51. Cinderella the Cat (Gatta Cenerentola); movie review

CINDERELLA THE CAT (GATTA CENERENTOLA)
Cert TBA
86 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

How could an adaptation of one of the most famous stories ever told have gone over my head?
Well, somehow Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Alessandro Rak and Dario Sansone managed to mangle the Cinderella story.
Actually it occurs to me that I might have just alighted upon the reason - there are four directors (I can't recall another film which has that many) and seven co-writers.
Yes, SEVEN! For a movie which is only 86 minutes long and whose premise has already been long established.
What on earth did these seven collaborators do, you may ask. Well, it clearly takes a big team to foul up our Cinders.
This Italian animation is set on a ship, docked outside the crime-ridden city of Naples and includes the voice work of Massimillano Gallo as a crimelord-wannabe.
He bumps off the father of Cinderella on his wedding day so he can tie-up with his equally ambitious bride-to-be (Maria Pia Calzone).
The poor Cinders is left with the evil step-mother, her five daughters and transvestite son.
That is just one of the differences between this and the story we all love - it is also more violent and the villains are much darker.
In fact, parents should be aware that characters die brutal deaths and even the music is sinister.
There is also the head-scratching notion of a wrinkle in time which means that past scenes sometimes appear next to the present.
It is never explained why Cinderella has the ability to look into the past not why she should suddenly be seeing crimes which happened years before.
But, hey, this is far from the only baffling element to a film which is utterly confusing and yet began life so simply.
As someone who has sub-edited for decades, making a narrative more complex rather than simpler is an anathema and probably why I simply didn't enjoy Cinderella The Cat (why is it even called that?)


Reasons to watch: very modern take on the Cinderella story
Reasons to avoid: it takes an hour to unravel its confusing tale

Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 3.5/10

Co-director's quote - Allesandro Rak: "The film focuses on the game of adapting a story, giving it a more contemporary historical context in order to keep it alive. It was on that model that our imagination developed, maintaining the more grisly aspects often missing from some of the more sugar-coated adaptations of Basile’s story."

The big question - Do major updates of classics ever work?

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