Movies

Cinderella: 'Into the Woods' and out of the box

By: Carly Mallenbaum December 25, 2014 3:33 pm

(Photos: Disney, USA TODAY)

We all know the basic story of Cinderella: Poor girl is subservient to evil stepmother after her father dies, and then a godmother, a glass slipper and Prince Charming turn things around. However, the character of Cinderella slightly changes from movie to movie.
In fact, in Into the Woods (out today), Cinderella’s story turns out completely different from her predecessors‘.

In the film based on the Stephen Sondheim musical, Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) only decides to leave her glass slipper behind after having an internal debate about it with the song On the Steps of the Palace. She does end up marrying the prince, with the help of a magical tree, but she doesn’t find her happily ever after with him. She doesn’t want to. We can’t say the same for every other Cinderella who’s been on the big screen before Kendrick’s. Let’s take a look at the other fairytale servants-turned-princesses:

Cinderella (1950)

This is the singing Cinderella (Ilene Woods) that you probably know best. She literally goes from rags to riches with the help of some Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and a pumpkin carriage.

Cinderella (1997)

Cinderella (Brandy Norwood) leads a multi-racial cast in this movie based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. She gets together with the prince (Paolo Montalban) with the help of fairy godmother Whitney Houston, and no help from stage star Bernadette Peters who’s the evil stepmother.

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

Cinderella, called Danielle (Drew Barrymore), is smart and interested in politics in Ever After. The prince is all about it, and Leonardo da Vinci makes an appearance.

A Cinderella Story (2004)

In this case, Cinderella (Hilary Duff) is actually called Sam, but she does the whole “I’m pretending to be someone I’m not” thing in front of high school royalty (Chad Michael Murray). She leaves a cell phone, instead of a shoe, behind at the dance.

Ella Enchanted (2004)

This protagonist, Ella (Anne Hathaway), only obeys evil orders, because she is under a spell to do so. The same cannot be said for most Cinderella types.