The book was better! The book was better!! THE BOOK WAS BETTER!!! Sorry, I have to always get that out of the way first. I got to see an early screening of this with my best friend and it was the first thing we said to the poor woman taking down statements. “Yes. I keep hearing that,” she responded with a sigh.
Still, it’s not a bad movie. It just could have been sooooooo much better. Read the book! I know it’s for kids, but it’s a damn good book.
The story of Ella Enchanted is the concept that the Cinderella character has to be obedient due to a fairy’s christening gift gone wrong. Ella (Anne Hathaway) is semi-protected by her nanny, Mandy (Minnie Driver) after her mother dies and her father (wait, Patrick Bergin was in this?) never is aware of her curse. She can’t tell anyone, even her best friend Areida (Parminder Nagra). When her father remarries a over-the-top wealthy lady named Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley), Ella is at the mercy of her two daughters, Hattie and Olive (Lucy Punch and Jennifer Higham respectfully). Hattie has an unhealthy obsession with Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), whose Uncle Edgar (Cary Elwes) has started segregating humans and magical creatures. My point is . . . this has a big cast. There also Eric Idle, Steve Coogan, Vivica A. Fox, and Jim Carter. The whole film takes place in a modernized fairy tale world with Prince Char fan magazines, wooden escalators, and Ella being part a of a protest movement. Some character are wearing what look like tee-shirts. I object. The characters of the story claim we think of fairy tales the way we do because of fairy tales. A running gag throughout is “stinking Grimm Brothers”.
Where as in the book, Ella and Char meet as children and grow into love as a teenagers, the movie has Ella at first hating Char for political reasons and him slowly winning her over. The curse over Ella is also over-used in the film, creating ridiculous moments of Ella literally freezing and suddenly knowing advanced fighting techniques. There’s also times when the curse should have made her do things that she doesn’t do. This gives the curse an obvious quality. More people should have figured it out besides Hattie. But Lucy Punch is always hilarious, I just try to focus on that.
Ella searches for a way to break the curse and meets elves, ogres, giants, and upsets the plans of the evil Uncle Edgar (a character who didn’t exist in the book). Edgar is the embodiment of a fear book Ella had - that someone could use her curse to hurt Char or the kingdom. SPOILER: I do like how they filmed the scene when she breaks the curse. It’s at the ball in a hall of mirrors which looks more magical than most of the rest of the film. Other than that the ending feels sillier every time I watch it. What the hell is up the “red guards” and why can Ella roundhouse kick them without being ordered to do so? Why do I feel weird about the dance number at the end of this movie, but love the one at the end of Mirror Mirror? Maybe because this ending feels like it was for five year olds.
