Cinderella live-action movie

[SwordPony]

I loved it!! I thought it was very neat that they gave the prince a name. I loved that they kept the staircase from the animated version to this one. So neat to see that part.

I must say that I loved Helena Bonham Carter as the fairy godmother. So cool to see her in a nice role instead of always being the bad guy.

[Marigold]

Helena Bonham Carter/the Godmother was actually the only part I didn't like.  I felt like they tried really hard to make those scenes funny, but they were merely droll slapstick.  The writing could have been better.  I liked her as the hag and I had hoped the scene would be more sincere like the rest of the movie instead of suddenly having some "Home Alone" comedy stylings.

I loved Ella and her prince meeting in the woods.  I adored her family in the beginning and the way she interacted with her dad after the loss of her mom and when the new family moved in.  I wish we could have seen more of Ella being kind at the end like granting her step family more forgiveness and a place in the kingdom.  I always loved the versions of her story when she somehow takes them in and gives them what they do not deserve.  I felt badly for the step mom when she overheard her husband say she and her daughters were "trying/difficult". 

I do wish they had done more with the special relationship she had with her father.  Maybe he was the one who should have told Ella to have courage and be kind.  Or something more.  The butterfly was a strong symbol of him, and I wanted to see her have something special about the butterflies rather than just that one gift in the beginning.  Unless I remember wrong.

 

[Galactica]

Well based on the mostly positive reception-  I will watch it when my nieces inevitably get it on DVD and play it non-stop during one of our visits

I did see the previews and had thought that it really looked like they were trying to make the characters "look" like the cartoon.