Ella Enchanted (2004)

Directed by: Tommy O’Haver | 95 minutes | comedy, romance, fantasy, family | Actors: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Minnie Driver, Vivica A. Fox, Joanna Lumley, Lucy Punch, Jennifer Higham, Patrick Bergin, Jimi Mistry, Eric Idle

‘Ella Enchanted’ fits right in between the blockbusters ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Shrek’ with their high fantasy content. This film, like the first two films above, is based on a book. Author Gail Carson Levine has her 1997 book of the same name set in a fairytale land far away, where giants, elves, humans and bogeymen live side by side. ‘Ella Enchanted’ is very suitable for children, but adults will also appreciate the humor and romance in this film.

The opening of ‘Ella Enchanted’ is beautifully rendered by director O’Haver and puts the viewer in the right mood in an artistic way. From a bird’s eye view, the viewer flies through a fairytale land with castles, fairy villages, enchanted forests and giants and lands in front of the house of Ella or Frell. Eric Idle, known from Monty Python, introduces the story with a rhyming and then appears very occasionally in the form of a voice-over as the omniscient narrator.

The contrasts between good and evil are, as befits a fairytale film, obvious. The characters of Ella (Hathaway) and Prince Charmont (Dancy) are extremely sweet and peaceful. In contrast, the stepsisters Hattie and Olive (Punch and Higham), the stepmother (Lumley) and Prince Regent Edgar (Elwes) are all badass. A small debatable flaw is that Anne Hathaway is the only American among the rest of the British cast. This makes her ‘gnawing’ accent quite noticeable compared to the rest and that can cause unnecessary irritation to the critical cinemagoer.

Despite the predictable nature of the film, music, dance and humor provide a high level of entertainment. ‘Ella Enchanted’ is therefore intended for both young and older audiences and provides a wonderfully fairytale-like, cheerful and romantic feeling when you leave the cinema.