D23’s Cinderella at the Palace of Fine Arts (A Review)

Last month D23 announced that members attending the Annual Stockholder meeting on 3/12/15 were also invited to attend a special screening of the new live action Cinderella. Gold Level D23 Members were also invited to attend a desert party following the movie. D23 Gold member Jennifer Dutrow was wonderful enough to submit the following review of the movie and reception to TMSM. Please know there ARE some spoilers in her movie review. ~Aut

Cinderella officially hits theaters tomorrow, but I was lucky enough to be able to see an advanced screening of the film, thanks to D23! After the shareholders meeting, D23 members were welcomed to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, on a beautiful day, with no fog and only sunshine, to see the film.

Members were informed that the screening would begin around 1:30pm. Image sure that I left home with plenty of time, and with a few small pockets of traffic made it to the Palace of Fine arts at 12:30, and as at every Disney event, found a line. The line began to go around the building, but was not too bad. While standing in line, local Disney Store employees came by to check in guest, and distribute wristbands to the gold members, who would attend the reception afterwards.

It was shortly after 1:00 that we began to enter the building, and the first thing that we had to do was check in your phone and other electronic devices. On the way to entering the theatre, bags were searched, and guest were wanted. I was getting nervous about the among of people, but once in the theatre, there was plenty of space. I was able to sit in the fourth row center, with no one in front of me. Endless to say the theatre was huge! There were empty seats, even thought there were a couple hundred people there.

Things began with an intro by the president of D23, who did a brief recap of what was said at the shareholders meeting. Including the announcement of ‘Frozen 2’ and ‘Star Wars’. With that, we were shown ‘Frozen Fever’.

I thought hat the short was good. It was solid and funny. The crowd enjoyed it, laughing throughout. (Spoiler Alert) The plot was simple, Elsa is trying to give Anna the best birthday ever, but things begin to fall apart when Elsa begins to come down with a cold, and is fighting it throughout the rest of the show. All of the characters that we have seen in ‘Frozen’ we do see again, including Trader Oaken, Marshmallow , and Hans (who got the biggest laugh from the crowd!). Watching this, I can easily see the marketing potential for certain characters that were in this, and not just Olaf.

Spoiler Alert!

After that, Cinderella began. The film spent, what some could argue as a long time, building up the story. We got to see Ella, her mother and father, and her childhood, including her mother’s death, and her fathers choice to marry Lady Tremaine. From there the story continues with her father leaving for a business trip (like in ‘Ever After’) and the step sisters ask for him to bring back things such as lace and parasols, whereas Ella wants something simple. On the trip, father dies, and Ella gets reduced to a servant in her own home.

The story continues following similarly to the animated version we all know. We do get to see a certain spoiled cat, Lucifer, and the mice, one is named Gus-Gus. Fortunately, the mice do not talk, but they are friendly with Ella, like pets, but more animated than your average pet mouse. Ella continues to ‘be courageous and kind’ through the abuse of her step-mother and step-sisters, and when they decide to rename her ‘Cinderella’, because she slept by the fireplace to keep warm, she gets upset and goes for a ride out in the forest. It is there that she meets the prince, and she hides her identity, and he hides his.

We then begin to find out more about our prince. It is similar to other versions and stories with princes, where he needs to find a bride/queen before he takes the throne, and, of course, his father wants him to marry a princess. But this prince has just met Ella and keeps thinking about her. After coming to an agreement with the king, there will be a ball, and all are invited. Here is where things are pretty close to the original animated movie.

Cinderella is told she can’t go to the ball, she’s made fun of, so makes her dress, with some ‘small’ help, and when it’s time to go, her step-sisters and step-mother destroy the dress, and leave her crying. The fairy godmother showed up and with the help of things in the garden, including the mice, lizards, and a goose, we have the carriage, dress, and shoes, and head off to the ball but not without the warning about midnight.

While the rest of Cinderella’s family is trying to get close to the prince, we see that he is being pushed toward a certain princess that his father approves of. Then Cinderella  makes  her grand entrance, and the prince sees her. Of course they dance, while everyone watches, and then head out to the garden.  While there, the Duke and other royal advisers are trying to discover who this girl is, and Lady Tremain stumbles onto something that she hadn’t expected, that helps to change the plot.

The clock strikes midnight, and Cinderella rushes home, leaving behind her glass slipper.  Following this, the search  for the girl who owns the shoe begins. During the search, Lady Tremain discovers that Cinderella is girl that the prince seeks, and sets up her own plan to better her life and that of daughters. Needless to say, she is not the only one who does the conniving in this story. But in the end, the sinister plans are revealed and the prince finds his princess.

I thought the movie was very good. I enjoyed that it gave nods to the original story, and did give the other supporting character some depth. The costumes and scenery were visually pleasing, and the carriage was beautiful (as was Cinderella’s dress). The story telling was good, you did have a narrator through it, but it did help to move the story along.  There maybe a few parts where it moved slow, but  I didn’t notice it. Every one that I talked to enjoyed the film, and the consensus was that Disney did a great job of translating and animated classic to live action. Those who saw it with me did laugh at times, and a few tears were shed at sad moments, and some in awe of what they were seeing played out on the screen. I would recommend seeing this film. (There was no scene at the end of the credits.)

 After the film, all were ushered outgo retrieve their electronic devices, and leave, unless you had the wristband. D23 gold members were then invited into a reception, where you could enjoy beverages and small sweet treats, including cookies, small chocolate treats, and mini cheesecakes! We were all given a Cinderella magnet  frame, which we could put a picture in later. Center pieces on the take were simple and contained Cinderella’s carriage, but those quickly began to disappear into bags, which was sad. Near the drink tables, the center pieces did have the glass slipper and butterflies, very elegant.

People mixed and mingled, but what  the crowd really enjoyed were the characters that showed up for photo opportunities. Woody from ‘Toy Story’, 2 storm troopers,  and the Olaf. At one point, each character had a line, but it was a short wait. People seemed to have the most fun posing with the storm troopers, but enjoyed having their picture taken with Woody and were elated that Olaf was there.

The reception was fun and enjoyable. Friends were made, and some were reacquainted, as they only see each other at D23 events. Everyone was having a good time and helping each other to get their pictures with smartphones and cameras. The best one I saw was two people that wanted a selfie with the storm troopers, but their arms were not long enough, and the storm trooper couldn’t get the camera on the phone to work. So, someone stepped in and held the phone at the storm troopers arms length while the storm troopers arm was up, so the end result would appear as a selfie.

D23 once again did a good job hosting an event. If there was anything questionable, it would be, why those characters? I guess it was because they have new films coming out. But regardless of that, it was a great afternoon enjoyed by all, including the kids that missed a day of school for this.