'Cinderella' tries to update the fairy tale, but the shoe doesn't quite fit
CNN
Trying to retrofit "Cinderella" with a feminist sensibility is a big-time challenge, and despite ample energy and the sing-along benefits of a jukebox musical, a new version starring Camila Cabello can't crack that code. Premiering on Amazon, the movie mostly feels like Disney Channel fare with a pinch of "Moulin Rouge," a colorful distraction lacking enough magic to fulfill dreams or wishes.
Writer-director Kay Cannon ("Pitch Perfect") makes the most significant push toward a more modern Cinderella by dispensing with the notion that finding her prince (Nicholas Galitzine) will solve all of the protagonist's problems. Instead, Cabello's mistreated stepdaughter (Ella, really, but never mind) yearns to open a dress shop, a business option not available to women in her kingdom despite all the 1980s/'90s-era singing and dancing that people do there. This "Cinderella" also brings more nuance to the wicked stepmother (Idina Menzel), whose pressure on her daughters and even Cinderella to "marry rich" comes from painful lessons in her past. The advice proves most beneficial when Menzel gets to unleash her powerful pipes on Madonna's "Material Girl," while Cinderella knocks off Des'ree's "You Gotta Be" and the prince takes on Queen's "Somebody to Love."
Some Medicare enrollees may soon be able to access super-popular drugs for obesity under a voluntary model program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday. Eligible beneficiaries will only have to pay $50 a month.
The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.
A Delaware state trooper was killed along with the suspected gunman Tuesday during a shooting at a motor vehicle agency near Wilmington, authorities said.
Wyoming’s lone U.S. representative is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Cynthia Lummis, who isn’t seeking re-election.
A new lawsuit filed in Washington, DC’s federal court Monday challenges the Kennedy Center board of trustees’ move to add President Donald Trump’s name to the cultural institution.
Warning: This post contains language readers may find disturbing.
Some staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs are finding little to be merry about after the agency said it would eliminate tens of thousands of open, unfilled positions across the country as it looks to streamline its staffing.
Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse announced Tuesday that he’s been diagnosed with “metastasized, stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.”
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning.
Political opposites are closing 2025 as they did 2024: on each side of America’s Donald Trump divide. But CNN’s “All Over the Map” survey did provide several interesting takeaways. Some may be instructive about the midterm election climate, at least at this beginning stage.
A 2-year-old child is among at least five people who were killed when a Mexican Navy plane carrying medical patients crashed into the waters of Galveston Bay in Texas on Monday afternoon, US Coast Guard officials say.
The Trump administration is suing the local government of Washington, DC, over its gun laws, alleging that restrictions on certain semiautomatic weapons run afoul of Second Amendment rights.