Whilst Alice in Wonderland’s billion-dollar success got the ball rolling for live action Disney Remakes with big budgets and big actors, we wouldn’t see another one until 2014, with Maleficent, but I’m not covering Maleficent as part of this Marathon, as it doesn’t share its name with the original. Perhaps another time. With 2015 came of the remake of Cinderella, another adaptation of a book, maybe there’s a pattern here
At the directors helm this time is Kenneth Branagh, who has certainly a mixed history with me. I liked his Murder on the Orient Express, was underwhelmed but not entirely displeased with Thor and then came Artemis Fowl… I don’t really need to say anymore, do I? Stay tuned for that review in 2021/2022.
The film didn’t have the budget of Tim Burton’s Alice, mostly because this shouldn’t need to create expansive worlds using special effects and made about $500m at the box office, a reasonable success for the house of mouse.
The original is another movie I’d describe as a 20-minute short stretched over 75 minutes. But with this it’s far easier to identify exactly what could’ve been cut. The cat and mouse chase scenes. Looney Tunes and MGM’s Tom and Jerry had cornered the market in this regard and their slapstick was lacklustre, missing the timing and sound of the true slapstick greats. But does the 2015 improve on this? Let’s take a look
