Cinderella

Based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, Cinderella tells the story of a young woman named Cinderella who, having lost her mother years before, must live with her wicked stepmother and two ugly, spoiled stepsister’s after her father dies.


Cinderella’s austere stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and her two hideous stepsister’s, Anastasia and Drizella, force young Cinderella to indulge their every whim and command, jealous of her charm and beauty. While the rest of her stepfamily enjoys a life of leisure in the chateau and dress in garish finery, Cinderella must cook and clean, dressed in rags.


Cinderella’s only respite from her life of toil and drudgery are the friendships she cultivates with animals in the barn and the small birds and mice living around the chateau. The leader of the mice, Jaq, enlists her help in freeing a chubby mouse trapped in a cage, releasing him and naming him Octavious. Calling him “Gus” for short. The mice are relentlessly pursued by Lady Tremaine’s sly black cat, Lucifer.

Meanwhile, the King of the land is furious that his son, the Prince, has not yet lived up to his responsibility and chosen a wife. In an effort to force his son to fall in love and give him grandchildren, he organizes a great ball with the help of the Duke, sending out invitations ordering every eligible young woman in the realm to attend. Upon hearing of the ball and wishing to attend, Cinderella is told that if she can finish her chores and find an appropriate ball gown, she may attend. Lady Tremaine, worried that Cinderella’s beauty will eclipse her ugly daughters and ruin their chances of snagging the Prince, tries to stack the odds in their favor by giving Cinderella a hopelessly enormous number of chores, intending that she may not finish in time for the ball.

As Cinderella cleans, the birds and mice fix-up an old gown belonging to her departed mother, decorating it with her stepsister’s discarded blue beads and pink sash. Having finished her chores in time for the ball, Cinderella dons her gown. Lady Tremaine notices that Cinderella’s dress is decorated with items discarded by Anastasia and Drisella, and the two ugly stepsister’s tear the gown to shreds in jealous anger. In tears, Cinderella runs off as the others leave for the ball without her.

Alone and crying in the garden, Cinderella is watched sadly by her animal friends as her Fairy Godmother appears, Dazzling Cinderella as she transforms a pumpkin into a glorious white carriage. The startled mice are transformed into graceful white horses, while the bloodhound Bruno, and the lanky horse, Major, are transformed into very human coachmen. The Fairy Godmother’s final act is to transform Cinderella’s torn dress into an exquisite blue ball gown, complete with a pair of glass slippers. Explaining to Cinderella that when the clock strikes midnight the spell will be broken, the Fairy Godmother sends Cinderella off to the ball.

At the palace, the bored prince is receiving his guests, unimpressed with the young women curtseying before him until he sees the beautiful Cinderella in the distance. Rushing across the ballroom to introduce himself, the orchestra begins playing and they dance the waltz, eventually dancing out of the ballroom. Walking through the palace grounds, the clock begins to chime midnight, and before the Prince can learn the identity of this beautiful and charming young woman, she rushes off. Losing a glass slipper on the stair, Cinderella climbs into her carriage and departs as the clock chimes. She is pursued by the palace guards, arriving home just as she and the animals are transformed back into their true forms, the carriage-turned-pumkin trampled as the guards stampede past.

Finding the glass slipper, the Duke wakes the king and tells him of the girl, explaining that she “got away”. They decide to use the slipper to find this woman who has smitten the Prince. The next day, after posting a royal proclamation on the castle wall, the Duke sets out to find the girl who fits the glass slipper, so that she may marry the Prince. Awaiting the Duke’s arrival, Lady Tremaine wakes her lazy daughters, and they frantically prepare themselves. Realizing that Cinderella is the girl whom the Prince is searching for, Lady Tremaine locks Cinderella in her bedroom, so that one of her daughters might be chosen instead. The Duke arrives at the chateau, and while Lady Tremaine is distracted, Jaq and Gus take the key to Cinderella’s room from her pocket.

Having made it to the top of the stairs with the key, Jaq and Gus are captured by the cat Lucifer, who is eventually chased off by Bruno, and the mice manage to finally free Cinderella. The Duke is about to leave after seeing that the feet of both Anastasia and Drisella are too large, But Cinderella catches him, asking to try on the slipper from the top of the stairs. Her stepmother tells the Duke that Cinderella is only a servant, but the Duke insists that every girl must try on the slipper. As the Duke’s assistant approaches Cinderella with the slipper, Lady Tremaine trips the man, causing him to drop the slipper, shattering it on the floor. As the Duke panics, Cinderella explains that she has the other glass slipper and pulls it from her pocket. Sliding it on to her foot, the Duke realizes that this is the girl he had been searching for. Cinderella and the Prince are married and they climb into a wedding carriage, living happily ever after.


At the time of Cinderella’s production, Disney Studios was in dire straits financially. The studio had not produced a major animated feature since the release of Bambi in 1942, and it was believed that if the film was a flop, the studio would have to close its doors. Fortunately, the movie was a hit, receiving three Academy Award nominations for Best Sound, Best Original Music Score and Best Song. In 2008, Cinderella was ranked the ninth best animation film of all-time by the American Film Institute.