Amazon’s “Cinderella” stars a slew of familiar faces: Camila Cabello, Nicholas Galizine, Billy Porter, Idina Mendel, James Corden, Pierce Brosnan, and Minnie Driver. But just because this cast is packed with celebrities doesn’t ensure the movie will be of A-list quality.
I have seen countless TikToks making fun of the new Cinderella. People specifically joke about the terrible singing and many say Camila Cabello’s producer must have hated her to have edited her singing this bad. Even though I saw all the clips and posts online about the tragedy that is this movie, I had to investigate myself.
Right off the bat, the movie starts off with a mash-up of Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” and “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree. If you can make it past the rat-squealing solo (literally), there are plenty of other contemporary songs where that came from. While there are some original songs, most were popular songs we all know and love, which I will list below:
- “Somebody to Love” by Queen
- “Material Girl” by Madonna
- “Am I Wrong” by Nico and Vinz
- “Whatta Man” by Salt-N-Pepa fr. En Vogue mashed up with “Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes
- “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran
- “Let’s Get Loud” by J-Lo.
Absolutely every one of these songs in the context of the classic Cinderella story feels jarring and comical. Watching Cabello and Galizine duet Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” at a kingdom ball looked and sounded more like something out of a 2018 prom. Also, never in a million years would I have expected to hear “Seven Nation Army” and “Whatta Man” played in conjunction with one another. The music was, for me, the worst part of the movie.
There are some plot flaws and inconsistencies in the movie, also. My personal favorites are:
- Cinderella and her family have no accent in a European kingdom where everyone else has an accent. (A silly thing to be annoyed about but my God it bothered me.)
- Prince Charming (named Robert in the movie) has never been cut out to rule and has been put under pressure by his father to find a wife regardless of love— but his younger sister, Gwen, has bold ideas in helping the kingdom. Her character is underdeveloped considering the role they give her in the end as the future queen.
- Instead of the conflict being based on the fact that he is a prince and she is a commoner, that issue is downplayed and the issue becomes how Cinderella wants to sell dresses.
While there is nothing wrong with the “girl-boss” energy happening in the movie, the last two plot points aren’t very well developed and come off as more of a Hallmark movie spin-off of Cinderella.