Picture-perfect but no passion
One wish for Disney's Cinderella - more energy

Date: November 02, 1997
By John Levesque, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

From The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
Submitted by: Larry A.


Just like Disneyland, the new version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella has the scrubbed and freshly painted look of perfection. The set is stunning, the costuming magnificent and the over-all image so eye-poppingly lush that it borders on 3-D.

Youngsters who have matured beyond repeated viewings of The Lion King and The Little Mermaid will most likely adore its gentle treatment of a story they probably know by heart. The multiracial cast is also a lovely, enlightened touch, the sort of production element kids aren't inclined to pay much attention to unless an adult makes a point of it.

But for all its wonders, this Cinderella is not a high-water mark for the television musical. More of a medium-water mark. It is measured, methodical and brilliantly staged, in the manner of any good Disneyland attraction, and ultimately as passionless.

One shouldn't expect a lot of depth in a musical whose running time, minus commercials, is less than 90 minutes. But Disney's Cinderella, in spite of a sumptuous look inspired by the Austrian art-nouveau visionary Gustav Klimt, has no verve, no bounce. Instead of inserting three additional songs from other Rodgers and Hammerstein productions into the score of this Cinderella, the producers might have been better advised to spend just a little more time injecting some energy into it.

Stepping into slippers previously worn on TV by Julie Andrews (1957) and Lesley Ann Warren (1965), 18-year-old Brandy - of Moesha fame - plays a Cinderella who is most appealing when she's singing. Despite a voice that seems hoarse and underpowered, Brandy's fantasy-filled rendition of In My Own Little Corner, after her stepmother reminds her of her lowly station, is one of the film's special moments.

When not engaged in song, however, Cinderella is a doe-eyed sylph - pert and cute, but enervating in her lack of spark as she dreams of falling in love with a princely hunk.

Similarly, Paolo Montalban's prince is handsome, charming and terrific in duets with Brandy, but less than inspiring between musical numbers.

The characters with the most spunk are Cinderella's imperious stepmother (Bernadette Peters) and the prince's loyal valet (Jason Alexander). Maybe it's their considerable stage experience showing, but Peters and Alexander are clearly on a level that the Disney Television production as a whole fails to reach.

Executive producer Whitney Houston, who once coveted the role of Cinderella, plays the fairy godmother as a sassy sort of confidante with a message: Everyone has the power to make her dream come true. Houston's town-crier singing voice also has a touch of hoarseness, but the crank-it-up volume is still there.

As the prince's parents, Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber are largely window-dressing in fabulous costumes. Veanne Cox and Natalie Desselle are appropriately annoying as Cinderella's stepsisters, although they're more silly than mean.

Of course, all of this means little to a 9-year-old, for whom Cinderella is likely to be a pleasant movie with nice songs. On that level, Disney and the producers deserve some credit for assembling a rainbow cast that ought to make this film appeal to children of all cultures for many years.

- Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella airs tonight at 7 on CBMT-6's Wonderful World of Disney.