海角大神

"Cinderella" will be the 2015 installment in Walt Disney Pictures鈥� contemporary series of live-action features that re-imagine iconic fairy tales. The trend began with Tim Burton鈥檚聽Alice in Wonderland, followed by Sam Raimi鈥檚聽Oz the Great and Powerful, and continues this month with聽Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg (two time Oscar-winning producer designer on聽Alice听补苍诲听Oz). In keeping with that practice,听Cinderella聽also features an accomplished filmmaker at the helm, in the shape of five-time Oscar-nominated actor/director, Kenneth Branagh.

叠谤补苍补驳丑鈥檚听Cinderella聽features a cast of accomplished screen veterans and young stars on the rise alike, similar to the aforementioned Disney films. We have聽Downton Abbey鈥榮 Lily James as 鈥淓lla鈥�, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) as Prince 鈥淐harming鈥� Kit, Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett (The Hobbit聽trilogy) as Ella鈥檚 cruel stepmother, and Helena Bonham Carter (a costar in both Disney鈥檚聽Alice in Wonderland补苍诲听The Lone Ranger) as Ella鈥檚 fairy godmother in disguise as a鈥渒indly beggar woman.鈥�

However, if you鈥檙e hoping to get聽your聽first look at these cast members in Branagh鈥檚 latest fantasy world, you鈥檙e out of luck. Seeing how the film has a March 2015 release date, the reason we鈥檙e getting a teaser this early is聽because聽Disney 鈥� almost certainly 鈥� intends to start building awareness by attaching the clip to this month鈥檚 theatrical releases: underdog sports drama聽Million Dollar Arm聽(opening聽tomorrow) 补苍诲听Maleficent聽in a couple weeks. Still, you can enjoy the teasiest-of-teaser trailers.

These live-action Disney fairy tale movies have strived to modernize their respective source material 鈥� by adding shades of complexities to the original stories鈥� widely-known characters and 鈥渦pdating鈥� their themes. The results up to this point 鈥� Alice鈥榮 coming of age/empowerment message,听Oz鈥榮 examination of power vs. the illusion of power 鈥� have yet to feel truly ground-breaking, and that probably won鈥檛 change with聽Maleficent鈥榮聽Wicked-style deconstruction of the eponymous villain.

Still, these films all have decent entertainment value; given the talent involved on聽Cinderella聽鈥� which includes screenwriter Chris Weitz (About a Boy,听The Golden Compass) 鈥� we expect this new Disney live-action fairy tale vision to offer as much, if not more. The recognizability factor alone should ensure that Branagh鈥檚 third recent dip in the pool of studio-backed genre fare (following聽Thor听补苍诲Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) ought to find an audience willing to give it the time of day.

Sandy Schaefer blogs at Screen Rant.