Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted Information

Ella Enchanted is a 2004 British-American romantic-comedy film loosely based on Gail Carson Levine's 1997 novel of the same name. The film stars Anne Hathaway as Ella and Hugh Dancy as Prince Charmont. It plays with the usual fairy tale genre. It was released in North America on April 9, 2004 and in the UK on December 17, 2004.

Plot

In the kingdom of Frell, baby Ella (Anne Hathaway) is given the "gift of obedience" by a fairy called Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox). This turns out to be more of a curse, making Ella do anything she is told to do, no matter how terrible or physically impossible. Some years later, Ella's mother dies after instructing Ella to tell no one of the curse, not even her father. Eventually Ella's father (Patrick Bergin), in need of money, remarries a wealthy socialite. His greedy new wife, Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley), and her two spoiled daughters Hattie and Olive (Jennifer Higham) treat Ella poorly. They eventually realize Ella's obedience to commands, and begin making her life miserable.

Ella stumbles upon Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy), the handsome heir to the throne, as he's being pursued by his "fan club" of young women. He finds her lack of deference to him refreshing and after their encounter, sends an invitation to the Coronation Ball to her home, where it is intercepted by her stepmother and stepsisters. Hattie and Olive, who are part of Prince Charmont's fan club, are overcome with jealousy. Along with their mother, they force Ella to insult and cut ties with her best friend Areida (Parminder Nagra). Ella cannot bear to live under the obedience spell and Hattie's jealousy a moment longer, so she resolves to find Lucinda, the only one who can remove the spell. Mandy (Minnie Driver), the household fairy and the only other person who knows of the curse, tries to help by lending Ella a magical book that can show people in their current surroundings. The book holds Mandy's boyfriend Benny (Jimi Mistry), who she had accidentally transformed in an errant spell. During her journey, Ella encounters an elf named Slannen (Aidan McArdle), who wants to be a lawyer instead of an entertainer as the kingdom's laws now require. Slannen joins Ella on her quest, but they are captured by a group of ogres, who prepare to cook and eat them. They are rescued by Prince Charmont. He then accompanies her to a wedding in the land of giants, where Ella hopes to find Lucinda. Throughout the journey, Ella opens Charmont's eyes to the cruelty of his uncle's new laws oppressing elves and giants. Ella is forced to perform the rendition of Queen's Somebody to love, sung by Freddie Mercury. Char suggests that Ella should come with him to his palace to visit the Hall of Records and track down Lucinda faster.

At the palace, Charmont's uncle, Sir Edgar (Cary Elwes), has Ella's "gift" called to his attention by his talking snake, Heston, voiced by (Steve Coogan), who has been spying on the prince. When Edgar offers Hattie Char's hand in marriage, Ella's stepsisters explain that she does everything she is told. Edgar knows that Prince Charmont intends to propose marriage to Ella, and he orders her to stab him to death and not to tell anyone of the plan. Sir Edgar also reveals that he murdered Prince Charmont's father. To prevent the murder of Char, Ella asks Slannen to tie her to a tree outside the city and to find the giants so they can help. Lucinda now appears before Ella, who asks her to undo the "gift" of obedience. Offended by the request, Lucinda refuses, saying that if Ella no longer wants the spell, she must remove it herself. She unties Ella from the tree and gives her a fancy dress and tells her to attend the ball. When Ella gets to the ball, Charmont almost immediately takes her to the Hall of Mirrors and asks her to marry him. Ella is about to stab him with the dagger Edgar provided, when she realizes how to free herself from the curse: looking into a mirror, she orders herself to no longer be obedient. Charmont sees the dagger drop from her hand and realizes she tried to kill him. Edgar is watching the entire scene behind a two-way mirror, and before Ella can explain, Edgar orders the guards to lock her up and have her executed in a few days.

Meanwhile, Slannen gets the giants, and the ogres come to sneak into the castle to rescue Ella and find out that Sir Edgar is poisoning the crown that Char will receive during the ceremony. Just before Charmont puts it on, Ella and her allies interrupt. Edgar and Heston call for the knights and Red Guards, and a battle ensues. Ella explains everything to Charmont while fighting alongside him. When Sir Edgar's forces lose the battle, Heston tries to bite Char, but is stopped by Ella. Caught trying to kill the prince, Edgar admits to killing the King to the assembled crowd. Then, carried away by his own rhetoric, he puts the crown dramatically on his own head, and promptly collapses from the poison, although he survives.

Char and Ella kiss; her stepsisters arrive and order her to stop kissing, and she is delighted to refuse. Ella then walks up to Hattie and takes her mother's necklace back from her (Hattie had forced Ella to give it to her near the beginning of the movie). Char once again asks Ella to marry him, and she agrees. The movie ends with their wedding and a musical number (Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart).

Cast

Anne Hathaway as Ella of Frell. She is under a spell (curse) given to her by a fairy named Lucinda which makes her obedient.
Hugh Dancy as Prince Charmont (Char), son of the late king that was killed by his uncle. He is treated as a teen icon and has his own fan club, though he doesn't agree with this label.
Cary Elwes as Sir Edgar, the Prince's greedy uncle who wants the crown for himself.
Steve Coogan as Heston the snake, Edgar's pet.
Aidan McArdle as Slannen, an elf who wanted to become a lawyer.
Minnie Driver as Mandy, a household fairy who was the only person kind to Ella when Peter left. She always has some flaws in her spells.
Eric Idle as the narrator
Vivica A. Fox as Lucinda Perriweather, a fairy who gave the "gift" to Ella. She never takes back her spells, and always helps at the wrong time.
Parminder Nagra as Areida, Ella's best friend who grew up with Ella for many years.
Jim Carter as Nish, an ogre who eats humans.
Patrick Bergin as Sir Peter, Ella's father who was a vendor of watches.
Joanna Lumley as Dame Olga, Ella's stepmother.
Lucy Punch as Hattie, Ella's stepsister who was obsessed with Prince Charmont.
Jennifer Higham as Olive, Ella's kleptomaniac stepsister who always follows her older sister Hattie and is also mistreated by her.
Alvaro Lucchesi as Koopootuk, a giant who Charmont met at Giantsville.
Heidi Klum as Brumhilda, a giantess who met Slannen in Giantsville and has feelings for Slannen despite his size.
Jimi Mistry as Benny, the talking book.
Johnny Nguyen as Red Knight (uncredited)
Tristan MacManus (uncredited)

Production

Hathaway, who first read the book when she was 16, says that there was originally a version of the script that was much closer to the book but that it didn't work as a film; she added that she prefers the way the movie actually turned out because it "makes fun of itself for being a fairy tale." Levine states that the film is "so different from the book that it's hard to compare them," noting the addition of new characters such as Sir Edgar and Heston, and suggested "regarding the movie as a separate creative act". Hathaway did her own singing in the film.

Jimi Mistry, a British actor of Indian descent, said that he enjoyed playing a talking book in the film because it offered him the opportunity to do something different from his other roles. "You can't get less Indian than a talking book, and an American talking book, so it was great," he said.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 50% based on 114 reviews. On Metacritic it scored 53% based on reviews from 30 critics.

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3 ^1/2 stars out of 4, praising it as "the best family film so far this year" (April 9, 2004).

Soundtrack

See Ella Enchanted (soundtrack) for more information The soundtrack was released April 6, 2004 by Hollywood Records and features Kelly Clarkson's cover of "Respect" and "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" as covered by Jesse McCartney and Anne Hathaway.