Ella Enchanted (film)

Ella Enchanted
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tommy O'Haver
Produced by	Jane Startz Susan Miller
Screenplay by	Karen McCullah Lutz Kirsten Smith
Based on	Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Narrated by	Eric Idle
Starring	Anne Hathaway Hugh Dancy Cary Elwes Steve Coogan Aidan McArdle Minnie Driver Vivica A. Fox
Music by	Nick Glennie-Smith James Seymour Brett
Cinematography	John de Borman
Editing by	Masahiro Hirakubo
Studio	Jane Startz Productions Blessington Film Productions
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	April 9, 2004 (2004-04-09)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$31 million
Box office	$27,388,767

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 an obnoxious and misguided fairy, Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox). This is more of a curse, making Ella do anything she is told to do, no matter how terrible or even physically impossible, but nobody except Lucinda can undo it. Years later, Ella's mother dies after instructing Ella to tell no one of the curse, not even her father (Patrick Bergin). In need of money, her father gets remarried to a wealthy socialite, Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley). She and her two spoiled daughters Hattie (Lucy Punch) and Olive (Jennifer Higham) treat Ella poorly. They eventually realize Ella's obedience to commands, and begin making her life miserable.

Ella, now a beautiful young woman, happens to meet Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy), the young, attractive, and very popular heir to the kingdom. They began to like each other, but Hattie and Olive decide to pursue "Char" themselves.

Her situation intolerable, Ella finally resolves to find Lucinda and ask her to remove the spell. Mandy (Minnie Driver), the household fairy and the only other person who knows about the curse, introduces Ella to her boyfriend Benny; he has accidentally been transformed into a book, but 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. 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. As they travel, the prince and Ella begin to 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. At the wedding, Ella is forced to perform a rendition of "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.

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, Hattie explains that Ella 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 save 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 and sends her to the palace. When Ella arrives, 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. This saves Prince Charmont from his uncle's treachery. But Edgar is watching from behind a two-way mirror, and before Ella can explain to Char why she tried to kill him, Edgar orders the guards in, to lock her up and have her executed in a few days.

Meanwhile, Slannen gets the giants, and the ogres come to help as well. Sneaking into the castle, they rescue Ella and find out that Sir Edgar is poisoning the crown that is to be put on Char's head in the coronation. They reach the hall just in time for Ella to barge in and scream, "Drop that crown!" Edgar and Heston call for knights and the ninja-like Red Guards, and they all battle in the hall against Prince Char, Ella, the ogres, the giants, and Slannen. During the fight, Mandy manages to restore Benny to human form and Ella has time to explain to Char everything that has happened. When Sir Edgar's forces lose the battle, Heston tries to bite Char, but is stopped by Ella and trampled by members of Char's fan club. This shows that Ella was telling the truth, and Edgar admits everything to the assembled crowd, saying it was justified because he is the only one fit to wear the crown. Then, carried away by his own rhetoric, he puts it dramatically on his own head, and 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 and a musical number ("Don't Go Breaking My Heart").

Cast

• Anne Hathaway as Ella of Frell, the title character and main protagonist. She is under a spell given to her by a fairy named Lucinda which makes her obedient.
• Hugh Dancy as Prince Charmont, son of the late king that was killed by his uncle.
• 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)

Production

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, with a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 53% on Metacritic. 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).

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".

Soundtrack

Main article: Ella Enchanted (soundtrack)

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.

See also

• Ella Enchanted, the novel the movie is based on.

External links

• Official website
• Ella Enchanted at the Internet Movie Database
• Ella Enchanted at AllRovi
• Ella Enchanted at Box Office Mojo
• Ella Enchanted at Rotten Tomatoes