40 Years, 40 Disney Movies: Counting Down to Daddy’s Birthday Night 33 – Cinderella!

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.

Ugh will ye hear please? Welcome to another DISNEY IS ALMOST HURR DADDY’S MOVIES AND FOOD HE’S 40 AND WHAT NOT post. And boy was this one a doozy. And rightfully so. Not only does the last five in our series (remember, we had two double features here and here) begin after this one, but this is also such a seminal piece in the Disney canon. Literally, the Magic Kingdom? It’s like built around this movie.

Yup, Cinderella.

And we had quite a turnout for this one. For one, Stephanie came after a long absence pretending she had better things to do (and she wore her Cinderella skirt). And also my mom came (she was so excited…LOVES Cinderella). And the Chagnons came (Stephanie, George, Emily and Courtney.) And they were greeted with much fanfare as Myles played his trumpet and Owen announced each family as they arrived.

We tried to get a little dressed up on account of it’s such a formal movie. But Nickie still said we could wear jeans. So it was more like “casual Friday” Cinderella.

Except for these four…Put the rest of us to shame.

The food

 

We had a total royal feast going on for this one. And with so many people here for this one, it really felt pretty special for a Sunday afternoon. The table was set very elegantly.

 

Name cards were made for everyone. Not only were our names there, but also which Disney “kingdom” we hailed from.

We had salad, ham (unfortunately not of the rum variety)…

Roasted garlic potatoes…meh, also unfortunately not of the rum variety.

Green bean casserole, dinner rolls…

And pumpkin pie for dessert. Because you know, she rides in a pumpkin.

Speaking of riding in a pumpkin, I always find myself at the stroke of midnight thinking how lucky she was to not have been trapped in said pumpkin. Imagine? Ugh, grisly.

 

Oh and we also had mouse poop (Raisnettes…and M&M’s I guess?) Because I mean, we can’t be 100% classy.

The activity

We built on the royal feast theme with a royal ball for this one…of sorts. There wasn’t much waltzing going on but we totally whipped. AND Nae Nae’d.

Nickie put up lights all over the living room. And we had some intense freeze dancing happening. Like, totez intensio.

Also, it was brought to my attention how awesome it actually would have been if Cinderella had started dancing with the Prince and DJ Khaled came on. And then she put her hands up. And made them stay there.

The movie

So sure…I guess Cinderella is a love story. At least that’s what “society” tells me.

But really, when it comes to romance, there isn’t really all that much romantic atmosphere here. I mean “So This is Love” is a really great song but there really isn’t all that much “Cinderella and the Prince” time here. They meet, they dance, they fall in love. And then next time we see them together Gus is eating the rice he should be throwing at their wedding. Like, I know love is there but it’s not really as center stage in this movie as I think you would expect it to be.

To me, this movie is more about Cinderella herself. Look, it’s been a while since I have actually watched this movie and have the benefit of watching last year’s live-action remake (which is great, beeteedubz) but Cinderella is a pretty awesome princess. In terms of Disney princess movie releases, it’s odd to me that Cinderella exists between Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Both Snow and Aurora are, erm, how do I put this…not all that um…well…dimensional? I note both of their flaws in their respective posts here and here, but in a nutshell they aren’t all that dynamic of characters. Nice enough. And pretty. And…um…yeah.

But Cindy? She’s strong. Mom and dad? Dead. Hobbies? Laundry and balancing trays on her head. Best friends? Mice. Life? Sucks. But still  – she manages to remain optimistic, kind and just. And this all pays off in the end, of course. Some may argue this isn’t completely realistic. That being a good person doesn’t always pay off. Being the best you can be in the face of adversity doesn’t always result in a happy ending. But think about it. If everyone were as good a person as Cinderella, then wouldn’t we all end up with happier results. It may be sappy…but I like walking away from a movie that gives me a little bit of renewed faith in how good people can be. It’s a cartoon, sure, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

I also love that this movie is like all magic.

As we grow older, we let go of so much magic in our lives to make way for the practical. And this is fine of course. We need to grow up and be responsible and whatever. I guess. I talked about this way back in my Peter Pan post, but I think this aspect of growing up is lamentable. In the end, if we don’t believe in some type of magic in the world, it becomes a much tougher place to handle sometimes. This is what Disney gives me. Watching these movies, visiting the parks, incorporating a little bit of Disney into our lives gives us something we can’t find in the day-to-day of work, school and life. All of this is important but so is escaping. Life without a little magic just seems way too boring, doesn’t it?