Camila Cabello gives Cinderella a much needed glow up

A new adaption of the fairytale Cinderella is premiering on Amazon Prime Video in September. This retelling of the story shows a female hero that takes control of her life, without the help of a prince’s hand in marriage.

The trailer dropped earlier this week, and hints that this take on the Disney classic will be a true modern retelling. Camila Cabello stars in the titular role.

There is still an evil stepmother, the ball, and a Fairy Godmother, but the princess we know is different. Cabello’s Cinderella is more “vocal and active,” which is how the writer-director of the film Kay Cannon describes the character.

Watch the trailer for Amazon’s new Cinderella retelling

The trailer shows a scene where Cinderella begs her stepmother, played by Idina Menzel, to let her go to the ball. In this version of the story, however, the princess wants to go to the ball to show off one of her dresses to a wealthy crowd, and hopefully get business. She is starting her own dress line “Dresses by Ella.”

When her Fairy Godmother, played by Billy Porter (Pose), comes down to help her make it to the ball his magic isn’t the only thing that helps her.  Fairy Godmother takes the design from one of her dresses and makes it a reality using his magic. This Cinderella is self-made, with some help along the way. There is also a scene that alludes to  our heroine having to choose between the success of her dress line and becoming a princess. From the trailer,  it looks like she is more passionate about her dress line than she is about falling in love with a prince.

There have been many modern Cinderella adaptations over time, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s live musical version starred Brandy as the titular princess and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother. The film was loved for the great vocals, costume design, and diversity they brought to the story.

Hillary Duff and Selena Gomez starred in A Cinderella Story and Another Cinderella Story, respectively, adaptations which incorporated modern technology and high school life as part of the retelling. Cannon’s version of this story is putting romance in the background.  In other adaptations, Cinderella falling in love makes her life change, but in this version, she is striving to change her life on her own.

Today we have princesses like Moana from Moana, Merida from Brave, and Elsa and Anna from Frozen whose storylines involve them being active participants in their lives and making changes to better themselves, their families, and their people. Making another Cinderella with the old storyline wouldn’t be as appealing of a movie.

Watch Cinderella on Prime Video on September 3.

How do you feel about this new version of a fairytale classic? Do you think this retelling of the story is important? Let us know in the comments.