Ella Enchanted
Tags: violence, action, feel-good, fantasy, comic

Plot synopsis:
Ella Enchanted is a modern-day Cinderella fairy tale staring Anne Hathaway. Ella is given the gift of obedience by her fairy godmother (Vivica A. Fox). Ella must obey any orders that are given to her by anyone. Her mother knew about the spell and did not use it to hurt Ella. Ella's mother dies and a few years later, her father remarries. Her new stepmother has two mean daughters. They find out about the spell, and they begin to order Ella to steal items at the store and do as they wish. Ella runs into the prince and soon falls in love. Ella searches for her fairy godmother and pleads with her to take away the gift, so she can be normal. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)Ella is born into an ordinary household. Her mother is a fairy and there is another household fairy, Mandy living at their house. Ella's fairy godmother, Lucinda, comes when Ella is just a baby. Ella's mother and Mandy try to hide her, but Lucinda finds Ella and gives her the "gift" of obedience. Because of this, Ella must obey any order given to her by anyone.Even with this curse, Ella grows up to be a strong-hearted young lady. In school, when she is a kid, she saves a girl called Areida and they grow up to be bestfriends. Ella's mother then falls very ill. She tells Ella not to tell anyone about the curse and says "whatever anyone says, what is inside you is stronger than any spell." She then gives Ella her necklace and dies.Now Ella is a grown woman. Her father gives her the news that he has married again, to a rich woman called Dame Olga, because they need the money. Dame Olga and her two daughters Hattie and Olive come to live at their house. Almost immediately, Ella's father goes away on a job. Hattie orders Ella to do things and soon she finds out that Ella has to obey every command.Meanwhile, Prince Char comes to their town with his Uncle who is the temporary king. He is a handsome young man and all the women, including Hattie and Olive has a crush on him. But Ella is against him because she does not like Char's uncle's ruling and she thinks that Char is also like that. Later she meets Char and after he saves her from a horse-drawn carriage coming towards her, they start talking. But they're soon interrupted by Hattie and Olive; Hattie orders off Ella and Olive and tries to chat up Char, but he runs away.Ella and Areida are at the marketplace and Hattie and Olive see them. Hattie orders Ella to steal some glass shoes on a nearby display, but a guard spots her. Ella starts running and after a long chase he catches her. At home, Dame Olga scolds Ella. Hattie tells Ella to say that it was Areida who told her to steal. So when Dame Olga asks, Ella is forced to say Areida and Dame Olga orders Ella to tell Areida that she couldn't ever see her again. Areida comes to see Ella and Ella says what Dame Olga said.Later, Ella decides to go look for Lucinda and ask her to take away the curse. Mandy gives Ella a book and tells her it's Benny, her boyfriend, whom she accidently turned into a book. Benny is able to show Ella a picture of anyone in their present surroundings and also maps and other useful information. Ella asks to see Lucinda and they see that Lucinda is in Giantville because everything else around her is huge. Ella then sets off with Benny.
Benny shows Ella a map of the forest. Suddenly they come to a clearing where two people are teasing / hurting an elf. Ella saves the elf, Slannen, and he takes her to an elf restaurant to eat.Meanwhile, an invitation to the Prince's coronation ball arrives for Ella, and Dame Olga, Hattie and Olive get it.Slannen sets off with Ella to look for Lucinda. In the forest they encounter some ogres. Ella was told not to speak and not to move. Then they tied her up and hung her down from a tree branch over a boiling pot. Slannen is tied to another tree. Just as they were lowering Ella to the pot, Prince Char arrives, saves Ella and defeats the ogres. He thinks that the ogres killed his father. Ella talks to Char about how bad the giants are treated, but Char says that his uncle probably doesn't know about that. So he goes to Giantville with Ella and sees that the giants are being treated as slaves.Ella, Char, Slannen and Benny go to a giants' bar where Ella learns that Lucinda has already left the place. Char talks to a giant and tells him that once he becomes king, the giants won't be slaves. Char asks Ella to stay there that night and resume the search for Lucinda tomorrow. They have a fun night at the end of which they kiss. Char tells her that he may be able to help her find Lucinda using the books at the library at his castle. So the next day they go to the castle.At the castle, Char and Ella meet Hattie with a group of other women who are on a tour of the castle. Ella and Char run away and they meet Char's uncle Edgar and his pet snake. Ella is introduced to Edgar and then she goes off to the library with Benny. In the mean time, Char tries to talk to Edgar about the giant enslavement and how the elves aren't allowed to do anything but sing and dance (Slannen wants to be a lawyer). Edgar says they'll talk about it after the coronation ceremony. Char then reveals to Edgar that he plans on asking Ella to marry him at the ball at midnight. Same time and same place where his father proposed to his mother.Ella finds a clue to Lucinda's whereabouts in Benny's book. Meanwhile, Hattie and Olive are chatting with Edgar. Hattie tells Edgar that Ella does everything she's told, that she can't help it. In return, Edgar says that Hattie can have Char's hand in marriage when he becomes king. Edgar then goes to the library and tells Ella that Char will take her to the hall of mirrors and ask her a question. And at the stroke of midnight, Ella has to plunge a dagger (Edgar takes out a dagger) through Char's heart and kill him. Edgar says that it's lucky Ella's here because then he won't have to do it himself. Ella is shocked that he's willing to kill his own nephew. Edgar reveals that in fact, it was he who killed his brother, Char's father, the king. Then Edgar orders Ella's not to tell anyone about this.Ella quickly goes to find Lucinda, but a fairy there tells her that Lucinda was thrown out of there. Beaten, Ella writes a letter to Char saying that they couldn't be together. Then Ella tells Slannen to chain and padlock her to a huge tree in the middle of a meadow, away from the castle. After that she tells Slannen to go to the castle, find Benny, and to keep Edgar away from Char. At 23:30 that night Lucinda suddenly appears in the meadow. Ella begs her to take the gift back. Lucinda is offended and tells her that she has to get rid of it herself. To "prove what a gem she is," Lucinda then unchains Ella from the tree amid her protests and suggests that she should be at the ball dancing with the Prince. Lucinda then magically prepares Ella for the ball with a beautiful white gown.Ella is forced to go to the ball where she immediately meets Char. She tells him that she loves him when he asked to tell him how she really feels about him. Then he tells her to come with him and takes her to the hall of mirrors. The time is 23:57. There Ella starts crying and tries to explain to Char what's happening when he proposes. But Char doesn't understand. All this time, Edgar is watching the whole thing. As the clock strikes midnight, Ella starts sobbing and we see the dagger behind her back. Char hugs her to try to comfort her. Ella raises the dagger over Char, but using all her strength she fights against plunging it into him. She has flashbacks and suddenly remembers what her mother told her before she died. "What's inside you is stronger than any spell." Then Ella screams, "You will no longer be obedient!" and Char looks up and sees the dagger in Ella's hand in the reflection. The spell is broken. Ella drops the dagger but Char thinks that Ella tried to kill him. Edgar barges in and calls the guards and orders them to take Ella away to the dungeon.Char is having trouble believing that Ella might hurt him, so Edgar and his pet snake tell Char that, what happened in the forest with the ogres, was all planned by Ella and the ogres so that she could get close to Char and kill him. Edgar tells Char to concentrate on tomorrow's coronation ceremony and leave Ella to him. Later Edgar tells the snake that he has an idea on how to prevent Char from becoming king.The next day, Slannen comes to the castle with some elfin friends and two giants. They find Benny in the rubbish bin outside. Slannen rescues him and Benny shows them that Ella is in the dungeon. The three ogres from the forest also join them in the rescue mission. They get into the castle by hiding themselves in a carriage driven by Slannen who is disguised as the executioner. Meanwhile, the coronation ceremony is starting. Slannen gets the guard to open the dungeon doors by saying that he is Ella's lawyer. The ogres then disable the guard and Slannen releases Ella. Ella asks Benny to show Edgar. They see Edgar placing a poisoned crown in the place of the original crown. Ella, Slannen, and the others dash off.Just as the poisoned crown is about to be placed on Char's head, they burst through the hall doors and a huge fight erupts. Char jumps in to save Ella. During the fight, Ella explains to Char what really happened right down to where Edgar poisoned Char's crown. Mandy tries to change Benny back to a real man and gets it on the second try and Benny joins in the fight too. Ella then takes Char aside and tells him that Edgar is the one who killed Char's father. Char is unable to believe it and Edgar comes and says, "Of course it's not true. Who are you going to believe, a lying twit or the man who raised you?" At that point Ella sees that Edgar's snake is about to strike Char and steps on it. All the women there attack the snake because it was about to kill their beloved Char. Char finally believes everything Ella told him. Edgar is very angry and starts shouting. In his excitement he forgets that the crown is poisoned and places it on his head and immediately passes out.Ella and Char get married.[By: Shuwey]

Review: And is therefore not to be taken seriously, it should be watched for the pure enjoyment of getting away from the daily humdrum.I have seen this movie twice and both times the audience was literally buoyed by the fun of the movie, though I must say the best parts and lines come from Uncle Edgar(a deliciously evil Cary Elwes) and Heston the snake(the slimy voice of Steve Coogan is wonderful).
Only that the wonderful and memorable lines come mainly from the more evil characters.Joanna Lumley (as the evil Dame Olga) and Minnie Driver(one of her best yet, possibly only beaten by her surprisingly good turn in "Phantom of the Opera") are also great in their minor roles, providing colorful characters and not just filling in screen time.
Eric Idle, Jeniffer Higham, Jimi Mistry and Parminder Nagra are also memorable, particularly Jimi as Benny, Eric as the Narrator and Parminder as Ella's best friend, though I think Parminder's talents are woefully under recognized in this film and I would love to see her in more main roles like in "Bend it like Beckham".But I digress.Hopefully those watching this movie will remember the fun it is supposed to be and not fall into the trap of over analyzing this piece of light-hearted happiness..
The story of young Ella who was given the gift of obedience is a very frustrating movie, it should be wild and charming and funny and the best thing since sliced bread, or if not sliced bread then The Princess Bride, but some how it doesn't quite work as whole.The cast is game, the special effects are good and the direction seems to be mostly on target, but somewhere along the way the movie decided to be too hip, too happening, too many things all at once.
Somehow I think that there were too many people with too many ideas (good ideas) but no one to say too much is a bad thing.I like this movie a lot, the pieces much more than the whole, but I can't help but wanting to beat up everyone involved in it because this should be so much better.Six out of ten.
I was very happy to see Eric Idle was the narrator and Anne Hathaway was brilliant and instantly likable as Ella, with Hugh Dancy the perfect handsome prince.
I would definitely recommend 'Ella Enchanted' to anyone who wants a fun and entertaining film..
Given the recent success of fantasy movies, it was probably inevitable that "Ella Enchanted" would get its turn on the silver screen.
One only wishes it had translated to screen better.Levine comes up with a clever explanation for the reason why Ella (played in the film by Anne Hathaway) must slave for her horrid step-family: at her cradle, a well-meaning but rather dim fairy godmother (Vivica A.
Refusing to be resigned to her lot, Ella sets out to return the unwanted gift--and en route, find romance with Prince Charmont ("Char" for short, played by Hugh Dancy).Unfortunately, it is here that the similarities to the source material end.
It doesn't help that the screenwriters have seen fit to muddy Ella's quest with a standard-issue villain in the form of Char's Claudius-esquire uncle (Cary Elwes, channeling the spirit of Prince Humperdink and accompanied by a very unconvincing CGI snake), and some business about the oppression of the kingdom's non-humans.Like "Shrek," "Ella Enchanted" takes the fractured fairy-tale route, throwing in sly references and anachronisms at every opportunity.
Unfortunately, both Fox and Minnie Driver as Ella's more sensible godmother feel miscast, and Parminder Nagra (the talented star of "Bend it Like Beckham") is virtually wasted as Ella's foreign-born friend."Ella Enchanted" is nice enough to sit through--Hathaway's presence keeps things going, and there are enough nice visuals.
In conclusion I would not suggest this movie to grown ups- as they would certainly NOT enjoy this step out of reality  however this would be a great movie for kids and may be pre teenagers and if you are an Anne Hathaway fan like me  well than don't miss this..
Ella Enchanted, starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Minnie Driver, and Eric Idle, is a contemporary epic fairy tale, sitting on the top shelf with such classics as The Wizard of Oz, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
A deeply telling and romantic tale, set in the land of magic, with many important messages, ranging from personal freedom, self empowerment, truth, and equality, to the simple pleasures that create the beautiful contrast of fairy tales, humor, song, beauty, friendship.A family movie, Ella Enchanted will be enjoyed by adults and children, and is sure to bring a warmth to your heart.
Anne Hathaway steals your heart with her charm, personality, and ability to carry the movie no matter where it leads, with great beauty and skill.
In this storybook fairy tale gone wrong, Anne Hathaway plays Ella, a girl given the magical gift of "obedience" by her fairy godmother at birth which turns into a curse because she can't refuse any command, even from those who abuse this fact.
In the end I think kids will really like Ella Enchanted Rating 7/10 if you have never read the book then you have a better chance of enjoying it.
Ella Enchanted (2004) Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Minnie Driver, Vivica A.
Delightful fable has all the old-fashioned ingredients from the storybook (evil uncle, wicked stepsisters, etc.), but lively pop-songs, goofy humor, and a nice nod to the Grimm Brothers give it a hip kick, though the fantasy effects look only half-hearted at best.
Gone are the interesting and well developed character interactions, and Ella's curse, which in the book was a constant source of true emotional and physical discomfort, is, with the exception of its use as a catalyst in the end of the film, mainly exploited as comic relief.
Ella Enchanted is got to be the worst movie based from a book I've seen so far.
Levine allowed them to wander away from the original book plot and setting, to allow such a wonderful book be "frankensteined" into this horrible movie.I laughed hard when i heard from an interview with Hugh Dancy (who plays Prince Char)when he said "...and make it into a better, more modernize version." More like a horrible.But i guess it was aimed towards younger children, begin 14 i find this was quite silly and corny.
If the movie writers/director had not strayed from the book plot/time setting, then i bet it would of been a better film at least.I give this a 1/10..
I like the casting for the step family and for Ella and prince Char, but everyone else falls flat in comparison to the characters described in the book.
The writing is sloppy and childish, and by changing some of the key characters like Mandy and Lucinda the movie loses some of the impact that made the book great.
I think Anne Hathaway should step away from her more stereotypical fairytale movies (i.e. Ella Enchanted, The Princess Diaries) because they're getting old.
However, I do think they could have picked a more attractive person to play Char.The scenery and set and general plot of the whole movie was good though, and I may invest in the book version to see how much has been changed.All in all, I do think there are things that this film could have done that would make it better, including better casting..
The rest of the story roughly follows the story of Cinderella, but with Ella as a more resourceful heroine than the typical fairy tale damsel in distress.This movie takes that basic premise, and the characters set forth in the book, and pretty much runs it own way with it, with disastrous results.
One day Anne Hathaway will look back on Ella Enchanted and admit publicly that it was the most embarrassing movie she's ever made.
I wasn't expecting a Merchant-Ivory film (Ella Enchanted comes from a kid's book after all), but this movie turned a perfectly good book into a 1970s nightmare.
I feel sorry for Anne Hathaway (she should have left this movie to lesser-talented starlets), but I weep most for Hugh Dancy, the handsome British actor who plays the prince.
I always expected that if Ella Enchanted were to be made into a movie, it would have the same seriousness and visual design as other "fairy tale" movies like Ever After, but they made the entire thing "blingy" and flashy and very, very fake.
While Anne Hathaway really was a beautiful girl and could have potentially played Ella well, this movie's design and implementation was altogether awful.
While the book is a moving and lovely story, the movie is little more than a mass of junk that coincidently happens to have characters of the same name.
Ella Enchanted is based on book, I understand that the filmmakers have taken some liberties with the adaptation and in this case there are six writers credited in this adaptation which rather tells it own story.Ella Enchanted was given the gift of obedience by an obnoxious fairy which causes her problems as she has to literally obey all commands a problem when her stepsisters move in with her As you can gather the film is also a reworking of the Cinderella story made more hip.The casting of Cary Elwes as the villainous uncle of Prince Charming is there to remind you of the far superior The Princess Bride as this film is appalling.
It wants to attract the Shrek type of knowing satire but the film is so awkward with some bad special effects such as the CGI snake.Every time the step sisters commanded Ella I cringed.
Baby Ella (Anne Hathaway) was given a 'gift of obedience' by Lucinda the fairy (Vivica A.
I am not a fan of Harry Potter at all but I do love fairy tale and fantasy movies with an appealing story and this sounded appealing to me.
Before Anne Hathaway became an obedient slave to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada she was under an obedience spell in Ella Enchanted, courtesy of her hip fairy godmother Vivica Fox. Though I'm not sure why this is such a good thing for anyone, it does provide some of the plot basis for this updated pop version of Cinderella.Anne Hathaway as the dolefully obedient Ella is wonderful in the part, even getting five finger discounts at the village medieval mall because her stepsisters tell her to.
Come on, who can't be in hysterics when Ella breaks out into a Queen song with giants as her backup singers.Although we have the book, I've never read it, but I've got to compare it with the movie.
The costumes for the lovable characters weren't anything extravagant, but the people you love to hate sure did have some memorable outfits.The whole movie is a big parody of fairy tales that everyone will find amusing.
(Well, OK, I did cringe a little when she rips off the gown to reveal the short skirt in the final dance number.) It was cute, it was clean, it was very funny.I have not read the book (indeed I did not know of it until seeing this film, but will certainly look for it) so I cannot comment on it's accuracy.
Ella Enchanted was a delightful movie, not as good as The Princess Diaries, but it was still good nonetheless.Parts of it seemed like a play being acted out in front of the audience but overall it made a good effort and played out well.
The soundtrack for Ella Enchanted is definitely worth buying, even if you didn't like the movie.
Derivative, sure, but with its' heart and wit in the right place (that would be on the clever page from writers Laurie Craig, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith), and with a great little supporting cast (including Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Joanna Lumley (the evil stepmom), Minnie Driver, Aidan McArdle (the elf who wants to be a but that would be telling) Eric Idle, Steve Coogan (as the voice of a duplicitous anthropomorphic snake), Jennifer Higham, Lucy Punch (the requisite evil stepsisters) and Parminder Nagra (perhaps the only underused one present)), Ella is a winner.
I liked the acting of Anne Hathaway, which made the movie as good as it was.
I didn't check into much before going cause I wasn't expecting much, however to see stars like Eric Idle one of the best of the Monty Python bunch, Mimmie Driver, Cary Elwes, and more working their magic in the movie was a pleasant surprise.
Excellent and totally enjoyable..Reminiscent of Princess Bride.The movie gives us a good story and adventure to follow with both humor and sorrow.I took my 7 1/2 year old to it and we both enjoyed it.
"Ella Enchanted" is a movie for all of those who still believe in the fantasy (even just a little bit!) and all of those who like to escape to an alternate reality where dreams really do come true.
All in all, any fan of the romantic genre or the fairy tale comedy (yes, indeed the elements of "Shrek" are palpable!) will love to carried away and certainly this movie "won't go breakin' your heart.".
Ella Enchanted, I've read the book (many times) and seen the movie (once).
I enjoyed it too, but I would have liked it much better if it had not been called Ella Enchanted.They say based on the book.
I say loosely based on the book, very loosely.The story follows Ella, a young girl cursed with the gift of obedience.
But whomever got involved in production dumped too much crap in it, too much singing and pop culture and it weighed it down, despite an otherwise good story.Anne Hathaway is enchanting and the enchantedly cursed girl who's forced to obey any orders directed at her.
But instead it's got so much singing and dancing the story gets lost, which is a shame, because it's a good story of a girl who's very goodness is used against her,  but still has to find a way to save the Kingdom and herself.I haven't read the Gail Carson Levine book, but I can only assume that with the three other writers listed on IMDB.COM, it's not only Tommy O'Haver's direction that's at fault.
And the mixing of modern ideas like fan clubs, malls, and pop music with a medieval setting provided intentionally ironic laughs much better than did the attempt at the same of "A Knight's Tale." The one change from the book that did irritate me was how Ella's obedience was more of a plot device than the purpose of the story.
Along the way, she campaigns for the rights of ogres, giants, and elves, and falls in love with a handsome prince.A plot like that leaves a lot of room for adaptation to the big screen.
(One of the funniest scenes is when Ella is in the giants' bar and reacting to their orders of `sing', `put some soul into it,' and `dance'.you don't want to miss this scene!)  I also thought the pacing was excellent; I never felt bored and the movie lasted just the right amount of time.
Well, the movie does succeed wonderfully because Anne Hathaway, who plays Ella, is likable, intelligent, charming, and beautiful.
Also adding to the delightful daffiness of the plot are Slannen the Elf (Aiden McArdle), Benny the Talking Book (Jimi Mistry), the evil Prince Edgar (Cary Elwes), his talking snake Heston, the household fairy Mandy (Minnie Driver), and Ella's two stepsisters Hattie and Olive.
First of all let me start by saying that if I had never read this book before and if I was under the age of 12 I may have enjoyed this movie because it is a cute light hearted tale.
Above all the movie did have its good aspects, however they force the film to fall under the category of cutesy children's fairy tale instead of the beautiful coming of age story it should have been.
Anne Hathaway is naturally lovely as Ella, a girl who is given the gift of obedience at birth, and Eric Idle is good as the narrator.
I expected it to be bad, and it was definitely much worse than I ever could have imagined.I'm another one of the people who read the book before seeing the movie, so naturally I was very disappointed in the screen adaptation of one of my favorite childhood stories.
It is offendingly obvious that not only minor parts of the story, but even the biggest parts have been changed to suit a celebrity-obsessed, media-controlled audience, and of course to make as many people rich as possible.So many things were different that the movie should not be allowed to share the same title as the great book I read when I was younger.
Anne Hathaway was a great choice to play Ella, she's innocent and radiates kindness and has a very fairytale like essence to her.
Hathaway is different because she was for sure the best choice, I don't think anyone else could've played Ella like she did.
"Ella Enchanted" is usually the sort of movie that I would heckle, but Anne Hathaway is not someone whom I heckle.
In fact, it looks like they took the characters and the curse and mixed it with Shrek to get the movie.
Take the humor and campiness from Princess Bride, add the musical likeness from A Knight's Tale, and the great character development from the mini-series 10th Kingdom and you have this movie!
the kids will love it, but if you are looking for the story from the book ELLA ENCHANTED i don't know how much you would like it.
This movie is hardly anything like the book - sans the names and basic plot that Ella must be obedient.