For Nora, the original Czech film has so far been an integral part of Christmas, with 800,000 people watching it every year on Christmas Day in a country of about five million. The rights to the Norwegian remake of director Václav Vorlíček’s Three Wishes for Cinderella, which premiered in Norway this November and on Thursday in the Czech Republic, were bought by TV2, the daily Verdens Gang wrote.
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The new film was made with the consent of Vorlíček, who died two years ago. The main role of Cinderella was played by the Norwegian singer Astrid Smeplass. Reviews in the Norwegian press are mixed. According to the Verdens Gang, the Norwegian film managed to modernize the Czech film from 1973 quite successfully, but it is probably not enough to replace the Czech Cinderella and become a Christmas tradition.
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“Unlike the Czech-German film, which the Norwegians irrationally fell in love with, the new film has a scene where two men kiss and faces that are not exclusively white,” writes Verdens Gang, referring to Turkish-rooted actor Cengize Ala. who plays prince in the Norwegian version.
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Cinderella is fine
Cinderella’s representative Smeplass received great praise. “Nine and a half out of ten pop stars are paralyzed to portray someone other than themselves in front of the cameras. But Smeplass enjoys it. And we enjoy it with her,” writes the Verdens Gang. “The script basically has only two tasks for her – either to look very sad or very happy. It’s not a lot to play, but Smeplass fulfills these demands with warmth and confidence,” adds the Verdens Gang.
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“The convincing performance of a pop star, however, does not yet make a good film, let alone one that viewers will want to return to every year. states Verdens Gang.
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A review in the daily Dagbladet, according to which the authors of the film could not decide for whom the film is intended, sounds similar. “You can choose from at least three groups. The first are adult traditionalists who want to have everything in the film as it was in the Czech version. Then there are self-ironic Cinderella experts who want to have allusions to the original film in the film, and then simply those who often watch movies about princesses, “writes Dagbladet. “There’s necessarily nothing wrong with trying to target more than one group at a time. But Cinderella’s Three Wishes doesn’t go smoothly between target groups; he jumps between them. The result is a schizophrenic blend that can hardly satisfy anyone,” adds Dagbladet.
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“Cinderella’s Three Wishes is enough to satisfy the youngest viewers, especially those who know the Ice Kingdom by heart. But older children and teenagers would be able to withstand a greater dose of drama and romance,” says the Verdens Gang. According to the daily, everyone will miss the unforgettable voice of the narrator Knut Risan, who spoke all the characters in the Czech Cinderella in the overlapping Norwegian dubbing, where Czech is heard in the background.
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“The three wishes for Cinderella will need all the help they need to make TV2 a Christmas tradition in Norway, and they are definitely too weak to replace the kitschy classics behind the Iron Curtain,” says the Verdens Gang.
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