Steps Review: Stellar Voice Cast Stuck in Netflix Cinderella Tale
A review of Netflix's Cinderella retelling Steps praises its voice cast, led by Amanda Seyfried, Ali Wong and Bette Midler, but calls the musical fantasy convoluted, charm-deficient and a chore to follow. Here is the plot, the cast and the verdict.
Netflix's Cinderella retelling Steps wastes a stellar voice cast that includes Amanda Seyfried, Ali Wong and Bette Midler, according to a review published November 9, 2026. The review calls the musical fantasy cloying, candy-colored and so convoluted that following the plot becomes a chore.
It is a family title pitched at Thanksgiving. The critic says there are worse ways to kill a couple of hours together, but pities the adults who must keep the kids company.
What the film is
Amy Poehler produced Steps. Alyce Tzue and John Ripa co-directed it. The story originates with the comedy duo Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who perform as Garfunkel and Oates.
Five writers share the screenplay credit and six share the story credit. The review says that crowd gives the film the feel of a project patched together by committee, with little spark or emotional uplift.
The plot
The twist is that Cinderella's stepsisters are misunderstood, not evil. Punky teenager Lilith (Wong) wants to correct what she calls the "character assassination" of the storybook tale and carve out her own "happily ever after." Her younger sister Margot (Stephanie Hsu) is sweet and loves everyone, frogs especially.
Their dressmaker mother, Li Mei (Gwendoline Yeo), falls in love and moves them to the kingdom of Alouette. Her new husband Edmund (Matt Lowe) is kind, and so is his daughter Cinderella (Seyfried). The sisters still stand out in a macaroon-hued town built on an 18th century French rococo look. The reviewer says the abundance of pink hurt their eyes.
Trouble starts at a tea party hosted by Priscilla (Nikki Glaser), a vain mean girl watched over by the sinister butler Roderick (Peter Dinklage). Priscilla locks Lilith and Margot in a gated storm drain. Cinderella sides with the popular kids, planting the seed of her betrayal.
Here Cinderella is not a drudge. She cleans the house for her own pleasure, helped by forest creatures.
When invitations to a Royal Ball go out, the sisters are left off the list. Lilith watches Cinderella being kitted out by her Fairy Godmother (Midler), who has spent years planning a marriage to the Prince (Daniel Radcliffe). Lilith then snatches the wand and conjures her own goth-glamour fantasy.
She and Margot arrive in a skull-shaped black carriage that the review says looks straight out of Tim Burton, and they crash the ball.
The verdict
The review says Steps rehashes once-radical tropes that are now familiar, such as the antagonist as hero and sisterhood outweighing romance. It describes the film as simultaneously busy and sluggish, aggressively modern and tired.
It also faults the dialogue as lame and laced with unfunny humor.
