The pop star shows a knack for comedy in update full of positive messages and Top 40 hits.
The Cinderella fairy tale has been adapted time and time and time again for the movies and TV, from the 1950 Disney animated version to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals from 1957 and 1997 to Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 take to outliers such as “Ella Enchanted” and the Jerry Lewis comedy “Cinderfella” — and now we’ve got a new jukebox musical update with some modern and progressive themes about gender roles, and it’s a most welcome addition to the library. Writer-director Kay Cannon is the author of the “Pitch Perfect” movies, and “Cinderella” has a similarly upbeat, breezy and sentimental style, laced with some sharp humor and filled with familiar and catchy pop tunes refashioned to fit the storyline. The popular singer-songwriter Camila Cabello makes her acting debut as the titular character, and she’s a revelation, as the camera loves her and she displays not only the expected vocal chops but a real knack for comedy, as this version of Cinderella is particularly charming when she’s floundering about and getting into embarrassing situations of her own making. Whether she’s called out by the king for perching on a statue in the town square or wobbling about on glass slippers that are as uncomfortable as glass slippers would be in real life, Cinderella just keeps winning us over. Any prince would be lucky to have her heart.
