies, I do think the beginning of Ever After is far superior to the beginning of Cinderella. Both start off with a picture of our Cinderella figure’s happy life before the evil stepmother ruins everything. But Ever After manages to craft a bittersweet, amusing, heart-wrenching introduction, while Cinderella starts off with a heavy dose of cotton candy, then rushes through the sad stuff, leaving us with more exposition and less story.

 

So there you have it, my little coffee beans. If you want a movie that sticks closer to the original Disney animation, complete with the actual fairy godmother and the cute animals, I definitely recommend the 2015 Cinderella (rated PG). But if you prefer a more realistic, down-to-earth retelling, and if you feel that Leonardo da Vinci (painter and inventor extraordinaire) would make a better fairy godmother figure by far, then I suggest you check out Ever After (rated PG-13). Also, if you’d like to read any Cinderella retellings, I recommend ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine and CINDER by Marissa Meyer.

 

Have you seen either or both of the two movies? What are your thoughts? Which one is your favorite? Do you have any other Cinderella retellings to recommend?