Walt Disney's Cinderella Review

Manufacturer: Disney Press
Author(s): Cynthia Rylant

Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 64
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

This is a story about darkness and light, about sorrow and joy, about something lost and something found. This is a story about Love.

Cinderella's story has been told over and over, but never has it been touched by the kind of magic found in this book. Mary Blair painted the original pictures for Walt Disney's incomparable animated film, and here her elegant art is gathered together as a picture book for the first time. Cynthia Rylant's stories about hardscrabble lives have won not only awards and honors, but hearts. Who better to take a young girl from the darkness of her garret room to the light and brilliance of a ballroom?

Together these two great artists have created something quite astonishing: a Cinderella that is breathtaking, heartrending, and joyous, both for those who are coming to the tale for the very first time, and for those who think they know it well.

User Submitted Walt Disney's Cinderella Reviews

May 4, 2008
Charming Book!
Mary Blair's art adds a great dimension to this adaptation of Disney's Cinderella. Her art was used as reference and inspiration for that final animated feature as well as countless other Disney classics. You will be charmed by her style and Rylant's fresh retelling of this fairy tale.

April 7, 2008
for all fairy tale lovers, young or old
This stunning, sophisticated new adaptation of perhaps the most beloved fairy tale of all time will appeal to children as well as adult collectors. The gorgeous art work comes from veteran Disney artist Mary Blair, who helped define the look of the Cinderella film through her storyboard art, which is used in this handsomely designed volume. The colors of the text pages harmonize beautifully with the tones in the artwork on the opposite page, and the designer intersperses traditional French graphic designs with the text, such as fleur-de-lys. The art work, although recognizable to Disney fans from the movie, has a very different look than typical Disney storybooks, with a more fluid, almost abstract style, in which the figures are often dwarfed by the grandeur of the backgrounds. It is clear that Blair was influenced by 18th century French masters such as Fragonard in her artwork. Cynthia Rylant's retelling of the story is romantic to the extreme, and manages to breathe fresh life into the familiar old tale. She emphasizes the role of Love, dark and lightness, while omitting many of the familiar elements of the Disney film, such as the mice, cats, birds, and other animals who clamor around Cinderella. This magnificent fairy tale adaptation belongs on the shelf of every girl's library. Due to the length of the text, recommended for children four and older.

March 19, 2008
The art of Mary Blair
The best thing about this book is that it is full of concept art for Disney's CINDERELLA by Mary Blair. Mary Blair is perhaps best known as the designer of the IT'S A SMALL WORLD ride at Disneyland theme parks, but she was a key concept artist at Disney for all of the 1940s. She came back from time to time to work on certain projects including various duties with the theme parks. Here concept art helped to inspire the animators and her greatest influence is in the films ALICE IN WONDERLAND, PETER PAN and CINDERELLA. Her art work is so delightful and having a collection of Mary Blair's work all in one book is a treasure. The text of the story is simplistic and designed for a pre-school level of understanding. Buy it for the art of Mary Blair.

February 29, 2008
Sumptuous Blair reproductions - A book for young and old
The full page presentations of these paintings are well worth the cost of this storybook. Get one copy for the kids to thrash now and another for them to relish in their later years. I only wish there were more Blair paintings to cover the world with (however small it may be) Hats off to the publishers for spending extra money and effort to make this a truly 'special' edition.

January 13, 2008
Beautiful Illustrations
This book has beautiful illustrations from Mary Blair. The story is quite similar to the Disney film (as would be expected). Overall fantastic book for all ages!

November 27, 2007
Every little girl needs this version of Cinderella
This book is a feast for both the eyes and ears. The text is sophisticated and completely lovely to read. I have read this several times to my four-year-old daughter and I've enjoyed explaining some of the author's terminology to her. Each time we read it, she picks up on another beautiful line and wants me to explain to her what it means. Some of our favorite lines from the book are "a child of ashes becomes a vision" and "in silence, love found them".

The text and the illustrations work so well together. It is truly unlike any version of Cinderella that I have read or watched. The illustrations are what prompted me to buy the book. Mary Blair is one of my favorite artists and this book has given me the opportunity to study some of her techniques. My daughter is too young to fully appreciate the mastery in the illustrations, but she is definitely picking up on the mood that they were intended to evoke. I'm amazed at how rich and full these illustrations are, even when using a minimal number of colors. I could gush on and on about how wonderful this book is!

Every detail of this book is beautiful. After writing this review, I'm looking forward to reading it to my daughter again very soon!

November 10, 2007
Classic Artwork
Really nice illustrations by Mary Blair and I believe they're not previously from Little Golden Books. Supposedly this is the start of a new series using classic sketches but so far this is the first and only title done. Nice!

November 5, 2007
Labor of Love
This unexpectedly powerful version of the Disney Cinderella story may simply amaze you. Visually, it adapts concept art by Mary Blair--who was central to the look of Disney's feature films of Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland, and of his Small World exhibit.

These are not the final images as seen in Disney's film, but more expressionistic and primitive, freer, moodier, rougher, more startling. As art, they stand firmly on their own: extreme contrasts, dramatic compositions, surprising color combinations. (I think these pages would be fascinating to very young artists working with their own very free hands and their own exuberant experiments with color.) Blair's paintings capture and freeze moments of heightened feeling and thought and movement as only a brilliant artist can.

It's so interesting to play these images against those we have in memory from the film and to note how the concept paintings set the image and tone, but also how very powerful they are alone: a small square of bright sunlight warms the wall of a cold dark hallway where a young girl stands waiting--a lesson in mood, color, composition, and visual storytelling. And so is every page.

The storytelling itself is equally fine--a sublime, wise, rich, moving text by Cynthia Rylant. Beautiful unexpected turns of phrase surprise again and again. This is writing of the highest order. And it is perfectly IN place here--in this ageless work of art to which children and adults will return again and again.

"This is a book about Love." It is also clearly a labor of love for all concerned: note the interplay of text printed always against perfectly chosen colors that coordinate with the facing art (Make a game of this after the tenth rereading: "Why do you think they chose THIS color here?"), and the back dust jacket which hides (don't forget to peek) a different illustration altogether.

This is a beautiful book--one that might lead parents at some point to talk to children about editors, and artists, and designers, and poets, and about how great books are made.

October 25, 2007
Truly a GEM!
If you are expecting a full translation of the Disney movie,this book is not for you.There are no mice and birds,but in their place is a sophisticated retelling of the Cinderella story acccompanied by Mary Blair's stunning inspirational artwork for the Disney film. Some of these paintings have been seen in books about Blair but some of them have not. The way that Disney Press has designed the book is truly beautiful as well. Cynthia Rylant's text strips down the story to the bare essence:Cinderella's dream to be loved. The text also does not get to wordy so it gives the reader a chance to savor the illustrations.
I highly recommend this book for anyone of any age.

October 19, 2007
Cinderella more than a Children's book
This Cinderella book is much more than a children's book; it is a show case for the Art work that inspired the classic Disney film. Much like the "Sketch Books" published a few years ago by Disney this book bring us the magic of the creation of Cinderella and show cases the stylized Art of one of Disney greatest talents. A book for your coffie table as much as for your children!

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