Brandy Norwood portrayed her in the live-action film Descendants: The Rise of Red, with Morgan Dudley playing her teenage self.

[6] This technique was also used for the characters of Princess Aurora (Mary Costa) in Sleeping Beauty and Anita Radcliff (Lisa Davis) in 101 Dalmatians.

"[8] At the behest of David and Livingston, casually described as "a favor",[11] Woods agreed to record a series of demos of three songs that the songwriters had recently written for the studio's then-upcoming animated film Cinderella.

After her father dies, she is forced into servitude in her own home and is tormented by her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and two stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella.

Also, after hearing that the Grand Duke is traveling the kingdom with the missing slipper, she dreamily dances back to the attic humming the song she heard at the ball.

However, when her evil stepsisters brutally tear the dress apart, she is heartbroken and fears that her dreams will never come true until her Fairy Godmother appears, restoring Cinderella's hope by transforming her torn homemade dress into her now-iconic sparkling, silver gown with a glittering crystalline puffy bustle, a delicate laced white petticoat, and puffy cap sleeves.

She is close friends with the animals around the home; specifically, the birds, the mice who also live in the manor house, including Gus and Jaq, her pet dog Bruno and her father's horse Major.

Cinderella decides to wear her deceased mother's old party dress and hopes to fix it to make it more modern, but before she can do so, her stepfamily calls her downstairs to do constant chores to prevent her from attending the ball.

Cinderella hurries downstairs to join her stepfamily to go to the ball, but her stepsisters recognize their discarded items and accuse her of stealing their sash and beads.

As she sobs over a stone bench, her Fairy Godmother appears to make her dreams come true and transforms her torn dress into a beautiful silver gown.

As twelve o'clock approaches, she hurries to leave, hoping to prevent the spell from breaking at the ball, which could cause her to get caught by her stepmfamily.

And in the third story, "An Uncommon Romance", Cinderella helps her younger stepsister Anastasia reconcile with the baker, even though her stepmother Lady Tremaine has forbidden it.

With no magic, being forced to rely solely on her intelligence and fearlessness, Cinderella is able to defeat her stepmother, repair her relationship with a reformed Anastasia and retain her much-deserved life of happiness, proving both her independence and strong will.

Like in the original film, her father remarries after the death of her mother but after he dies as well, she then becomes the horribly mistreated servant of her stepmother Lady Tremaine and her two stepsisters, Anastasia and Drisella.

Her story prior to being captured takes place prominently with her home world, Castle of Dreams, in the prequel, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep; she meets Ventus, who she mistakes for a mouse despite the obvious fact he's not, Aqua and Terra.

"[42] Calling her an "oppressed drudge," Empire panned Cinderella, describing both her and Prince Charming as "bland and colourless characters - particularly when compared to Beauty and her Beast.

"[43] The New York Times' Bosley Crowther similarly wrote, "The beautiful Cinderella has a voluptuous face and form—not to mention an eager disposition—to compare with Al Capp's Daisy Mae."

However, criticizing her role and personality, Bosely opined, "As a consequence, the situation in which they are mutually involved have the constraint and immobility of panel-expressed episodes.

"[45] Criticizing her design, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "If there is an obvious difference between Cinderella and such predecessors as Pinocchio and Snow White, it's in the general smoothing-out of the character's appearances," concluding, "Snow White herself looked fairly bland, but the other characters in the first decade of Disney animation had a lot of personality in their faces.

"[50] Among Cinderella's positive reviews, Michael Scheinfeld of TV Guide drew similarities between the character and Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991), writing, Cinderella holds up better because the heroine seems timeless in her courage and resourcefulness, a closer cousin to Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast than to other fairy tale protagonists.

"[52] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes' general consensus reads that, in addition to "The rich colors, sweet songs, adorable mice," the "endearing (if suffering) heroine make[s] Cinderella a nostalgically lovely charmer.

"[38] Jennifer Lee, Disney's chief creative officer, said in 2023 that the character helped her in times being bullied in middle school recalling, “I had a very, very difficult three years, and I would come home and put Cinderella on when I would do homework, because to me, it seemed like she was so mistreated and she held on to herself” while also adding, "For anyone who’s gone through that, it’s hard.

[55] Los Angeles Times' Betsy Sharkey wrote that James makes the character "seem as if the sweet and spirited young maiden is infused with an inner glow.

"[58] The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney wrote that James brought "unaffected sweetness" to the role and also had "lovely chemistry" with her co-star Richard Madden, who played the Prince.

In an interview with The Express Tribune, Louboutin said that Cinderella is "not only an iconic character when it comes to beauty, grace and fairytale love, but also shoes."

The shoes are described as "made of delicate lace [instead of glass] to give them a look of transparency, and adorned with butterfly designs at the vamp and atop the Swarovski-crystal covered heel," completed by Louboutin’s signature red soles.

", writing, "The lowly maid's typically rage-inducing bangs somehow develop an almost stately character once the rest of her follicular baggage has been swept into an updo closely resembling a perky butt.

"[77][78] According to MTV, several other Academy Award attendants wore similar outfits that were reminiscent of Disney characters in addition to Nyong'o.

[81] According to Disney.com, the transformation of Cinderella's dress into a ballgown remains a common favorite and "one of the most iconic pieces of Disney animation because of what it means for the titular character.

"[83] Featuring Cinderella in its list of "13 movie makeovers that still totally rock our socks off", Glamour summarized the scene's role in the film as "The movie makeover that sees a merry band of rodents help Cindera[sic]lla to make the perfect dress, eventually go to the ball and ultimately win the heart of a prince.