Ella (Lily James) in her ballgown, in Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 rendition of “Cinderella." MovieStillsDB

My wife and I let our daughter watch Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 rendition of “Cinderella” for her third birthday. She sat on the couch in a somewhat rumpled blue dress and a plastic crown, her legs straight out in front of her, feet not reaching beyond the edge of the seat, eyes wide, enchanted by the story playing out before her. She doesn’t watch many movies, and this one was new.

Because we knew of her growing interest in princesses in general and Cinderella in particular, we figured this would be the perfect birthday treat. And so it was. Seeing her favorite story dramatized in glorious color and sound on screen seemed to move and inspire her in a way that she simply couldn’t articulate.

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