Ella Enchanted [2004]

Customer Reviews:

A Surprise!!!.......2007-12-26

I must say I was surprised but this film. At first I really wanted to hate it but after the first five minutes I was hooked! Anne plays the character of Ella of Frell so well.

An Enchanting Fairy Tale.......2006-10-25

Ella of Frell (Anne Hathaway) is an unusual child. As a baby, a bumbling fairy godmother named Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox) gave her the gift of obedience. Every time anyone gives her a direct command, she must obey.

Despite, or maybe because of, this "gift," Ella grows to be a headstrong woman. She goes against the conventional wisdom of the realm when it comes to ogres, giants, and elves. Current rules state that these creatures are dangerous and must perform certain jobs only. But Ella campaigns for their equality.

She is also one of the few women in the realm who doesn't swoon at the site of Prince Char (Hugh Dancy). When the two meet accidentally, Char finds this distain quite refreshing and immediately begins to fall for the headstrong young woman.

Trouble is brewing at home, however. Ella's stepsister Hattie (Lucy Punch) has figured out Ella's secret. Now, Ella finds herself doing things she would never willing do. So she leaves home and sets out to find Lucinda to give the gift back.

I had missed seeing this movie in the theater, and finally got a chance to watch it. I missed a real treat. The movie is funny from start to finish, and I had a grin on my face the entire time. While the story is a bit predictable, it isn't super preachy. The cast does an amazing job bring their characters to life. The only drawback to the movie is the special effects. While some worked well, most of the time they weren't up to today's standards.

While the main audience might be teen girls, this is one adult male who loved it. It's sweet, charming, and entertaining. What more could you want?

Not your traditional fairytale :).......2006-05-07

"Ella enchanted" is a fairytale with an interesting spin, that is likely to interest both children and those adults who haven't lost contact with the children inside them. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Gail Carson Levine, although it differs from it in several points. I think that doesn't detract from the fact that this movie is very good. As a matter of fact, I consider it a plus, because due to the differences between the movie and the book you can watch the film and still get some surprises if you read the book afterwards (or vice versa).

The main character in this film is Ella of Krell (Anne Hathaway), a teenager who was given a strange "gift" by her eccentric fairy godmother (played by Vivica A. Fox) when she was born. That gift is nothing less that the "gift of obedience": everything that she is ordered to do, she automatically does. Her "gift" doesn't make life too difficult for Ella at the beginning, as only her mother and her aunt (Minnie Driver) know about it. Of course, Ella is annoyed by the fact that she always has to do what they order (and yes, that includes homework and music lessons), but they never ask her to do nothing bad.

Unfortunately, Ella's life takes a turn for the worse when her mother dies and her father Patrick Bergin) must remarry for money. She ends up having a stereotypical hateful stepmother, and stepsisters from hell. One of her stepsisters, Hattie (Lucy Punch), discovers Ella's secret, and makes more or less a slave of her. That impossible situation prompts Ella to start a quest in search of her fairy godmother, the only one who can remove her "gift" from her.

If you watch this movie, you will get lots of adventure and action, along with some interesting characters. For example, you will be introduced to ogres, giants, elves, and even a magic book that can talk. There is also some romance, as Ella gets to know Prince Charming (Hugh Dancy), a young man always running from his crazy fans who is about to be crowned. "Char" is not as dumb as Ella thought, and is oblivious of the new laws against equal rights sanctioned by his uncle Edgar, the regent (the villain, of course). Will Ella be able to show Char what is really going on in his kingdom?. And will she be able to get rid of her "gift of obedience", or will it go on being used against her?.

On the whole, I can sincerely say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and that I recommend it to you. "Ella enchanted" is really original, and a pleasure to watch. If you decide to see it, remember to play the deleted scenes. One of them is really great, and involves one of the most annoying characters being turned into a frog :)

Belen Alcat

great fun.......2006-03-28

I really liked this movie, and it was actually a lot funnier than I expected. That isn't to say that it's hilarious, but for me there were a few laugh out loud moments, and I always think that's a good achievment for a film! Hugh Dancy is VERY fit in this, and I speak as someone who didn't previously have any time for him; when I saw him in Channel 4's Elizabeth I, I thought he was a bit too girlie and he reminded me painfully of Orlando Bloom, but I actually really liked him in this. The characters are really likeable, and although many would probably put the musical numbers down as 'cheesy' (I must admit I was surprised when they popped up!), I really like them, and frequently listen to the songs on my laptop! I had re-watched this film twice within a couple weeks, it's one of those films that's really easy to watch again and again, and it isn't too long either (about an hour and a half? well it goes quickly anyway!). I bought this because I'm a sucker for romance and the quirkiness appealed to me - I wasn't disappointed!

A delightful new twist on a well-known fairy tale.......2006-03-27

There's a reason that every year seems to bring at least one new adaptation of the Cinderella story - it is, indeed, an enchanting story that speaks to the heart. Who doesn't love Cinderella? I oftentimes find myself pulling for the bad guys in films, but who in the world could ever like that evil step-mother or her awful daughters? Of course, Ella Enchanted isn't your traditional fairy tale, even though all of the important elements are there - the fairy godmother, the prince, etc. Ella is not reduced to slavery by her step-mother, and she doesn't have any contact with cinders, but she does find herself effectively controlled by one of her awful new step-sisters. Anyone who has read Terry Pratchett or watched Shrek 2 knows that fairy godmothers do more harm than good, and the one in this movie (played by Vivica A. Fox) proves the point. Lucinda's gift to the baby Ella is obedience. You may think you've gotten some rotten gifts before, but the gift of obedience is the worst of the worst. Ella grows up with a strong mind and a beautiful heart, but she is helpless to refuse any request made of her. You can just imagine the kind of havoc one could wreak if one found out Ella's secret. Forbidden to tell anyone about her curse of a blessing, Ella eventually decides that she must seek out her godmother and beg her to take the gift back.

Ella sets out on her long journey in the days preceding the coronation of Prince Char (Hugh Dancy). Char is pretty much the Elvis of the realm, with young ladies in waiting breaking out into hysterics whenever he appears and, more often than not, chasing him down like hounds after a fox. He first meets Ella during one such chase, and he is immediately taken by this young lady who doesn't swoon in his presence; in fact, Ella has a thing or two to say to the young prince because she is opposed to his uncle's royal policies that discriminate against ogres, elves, and giants. She knows what it is like to have to do something against your wishes, and that makes her most forthright in her political statements. As fate would have it, the two meet again, love blossoms, and the prince gets to see firsthand the unfortunate lives his non-human subjects have been forced into living. Eventually, they arrive at the castle, and fate's dark side decides to show up and torture the innocent Ella once again. The prospects go far beyond the ruin of her love life, however; they threaten the integrity and welfare of the entire kingdom.

Ella Enchanted is a somewhat unusual film. I daresay it's the only place you'll ever find "Cinderella" belting out a saucy version of Queen's Somebody to Love, for instance. It's a little jarring to hear Strange Magic as the film opens, but you quickly grow to love the entire soundtrack (especially if you're an adult - most kids won't recognize some of the classic tunes included here). I can't say the special effects are all that great, especially the ones featuring giants, but it is the story, not the special effects, which matter in this particular case, and Ella Enchanted really delivers story-wise. With its mix of humor and drama, it should appeal to most any viewer - and you can't help but be won over by the beauty and talent of Anne Hathaway in the lead role.

Customer Reviews:

Get enchanted with this amazing movie.......2007-08-03

Amazing movie deserves 5 stars.

This charming (in all ways) movie leads you and whole your family in fairy world of ogres, elves, giants and fairy godmother's. This movie is interesting from 1 to the last second. Amazing couple of Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy are like an ideal couple of every fairytale, an example of eternal love and family comfort.

Love, amazing music, fairy creatures - this all will make you feel like a little child in a big and amazing world of fantasy. Highly recommended movie for everybody of every age and status. Just get enchanted and you'll take no regrets.

Great movie for all the family!.......2006-06-25

What a fun, well made movie! From start to finish, laughter will continue unabated as poor Ella (enchated to always do as she is told) gets into a lot of really funny situations due to the spell/curse on her. Anne Hathaway plays the role of Ella wonderfully, bringing great natural comedic ability to the fore alongside the great storyline.

The movie has some good special effects, a fast and fun storyline, great acting and to top it all off the movie is good clean fun for all the family, which is hard to find these days. My three girls have watched this movie several times and adore it. Also the DVD has some great extras (including a neat set top game) which kids will enjoy.

Children will love the story with its fun (if predictable) twists and turns, and parents can rest assured that their kids are watching something safe and enjoyable.

Ella , Anne , they are both enchanted!.......2005-01-12

I loved Princess Diaries 1&2 and was looking foreward to seeing ella enchanted. However ha dto choose between that or A series of unfortuante events. I chose A.S.O.U.E and was wondering wat E.E was like, so i bought the dvd. After watching it i decided that it was one of the best movies i'd ever seen! Anne Hatheway (Ella) was brilliant and played once agian in the role of a princess. Prince Char was absolute eye candy looking great all the time. His acting was good as well. If you are looking for a film to watch with all your best m8s then this is a film for you;Funny, Actionpacked and once again great eye candy!!!!!!

Too much like candyfloss for comfort.......2004-12-06

This gentle, if only half-baked comedy is a sort of spoofy Cinderlla meets Lord of the Rings meets Wizard of Oz meets the Muppets meets the Brothers Grimm.

It is about Ella of Frell, blessed at birth by a wicked fairy to always do exactly what people tell her to, and as she gets older she is constantly being told to do things that are against her own interest and those of people she loves. She sets out amongst elves, giants and ogres to find the fairy and have her revoke the blessing turned curse. And along the way she falls in love with the hunky king to be, Prince Char.

The script has a lot of workable and quite cute ideas and somewhat witty anachronisms, and it even attempts to be a political allegory for our time, and the aim is discrimination and apartheid. So, it is nothing if not well-intentioned, and by far the best thing that can be said about it is that Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy have a sweet, dewy-eyed rapport as the star-struck young lovers, and fine actors abound in supporting roles, notably by Lucy Punch as Ella's deliciously evil older stepsister, and Cary Elwes cast refreshingly against type as the Prince's evil, murderous uncle.

Having said that 'Ella Enchanted' looks, and tastes, too much like candyfloss for comfort, but what is worse, the computer animation used to show giants, humans and elves in interaction is excruciatingly artificial to look at, it actually looks a lot less real than papier mache used to.

The film was obviously intended for children and teenage girls, but is simply not well enough made to deserve a big following.

If Ella is not enchanted then Anne Hathaway certainly is.......2004-08-28

There are two things that colored my perception of "Ella Enchanted." The first is that I just saw "A Cinderella Story" a couple of weeks ago, and since that was the worst movie made on the Cinderella theme in the history of the world anything else was going to look a lot better in comparison. But then director Tommy O'Haver has the advantage of being able to mine the gold from Gail Carson Levine's beloved children's novel, which provides enough creative sparks to make this movie something different. If you are going to tell the Cinderella story over again then you need to have a twist that justifies the effort, and "Ella Enchanted" has a couple of those.

Second, this really is a movie aimed at kids. I say this because the key twist in this story is that when Ella is born a rather second rate fairy named Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox) gives her the gift of obedience. This means that every time somebody tells Ella to do something, she has to do it. Now, for kids, younger kids, this is a truly nightmare scenario. Parents and other adults are always telling you to do something: what if they could MAKE you do whatever they wanted? Endless chores, homework, and probably music lessons would be your fate, which is essentially what happens to Ella when she grows up to be Anne Hathaway.

Hathaway is the star of this film and what promise she showed in "The Princess Dairies" is fulfilled her as she plays Ella as more of a civil rights advocate than a would be fairy princess. This is because in the other fun twist the regent, Prince Edgar (Carl Elwes, playing for the other side this time having done the hero bit in "The Princess Bride"), has ordered all the elves, ogres, giants and other non-humans to live in the forest, at least when they are not serving as slave labor in behalf of the kingdom. Ella knows this is wrong and while every other eligible maiden in the land is throwing themselves at the feet of Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy), Ella is more interested in giving the heir a piece of her mind on the eve of his coronation.

Since this is a take off of a sort on Cinderella we have to have the wicked step mother (Joanna Lumley) and her daughters, the mean one, Hattie (Lucy Punch), and the stupid one, Olive (Jennifer Higham). One of the most problematic elements in the story is where the good and kindly father (Patrick Bergin) marries the wrong woman. When the fairy tale was first told it was commonplace for widows and widowers to marry (it worked well for young Abraham Lincoln), but now adays the logic of such marriages is a hit and miss proposition: we buy it in "Ever After" and we laugh at it in "A Cinderella Story." At least Ella's dad is not dead but simply off on business while his new wife and step-daughters treat Ella like she was a maid who gets dirty from the cinders in the fireplace.

I saw this 2004 film is aimed at kids because the injustices that Hattie heaps on Ella are going to drive the young ones right through the roof. I am old enough to know that things will work out for Ella in the end and I suspect most kids will know that too, but I am also old enough to want Hattie to get more of a comeuppance than she does in this film (or its alternative ending). But then I also know why the original Cinderella wore glass slippers (I cannot explain it because children might read this review; if you ever read the original story of "The Little Mermaid" then you know that most of the classic fairy tales talk a walk on the dark side).

There are lots of creative little touches that help this film along. Mandy (Minnie Driver), the inept house fairy who tries to look after Ella, has a boyfriend named Benny (Jimi Mistry), who is trapped in a book. Open the book and Benny can show you where somebody is and what they are doing, which becomes helpful as Ella tries to find Lucinda to take back her gift and help save the day at the end of the film. What I really liked is how the enchantment is broken, which worked on at least two significant levels, which is two more than you usually get in a Hollywood film.

The only reason "Ella Enchanted" is not a truly superb film is because we have seen bits and pieces of this fractured fairy tale approach in things like "Into the Woods" and "Shrek." I would also toss out a working hypothesis that there are only so many variations on the Cinderella theme that you are willing to admit to the first level. For me that would be "Pretty Woman" and "Ever After" (having Hector Elizondo or Leonardo Da Vinci in the fairy godmother role appeals to me), but for young kids they might fall in love with "Ella Enchanted" in the same way.

Anne Hathaway makes that easy to do, especially when her character is forced to belt out a cover of Queen's "Somebody to Love." She has those big eyes and that bright smile and spins enough magic in this movie to make up for a by-the-numbers wasted sequel like "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement." Obviously she needs to break out of the "princess" mode and her next film, "Havoc," should provide that: she plays a wealthy L.A. teen who imitates the gangsta lifestyle of hip hop culture with her friends and then encounters a gang of real Latino drug dealers in the big bad city. Yep, that should break Hathaway out of the princess rut.

Average customer rating:

Get enchanted with this amazing movie

Great movie for all the family!

Ella , Anne , they are both enchanted!

Too much like candyfloss for comfort

If Ella is not enchanted then Anne Hathaway certainly is

Ella Enchanted [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Patrick Bergin , Cary Elwes , Joanna Lumley , Eric Idle , and Steve Coogan
Director: Tommy O'Haver
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All Comedy | Comedy | Categories | DVD | Video
Romantic | Comedy | Categories | DVD | Video
All Science Fiction & Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Categories | DVD | Video
Fantasy & Futuristic | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Categories | DVD | Video
All Television | Television | Categories | DVD | Video
Comedy | Television | Categories | DVD | Video
Region 1 | Special Features | DVD | Video
DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
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A Cinderella Story [2004]

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ASIN: B00029RT2G
Release Date: 2004-08-24

Customer Reviews:

Get enchanted with this amazing movie.......2007-08-03

Great movie for all the family!.......2006-06-25

Ella , Anne , they are both enchanted!.......2005-01-12

Too much like candyfloss for comfort.......2004-12-06

This gentle, if only half-baked comedy is a sort of spoofy Cinderlla meets Lord of the Rings meets Wizard of Oz meets the Muppets meets the Brothers Grimm.

The film was obviously intended for children and teenage girls, but is simply not well enough made to deserve a big following.

If Ella is not enchanted then Anne Hathaway certainly is.......2004-08-28

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