I can't believe I haven't wrote about this!! And yeah,I'm totally going old school with this post. And I will count this as a movie even though it was first released on TV (the abc channel I believe). It was later released as a VHS so neener neener.
This movie is just pure entertainment.
I know that there alot of flaws with it but I frankly, I don't give a damn. It's colorful,shiny,and romantic. Plus Brandy, Whoopi Goldberg, and Whitney Houston is in it. Hell yeah!
If I'm correct, this movie is based on the Rodger and Hammerstein's adaptation of "Cinderella". There was even a previous TV movie of Cinderella featuring some soap star actor of some sort. I saw a glimpse of it and it was bleh. Boring and hokey looking.
Do I really need to go over the story of Cinderella? I do? Sheesh.
Now gather around:
Cinderella was the beloved daughter of a widowed merchant who travels alot. On one trip he returns with a brand spankin' new stepmother and her daughters. Instant family, just add petty jealousy.
Poor father passes away leaving Cinderella to be enslaved by the stepmother to do chores, etc. while the stepmother squanders the family money away.
During this time, a wayward prince is told to either get hitched his way or his parents way by the end of a ball.Naturally all the dainty females are now all a twitter over a chance of some royal ass.
The stepdaughers from hell go off to the ball while Cinderella mopes, whines, wails, and swoons over her woes. And dammit, a shiny godmother comes, waves her hand, and poof! Makeover magic! (insert expletive). Shiny Cinderella waltzes into the princes arm and waltzes away because alas there was fine print under the shiny: she only has till midnight then all her shininess goes away.Cinderella carelessly leaves a slipper which the Prince find. He goes foot shopping. Yada Yada long search yada yada oh whee! i found the foot! yada yada happily ever after.
There. That's the basic gist of the story. A better story is the Grimms tale. Oh yeah. Pools of blood and gore. Awesome.
So the duo that is Rodger and Hammerstein were determined to make a much happier song and dance version. Even Disney's version had some tension and gloom ( although I'm not sure whose version came first..). And this is my personal annoyance with R and H. So many of their musicals that are based on a story are really thinly, THINLY, based on the original. I have this feeling that R and H were determined to scrape out as much of the doom and gloom from stories as possible leaving saccharine songs and head scratching dance numbers. I don't harbor much love for R and H. I refuse to watch the "Kind and I" and blanched after watching 'The Flower Drum Song". I'm currently searching for a good autobiography of R and H to understand what the hell was their big idea of making these plays!??!? ok...enough ranting...
the only heartwarming R and H producion is this version of Cinderella. Only this one. I am really not a huge fan of the story. Oddly enough, I love reimagnings of this story. The story just has so much to expand from! There have been many versions but i do love this version. And all for superficial reasons.
I was just a little tween when this movie came out. Hormones were rip roaring through my stream. Boys were becoming attractive. Yeah...you get the gist.
This movie was a great movie for a tween.It had enough shiny and colorful sceneries to attract young,impressionable eyes. The songs were amazingly sung. One of my favorite songs is sung by Bernadette Peters (who plays the fabulous stepmother)," Falling in Love with Love". It's so amazing, here's a you tube video: http://youtu.be/lqEclRcoZeo
The characters in this movie were just plain fun. I've already mentioned Bernadette Peters (who I freakin' adore).There's Jason Alexander for crying out loud. He plays "Lionel", the plucky royal advisor. Whoopi Goldberg is the Queen with Victor Harber as the King. Whitney Houston plays the diva-er-Godmother.
Brandi as Cinderella was a great casting choice. She's beautiful with a kind face. For a tween, she seems like a great best friend. Plus her voice is awesome.
But for a female, it doesn't really matter who plays Cinderella. It's the Prince who holds the movie. For this movie, it was the most scrumptious asian prince I have ever seen. It is a shame that Paolo Montalban hasn't shown up in more movies. Damn he was fine....
Geez, I can wax so much praise for this movie. It's just one of the most enjoyable movie to enjoy. Great movie when you just want to unwind and let your romantic side fly.
Um, a word of warning...
....good luck getting those songs out of your head.
2 comments:
Man, your posts continue to bring up memories! I remember when this came out. I remember Brandi!
But unlike you young 'uns, this came out when I was in high school and already a teen. Brandi was for teeny boppers. (Hee hee gotta rub in my old lady status somewhere ;-) )
I do remember seeing it years later and enjoyed it in the movies you watch on TV kind of way. I probably even cried. Which isn't saying much. I cry at everything.
HI, found your blog through NaNo, and I just had to leave a comment. I remember watching this movie on TV with my family (I think it was for Wonderful World of Disney?), and despite that being the only time I ever watched it, I can still hear Brandi singing "impossible, impossible, impossible!" in my head. I suspect it's because it was in the trailer, so I didn't click the trailer even though I remember enjoying this movie a lot!
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