link" entirely, finding it obvious that Houston enjoyed her material and commending the contributions of Peters, Alexander, Goldberg, Garber, Cox and Deselle. New York entertainment critic John Leonard praised the cast extensively, highlighting the performance of Brandy whom the writer said possesses "the grace to transfigure inchoate youth into adult agency" while complimenting the work of Houston, Montalban, Peters, Goldberg and Alexander, the latter of whom the critic identified as a reminder "that he belonged to musical theater before he ever shacked up with Seinfeld's slackers." Leonard also praised the actors' musical performances, particularly Peters' "Falling in Love with Love", but admitted that he prefers the songs used in Disney's 1950 animated adaptation of the fairy tale. In addition to receiving praise for its overall craftsmanship and musical format, critics appreciated the film's color-blind cast. Describing the film as "Short, sweet and blindingly brightly colored", TV Guide film critic Maitland McDonagh wrote that Cinderella is "overall ... a pleasant introduction to a classic musical, tweaked to catch the attention of contemporary youngsters." McDonagh observed that the color-blindness of the entire cast spares the film from potentially suffering "disturbing overtones" that otherwise could have resulted from images of an African-American Cinderella being mistreated by her Caucasian stepmother. Despite calling the supporting cast "unusually strong", the critic felt Brandy and Houston acted too much like their own selves for their performances to be considered truly compelling. Teresa Talerico, writing for Common Sense Media, praised the film's costumes, sets and musical numbers while lauding Peters, Goldberg and Houston's performances, but found the choreography stiff. In a mixed review, The New York Times journalist Caryn James found the film's multi-racial cast and incorporation of stronger Rodgers and Hammerstein material improve Cinderella overall, but admitted the production fails to "take that final leap into pure magic", dismissing it as "a cobbled-together 'Cinderella' for the moment, not the ages." While lauding Brandy and Montalban's efforts, James described the film's feminist re-writes as "clumsy" and accused it of wasting Houston's talent. Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe complained that despite its "visual charm" and strong performances, the film lacks "romance, warmth, and a bit of snap in the dance department", failing to become "anything more than a slight TV outing that feels more Nickelodeon than Broadway." Describing the film as "big, gaudy, miles over the top and loads of fun", Variety's Ray Richmond found some of its