Genres

Visitors Review

carmencita-1 2012-05-25 02:53:30

Cursed to be always obedient, Ella struggles to do what's right, not just what she's been told to do.

When I was at the theater a hired entertainer introduced the movie bysaying it was on par with "The Princess Bride". What utter chaff. Ithink maybe he read the book and never actually saw the movie.I loved the children's book this was based on, which is why I went tosee the film in the first place, and if the producers would haveremained true to that story this could have been amazing. Instead it ispop abomination. I can't blame the actors too much as the script anddirection were inept and saccharine.It really is a shame because the book, which only shares one similaritywith the movie (besides character names), is really an incrediblycompelling and creatively told story.The costumes were cheap as can be. The story they used in the movie wastrite as can be. You barely cared about any of the characters. And theinclusion of all the modern elements just lost any magic the settingcould have had in this film.Just plain bad. Nothing at all that was even decent about this movie.

2012-05-24 15:23:12

Would give it a negative 100 if I could!

This movie was so bad! I watched it with my family and I was shocked at how poorly written this movie was. I loved the book and have read it over 100 times and can't get tired of it. In the movie, Ella is more of a puppet rather than the spunky, resilient girl in the book. Also, what is up with the modern day language?!! This is supposed to be set in a medieval time, not today. In the movie, you never get to know Char's personality unlike the book. In the movie, it's more like love at first sight whereas in the book Ella and Char get to know each other first. Also, what's with the 'evil snake' and weird uncle?! The way that Ella breaks her curse is completely lame. Don't waste your money on this product.

Robert K. Elder 2012-05-23 11:25:53

It's glossy, shiny candy that tastes oddly familiar yet lacks sugary punch.

2012-05-23 01:20:24

Ella not so Enchanted

After reading the book, I was completely disappointed in this movie. The only thing that was the same was the fact that Ella was cursed with obedience. In this movie, the characters come off as mere caricatures. In the book Ella is able to save herself from the ogres, but in the movie she needs the prince to do it for her. I think this movie was trying to be part Ever After and as my husband said, part Shrek. I would recommend watching either of those movies instead of this one and of course reading the book, which is way smarter and more entertaining.

Kit Bowen 2012-05-20 22:32:06

It's the MTV, Teen Beat-lovin' teenage girls who will sing its praises the loudest.

2012-05-20 01:50:49

All things considered......

Ella Enchanted is one of the best books I have ever read. The movie? Not quite. There are a lot of differences and departures from the original, although most of it was simply expansion on a sentence or two from the book, like Ella's fear that if she marries Char, one of his enemies will discover her curse and force her to kill him. Some things, though, had me blinking and saying something like,"Where did THAT come from?" Example. What inspired the stupid animated snake? To my mind, if someone had simply squaushed the thing while it was hidden in the saddlebag, the movie could have progressed quite happily without it. Also, the dance number at the end was, I admit, amusing, but what purpose does it serve? Moving on, I actually liked most of the modern quirks, like the party in Giantland(such an original name, by the way!), Dame Olga's unfortunate reaction to her Batox injectons, Prince Char's fan club, and the mall opening in Frell. I have to say, the casting was really well done, to the point where one can't imagine anyone better for the parts than the actual actors. Although I still think if they had stayed true to the book, the movie would have gone beyond good to great. My personal opinion is that it's a cute little film taken on it's own, but it hovers in between the original story, and Shrek, and as a result doesn't quite measure up to either.

2012-05-11 01:02:26

The movie is...

This movie is great and I caught on easily when I watched it. It was interesting and easy to understand. I knew what was going on immediately. The only thing I do not like about this film and found extremely annoying was the musical singing part. It should not be in the movie cause all the singing made me wanna puke.

wulfstand 2012-05-10 05:22:02

Entertaining light fluff

That pretty well says it all. But do take the kids, esp the girls. But Ienjoyed most of it, and I'm a 50yo guy, so if you see it with yourdaughtersyou won't regret it.It won't take the place of Labrynith or Legend, but it can sit on theshelfbeside them without a qualm. It does belong in that genre. I'd say itsomewhat reminded me of the Tenth Kingdom. Or perhaps Shreck as Liveaction?Sure- it's no LotR. But that's nothing to be ashamed of, isit?One caveat- if you despise disco type music- modern light Pop- then youmighwant to skip this one.

Danny 2012-05-08 20:08:29

Very nice feel good movie

All though this was a movie that was fairly predictable, there wasenough changes to the same ole same ole to make it enjoyable. Itreminded me a lot of "Ever After" with Drew Barrymore, at least itseemed like a similar plot line. Then again, why wouldn't it, it'sbased on the Cinderella story. I find myself humming the familiarclassic tunes from the movie.Joanna Lumley was her usual wonderful in the film, her part was a bitsmall for such an important character. I guess if she had more of arole in it, she would have stolen it! I really liked how the daughter(Judy Punch?) imitated Joanna Lumley's character. For a second or two Ithought they might be real life mother and daughter. The real highlight for me was Anne Hathaway's singing. She's got somereal vocal talent IMO!! We bought the soundtrack from the movie, it'sreally good but I like the movie versions of the songs a little bitmore. Nothing like having giants for back up singers, eh??

alyssa bibens 2012-05-08 05:57:12

One of the WORST film adaptations I have ever seen

When I first heard about the upcoming film adaptation of EllaEnchanted, I was very happy, as I had enjoyed the book by Gail CarsonLevine immensely. Imagine my disgust when I learned that the only thingthey had "based" this movie off of was the character's names,locations, and Ella's curse.In short, the screenwriters need to be shot. Not only did they botchone of the best story lines I have ever read, they made it into anotherrun-of-the-mill pre-teen fantasy. If the writers had actually READ thebook before adapting it, the film *might* have done better at the boxoffice.With its low-budget effects, unoriginal costuming, and annoying musicalinterludes, I was thoroughly unimpressed. I really wish I could havethose two hours of my life back, so I could go read the book again, andbe entertained.PLEASE, SOMEONE DO A RE-ADAPTATION OF THIS TO ACCURATELY TELL THESTORY!Out of 5 stars, I give it zero.

Ddey65 2012-05-05 00:22:25

Delightful story, but kind of unsettling

This movie isn't the first time Eric Idle narrated a fairy tale. Therewas that sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus, where he reads aseries of them that turn out to be more scandalous than even heexpects. This time he narrates a tale by Gail Carson Levine(sort of),which is somewhat of a re-write of Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz, and afew other fairy tales thrown in, along with the addition of femaleempowerment that those other tales lacked.When Ella of Frell was born, Lucinda Perriwhether, a fairy godmotherwho was a fair-weather friend of her mother's put her under a spellthat made her automatically obedient, a convenience for her parents,but not so good for Ella herself. Her mom(Donna Dent), and othergodmother Mandy(Minnie Driver), both of which are amateur fairygodmothers know this, and try to get her to take it back.Unfortunately, Lucinda refuses and threatens to turn her into asquirrel(something she enjoys doing), so they let her keep it. Thisgave her plenty of problems in life, and the older she got, the moreproblems the spell gave her. Her mother never tells her about the"gift" until she's eight years old, and nobody but her, Lucinda, andMandy know about it. Long after her mother dies, her father marries ashrew named Dame Olga(Joanna Lumley) with two teenage daughters, Hattiea manipulative bitch(Judy Punch), and Olive an idiotickleptomaniac(Jennifer Higham).Lamia, the kingdom in which they live isn't exactly so ideal. It'sruled by the evil King Edgar, who has segregated Giants, Elves, andOgres(although he may be right about the ogres), and Ella and herfriend Areida(Parminder Nagra) are dead set against it. Still, most ofthe girls around her don't care, because his nephew Prince Charmont isapparently a dream-boy. And since he's part of the monarchy, Ella hateshim even though he's nothing like the king. Hattie, who's the head ofthe Prince's fan club, realizes early into the entry of Ella's familythat she and other people can control her for some reason. When PrinceChar speaks in front of a crowd of swooning teenage girls, Hattieabruptly cancels Ella's anti-monarchist demonstration. When shestumbles upon the Prince and drops her purse, he makes her stay in themiddle of the road while he retrieves it, and almost gets hit by ahorse-drawn wagon, only to be rescued by the prince. When her evilstep-sisters force her to shoplift and get her to blame it on her bestfriend, she realizes she has no other choice but to but to find the oldfairy godmother to try to get her to reverse that spell. Luckily Mandyhas Benny, an old boyfriend she accidentally turned into a book, whocan help her find Lucinda... sort of. A few clues later reveals thatthe woman is somewhere in Giantville, and Ella and the Benny-book areoff.On their way to Giantville, she comes across an elf named Slannen,being hassled by some peasants. After she rescues him, he joins her onher journey. Thanks to the king, all elves are forced to sing and dancefor humans, and this elf is dead set against doing so. He wants to be alawyer. They also comes across some ogres who try to eat them, despiteher push for their re-integration, and Prince Char comes to her rescueagain. Slannen makes her invite him to come along, since Lamia is onthe way. Upon arrival, the prince finds that the giants are used asslaves, and after some coaxing by Ella to lend them his ears, he findsthat many of the giants, ogres, elves, and other non-humans have goodreason to be upset with the royal family.The highlight, of course is Anne Hathaway's cover of Queen's 1976 hit"Somebody To Love," which she only sings when commanded to by somegiants who fail to get Slannen to do so. Slannen falls in love with agiantess named Brumhilda, played by Heidi Klum. And believe it or not,some of the other giant girls are even cuter, but that's besides thepoint. It seems that both think the myth of how each species aresupposed to act began with the Brothers Grimm. In the meantime, PrinceChar offers to let Ella spend some time in the hall of records to lookfor Lucinda. As you can expect, they fall in love after all. But SirEdgar has other plans for the prince. And when he finds out aboutElla's "condition" through Hattie, he uses her against the belovedChar. Being that this is a fairy tale, you can probably guess what kindof ending to expect. The operative word in that sentence being"probably." As enjoyable as this movie is, when I read about fans on the book whocomplain about the movie's apparent misinterpretation of it, I find itdisturbing. I'm not saying they're not right(because I'm not one tojudge), I'm just saying they're harsh. Moreso than critics of theadaptations of "Maniac Magee," and "The Power of One." This is theunsettling part. Like so many storybooks, this was was rewritten forthe silver screen, perhaps too rewritten for some people. I alsowondered if Sir Edgar's talking pet snake Heston(Scott Grimes) was thetrue evil behind the King's agenda, especially since he's got statuesof himself in some parts of the castle. Sure, the use of 20th Centurypop-hits are an extraordinary anachronism, but that can be easilyforgiven. And if you can forgive that, you shouldn't have as much of aproblem with the rest of the movie. So I say, give it a try whetheryou've read the original book or not.

2012-05-04 06:51:19

Hack Movie

I can't believe that so many people find this movie even slightly interesting. Ella Enchanted is a horrid piece of work as far as film making goes. The acting is one of the worst, next to B-movie quality. The actors sound like they didn't memorize the script and have to read it to us on camera instead. Their performances are phoned in as well, looking awkward and stiff. The timing and delivery of dialog sounds weird and not the way people actually speak. The special effects or CGI shots are third rate as well, I've seen television commercials with better special effects than the ones seen here. The set designs and set lighting effects look low budget and fake, almost like cardboard quality to it. The cardboard quality look of the sets reminds me of real live plays of I've seen in person, which is okay for a play but unacceptable for a film. There are much better fantasy films than this one. Ella Enchanted is not worth your time or money!If you want to see other family fantasy movies I recommend: Princess Bride, Willow, Shrek, Enchanted (not to be confused with "Ella Enchanted")

2012-05-04 00:57:08

Anne Hathaway is truly talented and this film shows it!

One delightful movie with a show stopper that you'll want to seeseveral times.Some say this is a movie for children, but I assure you that thisjaded, grizzled old man smiles and feels his toenails tickled everytime he views it.I've no idea why the "guidelines" require 10 lines, because there isn'tany point to restating superlatives unless spoilers are encouraged,Suffice it to say that there's a very inventive fantasy here that topsmost cinema offerings. Ms Hathaway sings and dances her way to a trulyoriginal art offering without anypeer..................................... save maybe Raci Alexander.That's the girl who performed the wonderful music video of BurtBacarach's "Wishin' and Hopin'" at the beginning of "My Best FriendsWedding" (starred Julia Roberts).

bon-16 2012-05-03 22:04:30

Good clean fun for everyone!

I took two ten-year-old boys to see this. I wondered if it might be toobabyish or girly for them, but there was nothing to fear... we allenjoyed it very much! This movie is clean, clever, funny, and has alively soundtrack that draws from the 70's. It's set in medieval timeswith lots of references and tie-ins to modern times. There's somefighting, but no real violence and no bloodshed (except for one minorcut on a hunky bicep). This isn't particularly deep orthought-provoking, just spunky good guys on a mission versus reallydespicable bad guys... a nice way to escape for a couple of hours. Itwas like "A Knight's Tale" meets "Shrek", and I would recommend thishighly as entertaining family fare.

2012-05-01 16:28:28

A Theatrical Disaster

Ella EnchantedWhen I first saw the previews for Ella Enchanted I was very excited! I have read the book many times and it is one of my all time favorites. Due to all of this I attended one of the first showings at my local theatre. After the first five minutes of watching I knew something wasn't right. As the next ten minutes went by I was ready to walk out.Emerging from a skewed backset of loud annoying narrators and blundering acting impaired characters a crude and pointless story begins to unfold. Unless I had just previously seen the title a little while ago I would never related to the book I had previously read. Everything reeks of unrealistic events and flat, bland actors. My personal "least favorite" was by far the ogres. Described earlier as blood-thirsty, cruel, evil monsters you might be surprised when a trundling clump of fat blue men meander on screen. This is just one of the horrific slumps laying in wait to destroy this movie. Even if you haven't read the book I strongly recommend you stay away from this movie!

Glenn Kenny 2012-05-01 11:07:55

As one concerned fan of the book wrote on the Internet Movie Database after seeing the trailer, 'The producers are changing too much things in it and making it too stupid.' Exactly.

Sassinak Murray 2012-04-25 06:18:21

Ella Enchanted - *Collective Shudder* (spoiler)

It was a best selling novel - why couldn't they just stick to theoriginal story?Ella Enchanted has been my favorite book (or one of them) since primaryschool. It's charming; romantic when it should be and dreary where itshould be. The movie, however, seemed to be beyond that...In short; everyone bursts into song at the end, the plot was DEMOLISHEDand there was an evil snake that talked. (how Aladdin)The costuming was disappointing, the casting left much to be desired,and the romance was acidic enough to make my nail polish peel.Even the gift/curse, the anchor of the novel, wasn't portrayed in themovie as it was in the books. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to readElla Enchanted the BOOK, to get that bad taste (which has nothing to dowith that day old Pepsi I drank) out of my mouth.

Laura 2012-04-24 11:15:36

Not bad, but could have been better

Despite the fact that "Ella Enchanted" is a children's novel, I reallyenjoyed it. It was clever, entertaining, and impressively original forhaving been based on the age-old story of Cinderella.The movie is a lot better if you've never read the book.There are a ton of discrepancies between book and film. Now, I realizethat whenever you translate a book to the big screen, some things aregoing to change, or be lost, or be added. I also realize that not allfilm adaptations can be Lord of the Rings. But for some reason, themakers of THIS film didn't seem to feel that Ella's originalpredicament -- receiving the "gift" of obedience as a baby which forcedher to do anything anyone told her to do -- was enough for a movie.They swapped out Prince Charmont's parents for an evil regent who triesto force Ella to clear his path to the crown, and added a fewmoderately amusing but altogether bizarre song-and-dance routines.Morst of those scenes had me outright cringing. They also took awayElla's position as the protagonist-narrator and inserted an additionalcharacter to tell her story.That's not to say the movie is entirely without merit. The casting isexcellent; Cary Elwes is a delicious villain, Eric Idle is a delight asthe narrator, and Anne Hathaway sparkles as Ella. And I was pleased tosee that the film does remain true to the source material's underlyingmessage -- that in spite of whatever happens in your life, you have thepower to make your own happy ending.All in all, it's a good film for the kids. But the book is better.

americanaussie88 2012-04-24 03:40:31

A Ton of Fun

I had so much fun watching this movie, a piece of light hearted funthat everyone can enjoy. *If* they remember the opening lines of themovie; this is a fairytale. And is therefore not to be taken seriously,it should be watched for the pure enjoyment of getting away from thedaily humdrum.I have seen this movie twice and both times the audience was literallybuoyed by the fun of the movie, though I must say the best parts andlines come from Uncle Edgar(a deliciously evil Cary Elwes) and Hestonthe snake(the slimy voice of Steve Coogan is wonderful). That is not tosay that the two leads(Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy) are not bright andfunny in their parts, they are. Only that the wonderful and memorablelines come mainly from the more evil characters.Joanna Lumley (as the evil Dame Olga) and Minnie Driver(one of her bestyet, possibly only beaten by her surprisingly good turn in "Phantom ofthe Opera") are also great in their minor roles, providing colorfulcharacters and not just filling in screen time. Aidan McArdle(Slannenthe Elf) is wonderful comic relief each and every time he appears, asis Lucy Punch as the horrid Step-Sister and chief fan-girl(shudder).Eric Idle, Jeniffer Higham, Jimi Mistry and Parminder Nagra are alsomemorable, particularly Jimi as Benny, Eric as the Narrator andParminder as Ella's best friend, though I think Parminder's talents arewoefully under recognized in this film and I would love to see her inmore main roles like in "Bend it like Beckham".But I digress.Hopefully those watching this movie will remember the fun it issupposed to be and not fall into the trap of over analyzing this pieceof light-hearted happiness.

flyingamon 2012-04-23 14:17:13

Enchanting it really is!

This movie was labeled on the DVD cover "The Harry Potter for girls". Iam not a fan of Harry Potter at all but I do love fairy tale andfantasy movies with an appealing story and this sounded appealing tome. When I started watching it I was immediately drawn into a fantasyworld with entertaining characters and knew I was not going to bedisappointed. It does refer clearly to Cinderella at 1 point which is agood fairy tale. I think it contained pretty much all the fairy talecreatures I could wish for. As the movie does have many funny moments(or at least to me it was funny) it has kind of a Shrek feeling to itbut the stories are pretty different. I can see similarities in theromance however between the lead characters. Shrek is great but I likedthis one better which is mostly down to personal preference. I was gladthat this movie was not anything like Harry Potter and I guess this wasjust used as a marketing stunt. That Anne Hathaway (who played her rolemagnificently as usual) did stop starring as Disney princess characterwas kind of sad. I am hopeful she remains in fantasy movies though andwas glad to see her in Alice in Wonderland of Tim Burton. I don't thinkit was too girly at all.