Name : Connie Ogle / Alias : Miami Herald
The story of the abused but honest poor girl who wins the heart of a prince couldn't have landed in better hands.

Name : Linda Barnard / Alias : Toronto Star
Director Kenneth Branagh's lavish and live-action version of Disney's 1950 animation Cinderella delivers a colourful take that blends old-fashioned Mouse House heart with modern CG magic.

Name : Andrew Lapin / Alias : NPR
Young children are guaranteed to love this, even though it's rated PG for no reason (fine, "mild thematic elements").

Name : Nancy Churnin / Alias : Dallas Morning News
Disney's Cinderella has been magically transformed into as sumptuous a live-action re-imagining of its 1950 animated classic as any princess could dream of.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
Cinderella and her Prince get a bit lost in all the flounces and flouncing, but they don't seem to mind - you, and legions of tiara-clad little girls, quite possibly won't either.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
If you can get past the giant pumpkin in the ballroom - really, why bother to remake Cinderella in 2015 if you have no new spin on the material? - there's a lot to like about director Kenneth Branagh's gorgeously fanciful tale.

Name : Tom Long / Alias : Detroit News
"Cinderella" feels real enough to be sincerely touching at the same time it's visually inventive enough to be magical. We've all seen this story, true; but we haven't seen it told this effectively.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
"Cinderella" isn't just a re-enactment of the original film but an enrichment. For Disney fans, it could be another treasure worth cherishing.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
After all the other films that seem to be aimed at them and really aren't, little children and the people who love them could really use a slice of simply delicious cake like this.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
Cinderella is a wonderfully realized family feature that retains the strengths of its source material while at the same time updating it for today's audiences.

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Cinderella" is so scrubbed of personality, it's not even worth calling a mess.

Name : Betsy Sharkey / Alias : Los Angeles Times
As pure of heart as its heroine, "Cinderella" floats across the screen like a gossamer confection, full of elegant beauty and quiet grace.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
"Cinderella" has been made with enough skill and sincerity to disarm all but the most jaded viewers. It's a happy ending for everyone - Disney's accountants most of all.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
Disney's new live-action "Cinderella" is not a reboot. It's a case of sliding a glass slipper on a movie to make sure it's the classic that studio executives are looking for.

Name : Jocelyn Noveck / Alias : Associated Press
Branagh, working with a high-wattage cast led by the winsome and genuine Lily James, sticks to tried-and-true narrative formula, and infuses it with wit and style. If the glass slipper ain't broke, he seems to be saying, why fix it?

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Directed by Kenneth Branagh with a sprinkling of stardust, dashes of good humor, and a respect for the corniest kinds of romance, Cinderella is a winning re-do of Disney's 1950 animated classic.

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
Disney's live-action retelling of its cornerstone princess tale is an often sparkling movie that never disrespects the kid audience even as it wins over the parents.

Name : Richard Corliss / Alias : TIME Magazine
Nearly a century after that black-and-white cartoon short, and 65 years after a "classic" animated feature that missed the mark, Disney finally got Cinderella right - for now and, happily, ever after.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
For all its gossamer, gauze, filigree and refinement, "Cinderella" drags when it should skip as lightly as its title character when she's late getting home from the ball.

Name : Cath Clarke / Alias : Time Out
It's all very sweet and harmless, though you can't help wishing that Cinders got her happy ending for more than being kind to her digital mice and weathering a lot of crap with a never-ending smile on her face.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
Cinderella enthralls with its ravishing style and timeless message of resilience, decency and kindness triumphing over evil.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
Some of the supporting players, most resplendently Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother and Derek Jacobi as the ailing king, are very fine. The film never soars, though.

Name : Ben Sachs / Alias : Chicago Reader
The visual design is exquisite, coming remarkably close to replicating the original movie's Technicolor splendor.

Name : Nathalie Atkinson / Alias : Globe and Mail
In being faithful to the traditional tale interpreted by Disney in their animated 1950 classic, this Cinderella is crisp escapist enjoyment.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
The movie grinds down . in plot details that fatten the narrative while deflating the spirit.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
Mr. Branagh's ascension into big-budget studio directing largely remains a mystery, and there's little in "Cinderella" beyond its faces and gowns that captures the eye or the imagination.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
The fizzy cocktail combination of Blanchett's cartoonish hauteur and Branagh's visual razzle-dazzle and confectionary sets manages to take a tale as wheezy as Cinderella and make it feel almost magical again.

Name : Katy Waldman / Alias : Slate
[Branagh] manages to de-toxify Disney's flagship fairy tale without overcorrecting away its prettiness, sincerity, or charm.

Name : Sara Stewart / Alias : New York Post
This "Cinderella" is all dressed up with nowhere very interesting to go.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
The world didn't need yet another "Cinderella" story, but the one we got is one of the best versions ever put on film.

Name : Christopher Orr / Alias : The Atlantic
The new film. is nothing if not a tribute to old-fashioned virtues, of care and craft and modesty, of simple stories well told.

Name : Peter Debruge / Alias : Variety
Though this lavish, live-action 'Cinderella' could never replace Disney's animated classic, it's no ugly stepsister, either.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
This is a sweet movie, a happy movie. There's no other way to put it, really. And if that sounds like it may register too low on the hipster meter to merit your consideration, well, your loss.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Cate Blanchett is perfectly marvelous. Nothing steals a scene from her, except Sandy Powell's costumes and Dante Ferretti's production design, which are all kinds of wonderful.

Name : David Rooney / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Anyone nostalgic for childhood dreams of transformation will find something to enjoy in an uplifting movie that invests warm sentiment in universal themes of loss and resilience, experience and maturity.

Name : Christy Lemire / Alias : ChristyLemire.com
The colors - good lord. They're like nothing you could experience in the real world. Cinderella's behemoth of a ball gown alone is 50 shades of blue.

Name : Wesley Morris / Alias : Grantland
I'm all for confection, but this movie takes that too far. Cinderella and the prince look like they belong on a wedding cake.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
What crowns the movie, flourishing the fullness of its purpose, is color.

Name : Ignatiy Vishnevetsky / Alias : AV Club
It's easy to get swept up in the prettiness of it all, and hard to give a damn whether it might end one minute or the next.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
I could choke on it all, like a 24-hour binge of buttercream cake frosting. But let's be honest. There is no denying the fact that this is the best Cinderella of them all.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
It's pleasing to come away from a movie such as "Cinderella" having felt something for, and with, the archetypes on the screen.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
This is a straight, no-chaser fairy story, a picture to be downed with pleasure. It worries little about sending the wrong message and instead trusts us to decode its politics, sexual and otherwise, on our own.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
Disney's new live-action version is for the most part beguilingly good, even though it's no replacement for the studio's 1950 animated classic.

Name : Maricar Estrella / Alias : Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
If you're looking for a tried-and-true telling filled with elaborate settings and beautiful ball gowns, this glass slipper is the right fit. However, if you're looking for a fresh, modern take on your average fairy tale, don't bother trying on this one.