The new live action Cinderella

I just watched it, and I have thoughts.

The part of me that is five and loves Disney movies loved it. It was basically the animated version, minus the talking mice.

The part of me that is an adult is sitting over here thinking, "umm, what."

This voice in my head kept thinking, "Oh. Is this a lesson in how to accept abuse heaped upon you when there is no good reason to?"

And (to quote Frozen), "You can't marry a man you just met!"

And also, "How do you manage to make so many beautiful people look so creepy?"

Basically the stepfamily is awful. Absolutely terrible. This is as it was in the animated feature, and in the actual story. In both of those versions, there was the impression that Cinderella stayed because she had no other option.

In this live action version, one of Ella's friends actually asks her why she doesn't leave. So, right there, you know that Ella has the option of leaving, finding a job as a servant who gets paid and not abused.

Ella says some bullshit excuse about how her parents wouldn't want her to leave the house they loved so.

Okay, look. This does not work as an excuse, because 1) Ella's parents would not want her to be enduring the type of abuse she is enduring, and 2) SHE LEAVES THE HOUSE WHEN SHE MARRIES THE PRINCE ANYWAY.

For the marrying a man you just met thing, which Disney even acknowledges is crazy in Frozen, you could have stuck another, I dunno, ten minutes in there of meeting serendipitously and talking. They managed that in Ever After (full disclosure, I love Ever After, I have it on VHS so I can never watch it, but I love it). (Similarities between the two involve the stepmothers having AMAZING cheekbones.) Or I don't know, something.

They made sure to mention that both Ella and the prince think each other is kind and brave, so at least they tried to make it about more than HEY I THINK UR HAWT, but they never spend enough time around each other for them to know that. And it is really easy for someone to SAY "hey, I am totally awesome," but sometimes people say they are awesome and you find out they are completely wrong, and just an egotistical asshole. We, the audience, can see that yes, this person is kind and good, but they, the people in the story, don't see what we see, so there is no way for them to know the other person isn't just a narcissist.

And for the making people look creepy, I think it was the oversaturation. Everyone looks... fake. Like dolls. And it isn't because they erased everyone's imperfections, because face shots you could still see freckles and pores and stuff. But the colours weren't quite right? It is kind of that uncanny valley thing, I think, where your brains says, "this doesn't look like it should," but there is no glaring, obvious thing saying, "THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG."

But my main issue was why Ella stayed. I understand abusive homes are hard to leave. I get that. But I never got the impression that Ella had been so cowed by this abuse that she couldn't see herself getting out.

And yes, I know it is a kids' movie, and that they don't want to traumatize the children, but I feel like telling kids that abuse is okay to accept as long as you stay "kind and have courage" is not a good message, either.

But I mean, the acting was good (Cate Blanchett KILLED IT as the stepmother) if over-the-top in some places, and it was definitely similar to the animated movie in almost every way, so it wasn't a terrible movie. If you like Disney movies, you will probably enjoy it (because most of me did).

I was just sort of irritated by these little details. They bothered me.