Why you should see Disney’s Cinderella with your kids

If you’ve been around young girls recently, you’ve probably heard an earful about how much they want to see the new live-action Cinderella movie that arrives in theaters today. As a mom to one of those overly-excited young girls, I knew from the first movie trailer that I was going to end up being talked into seeing it at some point, so I figured I would go ahead and attend the Seattle pre-screening with the family to check it out.

It’s not that I don’t love Disney’s Cinderella, because the truth is I grew up loving the animated movie and singing the songs along with my sisters. In fact, I’m fairly certain I could recite the entire film at one point after hearing my little sister watch it so many times when she was little. But, even back then I had a lot of questions about flaws in the logic of the story, a desire for a less one-dimensional Cinderella, and trepidation about love at first sight… even if it was a prince we were talking about. Now, as a mom evaluating everything on the lessons it teaches my young children, I wasn’t sure I wanted a new Cinderella for this new generation. But, I knew I was going to be outnumbered in this view and there was no way my daughter wouldn’t want to see it, so I figured I would rather see it with her so we could talk about it afterwards. What I didn’t expect was that not only would I love the movie, but the talk afterwards would be so in depth and cover so many important topics that I would end up highly recommending it to other moms and young girls. 

Are you on the fence about the new film and wondering if it’s worth the admission price? Here are just a few of the reasons I feel you should go and see it with your kiddos.

The Beauty of It

The inner child in me loves all the imagery of the Cinderella story with castles and princess and ballroom dances, so I’m going to state the obvious and tell you that, like all things Disney, Cinderella is a beautiful and well-shot film. Sometimes you just want to see a beautiful film and keep those visions of rolling hills, non-scary woods, English gardens, and rays of light illuminating beautiful moments of togetherness in your head for weeks so you can enjoy them over and over again. If you’re looking for that, then this is definitely your film. But, there’s also a whole lot to the film as it explores many different themes and ideas. Kindness and Courage

When Ella’s {aka Cinderella} mom tells her, “Have courage. Be kind,” she takes the words to heart. Even in the face of horrible grief and loss, Ella displays immense amounts of kindness too everyone around her. Knowing this, it makes much more sense that Cinderella puts up with so much from her step family, and it gives her kindness a sort of strength that I love.

Everyone wants their children to treat others well, but Ella takes it an extra step further in many occasions. This is especially apparent in the moments when she is faced with someone who she has nothing to benefit from by helping and she still displays compassion and thoughtfuless.

While I would argue that this kindness takes a huge amount of courage, the theme of courage also takes other forms in the film showing Ella as a strong character with substance. Being kind and courageous are two things I would love to instill in my own children, so I love that this gave us a great talking point about all the ways being kind and having courage helped Ella to overcome adversity and create a happy life for herself in spite of her circumstances. On Grief and Loss

Speaking of her sad circumstances, it should be noted that there is a lot of death and dying in the movie. At one point my son leaned over and said, “Why does everyone die in this movie?” and I didn’t have a good answer for him. This also made it a bit difficult to keep him quiet because all this death brought up very intense discussion about why they died {which was never really explored in the movie itself}, what was going to happen next, and ultimately leading towards the heavier stuff I definitely don’t want to be talking through with a four year old while everyone around me is enjoying a movie. Love at First Sight Isn’t Enough

I really don’t like the idea of pushing love at first sight romances as it sets up very unhealthy expectations of love down the road. It’s true that sometimes you can click with a person and be drawn to them immediately, but it’s also true that sometimes your first impressions of someone are horribly wrong and you only develop a deep relationship after you have truly gotten to know each other. In this version of Cinderella, the idea of love at first sight is downplayed and you see a much deeper and healthier relationship develop between Ella and the prince that I loved. Why you shouldn’t take your kids to see it

While I loved the movie and would highly recommend it for parents and children alike, it should be noted that there are some downfalls to having your child fall in love with this film. The first being that there’s no way I can afford the perfectly spinning, hoop-supported, layers and layers of tulle and satin dress that the women in the film wear, which isn’t going to be very popular at all. Even I want one of these dresses after having seen the film, so my 6 year old doesn’t stand a chance. In the film, Cinderella talks with, feeds, and plays with mice. Not animated mice that are cute and dressed up in t-shirts like they were in the original Disney Cinderella film. Real mice. *Shudder* 

But really, why you should take your kids to see it

Mice and fancy dresses aside, you can see that there’s a whole lot more to this film than meets the eye. It may not be a fully redone version of Cinderella and does closely resemble the original Disney animated classic, but there’s also a lot of heart and depth to this new film that I was always hoping for in the original.

While I wouldn't call it love at first sight, quite honestly I liked the new Cinderella film even more than the original. Though I could go on and on about the gorgeous cinematography and great acting, what it really comes down to is the fuller story and richer characters that stole my heart. I'm very happy that this Cinderella is one my kids will grow up with, and hopefully it will also give them a greater appreciation for the animated Disney version as well, which would mean I got to enjoy all those beloved songs all over again.

Cinderella is out in theaters now and is rated PG. Mom Tip: The day we went had quite a few little girls dressed up in princess dresses, so I’m guessing that many other showings will as well. If your child is as big on dress up as mine are you might want to give them the opportunity to show off those fancy dresses during the movie. I know my children were a little bummed that I didn’t realize other kids would be dressing up and wished we had their dresses with us.

Oh, and did I mention that the movie also includes the all-new Frozen Fever animated short? My kids and I absolutely adored it and have been talking about it ever since. So, obviously we were all super excited to find out that there's now a Frozen 2 in the works for us to look forward to. You can find out more at the official CINDERELLA Website. Be sure and follow/like CINDERELLA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+
We received movie passes to pre-screen the movie with other media outlets in the Seattle area. However, all opinions are 100% ours and we were not under any obligation to post this Rave Review.