Ella Enchanted (film)
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| Ella Enchanted | |
 The Ella Enchanted movie poster. |
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| Directed by | Tommy O'Haver |
|---|---|
| Starring | Anne Hathaway Hugh Dancy Cary Elwes Vivica A. Fox Steve Coogan Aidan McArdle Lucy Punch Joanna Lumley Jennifer Higham Parminder Nagra Jim Carter Heidi Klum with Minnie Driver with Patrick Bergin as 'Sir Peter' and Eric Idle as 'The Narrator' |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | April 9, 2004 |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$30+ million[1] |
| Gross revenue | US$$27,388,767 (World Wide) |
Ella Enchanted is a fairy tale comedy film loosely based on Gail Carson Levine's 1997 novel of the same name. The story and tone ended up being very different from that of the book. The film stars Anne Hathaway as Ella and Hugh Dancy as Prince Charmont. It was released to North American theatres on April 9, 2004 (see 2004 in film).
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[edit] Plot
In the kingdom of Frell, the baby Ella (Anne Hathaway) is given the "gift of obedience" by her fairy godmother, Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox). This turns out to be more of a curse, as it makes Ella do anything she is told to do, no matter how terrible (or even physically impossible). Some years later, Ella's mother dies after instructing Ella to tell no one of the curse. Eventually Ella's father, in need of money, remarries to a wealthy socialite. He knows nothing of Ella's curse (it seems that only people who want to take advantage of her ever notice it). His greedy, expedient new wife, Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley), and her two spoiled daughters Hattie (Lucy Punch) and Olive (Jennifer Higham) treat Ella poorly; when they find out that she obeys every command, they start using her and trying to make her life even more miserable than they already have; for instance, they order her to dump her friend Areida (Parminder Nagra).
Ella, now a young woman, happens to meet Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy), the young, attractive, and very popular heir to the kingdom; they like each other, but Hattie and Olive decide to pursue "Char" themselves.
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, introduces her boyfriend Benny to Ella. Benny is in the form of a book that Mandy had accidentally turned him into, but in this form he can help Ella by showing things such as pictures of people in their current surroundings.
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 to find Lucinda, but they run into trouble with a group of ogres. The ogres tie up Ella's hands and feet and prepare to lower her into their cookpot. Just when Ella and Slannen are about to be killed and devoured, they are rescued by Prince Charmont. He then accompanies her to a wedding in the land of giants, where Ella hopes to find Lucinda. At the wedding, Ella is forced to perform a rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love". Char then suggests that Ella should come with him to his palace to visit the Hall of Records and track down Lucinda faster. As they make their way to the capital, the prince and Ella fall in love. They pass a plantation where giants are working as slaves, and Ella tries to open Char's eyes to the cruelty of the new laws oppressing elves and giants. Char's reply shows a naive trust in his uncle, Sir Edgar, who is ruling Frell as regent until Char's coronation, and is responsible for these laws.
At the palace, the sinister Sir Edgar (Cary Elwes) has Ella's "gift" called to his attention by his talking snake, Heston (voiced by Steve Coogan). When Edgar offers them 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 then, 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. To make matters worse, she unties Ella from the tree and gives her a fancy dress to attend the ball in. 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: she shouts "You will no longer be obedient!" to her own reflection in a mirror, and is compelled to obey her own order. This saves Prince Charmont from his uncle's treachery. But Edgar is watching the entire scene behind a one-way mirror, and before Ella can explain to Char why she tried to kill him, he orders the guards in, to lock her up and have her executed in a few days.
Meanwhile, Slannen gets the giants, and the ogres (who also hate Edgar) come to help as well. They sneak into the castle just before the coronation is to occur. They rescue Ella and find out that Sir Edgar is poisoning the crown that is to be put on Char's head in the ceremony. When the crown is just inches above his head, Ella barges in along with Slannen and the ogres and screams "Drop that crown!" Knights are ordered out by Edgar, but Prince Char and Ella, along with the ogres, the giants, and Slannen, defeat them all. Heston summons the ninja-like "Red Guards", but they are also defeated. During the fight, Ella has time to reveal everything that has happened, and Mandy is finally able to change Benny back into a man.
Sir Edgar then admits his plan, but yells to all that only he is fit to wear the crown. Carried away by his own rhetoric, he puts it dramatically on his own head, and promptly collapses from the poison. Char and Ella kiss; her stepsisters arrive and order her to stop, and she is delighted to refuse. Char now asks Ella again to marry him, and she agrees: "Now that I'll do."
The movie ends with their wedding (which Areida attends) and a musical number (Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"), during which it is revealed that Sir Edgar did not die, but was very badly poisoned.
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Anne Hathaway | Ella of Frell |
| Hugh Dancy | Prince Charmont |
| Cary Elwes | Sir Edgar |
| Aidan McArdle | Slannen |
| Joanna Lumley | Dame Olga |
| Lucy Punch | Hattie |
| Jennifer Higham | Olive |
| Minnie Driver | Mandy |
| Eric Idle | Narrator |
| Steve Coogan | Heston |
| Jimi Mistry | Benny |
| Vivica A. Fox | Lucinda |
| Parminder Nagra | Areida |
| Jim Carter | Nish |
| Patrick Bergin | Sir Peter |
| Heidi Klum | Brumhilda |
[edit] Production
Hathaway did her own singing in the film.[2][3]
Jimi Mistry, a British actor of Indian descent, said that he enjoyed playing Benny 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.[4]
[edit] Critical response
The film received mixed reviews, with a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5]
Fans of the book complained over the film's drastic changes, and that it little resembled the original.[citation needed] 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 and that she prefers the way the movie actually turned out because it "makes fun of itself for being a fairy tale."[6] Levine states that the flim 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".[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ellaenchanted.htm
- ^ Murray, Rebecca. "Hugh Dancy Captures Hearts in "Ella Enchanted"". About.com. http://movies.about.com/cs/ellaenchanted/a/elenhd033104.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-11.
- ^ Murray, Rebecca. "Anne Hathaway on "Ella Enchanted" and Her Princess Roles". About.com. http://movies.about.com/cs/ellaenchanted/a/elenah033104.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-11.
- ^ "Science Fiction News of the Week:". Science Fiction Weekly. http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue301/news.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-02.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ella_enchanted/ 18 March 2009
- ^ Murray, Rebecca. "Anne Hathaway on "Ella Enchanted" and Her Princess Roles". About.com. http://movies.about.com/cs/ellaenchanted/a/elenah033104.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-11.
- ^ "Gail Carson Levine". Kidsreads.com. http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-levine-gail-carson.asp. Retrieved on 2008-11-11.
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Ella Enchanted at the Internet Movie Database
- Ella Enchanted at Allmovie
- Ella Enchanted at Rotten Tomatoes
- Ella Enchanted at Box Office Mojo
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