Film
Cinderella
This is Disney's storybook played completely straight: no songs, no irony, just candlelight, ballgowns and a genuinely moved Kenneth Branagh finding grandeur in familiar beats. Lily James is guileless and warm, Cate Blanchett is deliciously cold as the stepmother, and the pumpkin-carriage transformation is staged like a small miracle. It's for anyone who wants comfort, colour and a happy ending delivered without a wink.
If you liked this
Beauty and the Beast2017
Same studio's live-action machine at its most opulent, with Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, glorious songs, and that same instinct for lavish, unembarrassed sincerity.
But If you found Cinderella a touch too polished and safe, this doubles down on the CGI gloss and may tip you into ornament fatigue.

Into the Woods2014
Same fairy-tale world, including its own Cinderella, but Sondheim's songs pull the stories apart to ask what happens after happily ever after.
But The tone turns dark and knowing fast, and if you wanted uncomplicated warmth, the second half plays like a bait-and-switch.

Enchanted2007
A fairy-tale princess lands in real New York, and the film has huge affection for the genre it's gently sending up, with Amy Adams glowing throughout.
But The comedy leans on a knowingness the straight-faced 2015 Cinderella never needed, so it may feel like a wink where you wanted sincerity.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Pan's Labyrinth2006
Same fairy-tale architecture — orphaned girl, monstrous parent-figure, a test she must pass to be saved — but del Toro plays it as war and horror rather than romance, showing how dark the Cinderella shape always was underneath.
A girl escapes a cruel stepfather and a fascist Spain into a private fairy-tale world, told with the same fascination with cruelty, transformation and the price of belief.
But It's genuinely upsetting, violent and unresolved in a way that offers no fairy-tale comfort, so anyone wanting Branagh's tenderness will be blindsided.

More like this (8)
EverAfter1998
Drew Barrymore's Cinderella talks back, reads books, and rescues herself as often as she's rescued — a sturdy, grounded retelling with real wit and warmth.
But The fantasy elements are stripped almost entirely away, so anyone drawn to Branagh's magic and spectacle might miss the fairy godmother.

The Princess Bride1987
Storybook romance told with constant good humour, sweeping adventure and lines everyone quotes — the fairy tale for people who think they're too cool for fairy tales.
But It's arch and jokey where Cinderella plays everything straight, so the constant winking might grate if you want unguarded sincerity.

Maleficent2014no page yet
Another Disney fairy tale rebuilt from the ground up, this time from the villain's side, with Angelina Jolie giving the wicked fairy real sorrow and menace.
But It rewrites the story's morality so thoroughly that it barely resembles the tale you know, which may frustrate purists.
Snow White and the Huntsman2012no page yet
Same fairy-tale bones — cruel stepmother, persecuted heroine — pushed into darker, more violent territory, with Charlize Theron a genuinely frightening queen.
But It trades warmth for grit and battle scenes, so the tender, storybook feeling of Cinderella is mostly absent.
A Cinderella Story2004no page yet
The same rags-to-glass-slipper shape transplanted into a noughties American high school, breezy and unpretentious, with Hilary Duff at her most likeable.
But It has none of the visual splendour or emotional weight of the 2015 film; this is comfort food, not craft.
Ella Enchanted2004
A goofier, more comic spin on the fairy-tale-princess formula, with Anne Hathaway cursed to obey every command and turning it into a scrappy adventure.
But The humour is broad and the production modest, a big step down in polish and ambition from Branagh's version.

Carrie1976
Strip the ball-gown story down to its bones and it's the same shape — cruelty at home, a magical night, a clock ticking toward ruin — Carrie just lets the humiliation win instead of love.
A bullied girl, a monstrous mother, a transformation before the big night, a midnight deadline — the Cinderella skeleton run straight through a horror movie, and it's electric.
But It ends in bloody catastrophe rather than a kiss, and the queasy prom-night dread is about as far from candlelit romance as a film can get.

Cinderella1950no page yet
This is the direct ancestor — watching it after the remake shows exactly what Branagh kept, what he expanded, and how much quieter and stranger the story was before it got its full romantic upholstery.
The original Disney version Branagh's film is quietly answering — spare, brisk, a little melancholy, with a fairy godmother and mice doing in seventy-odd minutes what the remake takes twice as long to feel.
But The animation is charming but plain by modern standards, and the story is told with none of the emotional shading the 2015 version adds.
People
Cast
Lily JamesCinderella
Cate BlanchettStepmother, Lady Tremaine
Richard MaddenPrince
Stellan SkarsgårdGrand Duke
Holliday GraingerAnastasia Tremaine
Sophie McSheraDrizella Tremaine
Derek JacobiKing
Helena Bonham CarterFairy Godmother
Nonso AnozieCaptain
Ben ChaplinCinderella's Father
Hayley AtwellCinderella's Mother
Richard McCabeBaron
Directing
- Barney ShakespeareCrowd Assistant Director
- Kenneth BranaghDirector
- William DoddsFirst Assistant Director
- Samar PollittSecond Assistant Director
- Alexander WittSecond Unit Director
Writing
- Chris WeitzScreenplay
- Charles PerraultStory
Production
- Vanessa BakerADR Voice Casting
- Lucy BevanCasting
- Ruth KeyCasting Associate
- Tim LewisExecutive Producer
- Rebecca WolfFirst Assistant Accountant
- Ana StichiniPayroll Accountant
- Allison ShearmurProducer
- David BarronProducer
- Simon KinbergProducer
- Celeste TalaszekProduction Accountant
- Richard DaldryProduction Coordinator
- Katherine TibbettsProduction Supervisor
- Steve HardingUnit Production Manager