Oddly enough there was a glimmer of hope, seeing as 'Cinderella' is such a timeless story that is frequently adapted for good reason. However, intrepidation was even stronger, seeing as Video Brinquedo have been branded The Asylum of animation for good reason. Their output is consistently awful, with the exact same flaws in everything they've done so far with no improvement whatsoever.
People may ask "why did you see them all or keep watching them?" The answer is very simple. Curiosity. There is something somewhat compulsive about their badness, but it compels anybody to see what else they've done and compare, also to see if they've made anything worthwhile. The answer is that none of them are, and while some are worse and more intelligence insulting than others the amateurish (and that's being kind) quality is consistent. While their version of 'Cinderella' is not quite as bad as 'Ratatoing', 'The Little Panda Fighter', 'Up in the Air: Balloon to the Rescue', 'Little and Big Monsters' and 'The Little Cars' outings, it is still terrible and shares all their faults.
Where to begin with the criticisms? For starters, 'Cinderella' is hideous to look at and looks like it was made in a few minutes if that. Again it is filled with forced character designs, incredibly flat colours(even badly coloured crayon pictures have more refinement) and backgrounds that are lacking in any kind of fluidity coming across as static and simplistic instead. The music also sounds cheap and more suited to a low budget video game or a slots game, also never fitting and completely disconnected.
The writing once again is appalling, and doesn't even have unintentional humour value, with clunky and draggy exposition and nonsense and irrelevant chatter. Adults will find it too juvenile and even kids will feel like it went well overboard trying to dumb down to them. Again a big problem when so dialogue-heavy.
'Cinderella' has a story that's interminably dull, with scenes that drag on and on and often serving no point at all, making a very short length feel twice (and perhaps even more) as long. Sure it adheres to the basic structure and details of the story, but with none of the ingredients that make the story so timeless. Charm, fun, magic, energy and heart are nowhere in sight here, and the transformation sequence (the highlight of the story) is dragged out and a long way from magical thanks to draggy pacing, an unintentionally creepy character design for the Fairy Godmother and lifeless visuals. Likewise with engaging characters or good voice acting, which for Video Brinquedo is not unexpected. The characters on top of being hideously animated are both bland and irritating, a few unintentionally creepy. The voice acting is lifeless or unbearably obnoxious, like they didn't even try or even want to be there, it was almost like they were bribed or would do anything to get some quick cash.
Summing up, another terrible outing in Video Brinquedo's output. 1/10 (a rare rating for me these days but more than well deserved). Bethany Cox
