Tommy O'Haver
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"Ella Enchanted" the movie is an overcalculated fusion of "Shrek" and "The Princess Bride" with all the smarts replaced by smartass.
All are elements shared by "Shrek" and the new movie "Ella Enchanted," a warm-hearted but unbalanced star vehicle for Anne Hathaway that unashamedly wears its influences on its screen.
The context for these activities is lifted in equal parts from Cinderella, Shrek, and The Princess Bride, with seemingly general inspiration from The Bullwinkle Show's beloved "Fractured Fairy Tales."
Adapted from a novel by Gail Carson Levine, the story borrows a page from "Shrek" in turning fairy-tale conventions inside out.
Elwes apparently doesn’t understand that even as a goofball villain – like John Lithgow’s tour-de-force as Lord Farquaad in “Shrek” – has to be approached in a serious manner.
This anachronistic Cinderella with a twist displays the same warped humor and fairy tale awareness of "Shrek."
The Cinderella fairy tale has been adapted time and time and time again for the movies and TV, from the 1950 Disney animated version to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals from 1957 and 1997 to Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 take to outliers such as “Ella Enchanted” and the Jerry Lewis comedy “Cinderfella” — and now we’ve got a new jukebox musical update with some modern and progressive themes about gender roles, and it’s a most welcome addition to the library.
Contemporary takes on the oft-told classic Cinderella story are nothing new, with movies like Ever After (1998), A Cinderella Story and Ella Enchanted (both released in 2004) being some of the prime examples.
Recent versions focused on more diversity (the Brandy/Whitney Houston version), more agency ("Ever After"), or at least a better explanation for her obedience ("Ella Enchanted").
There’s plenty of storybook elements from bright colors, corny sidekicks, to a soothing rendition of “Need Somebody To Love,” but wait, didn’t “Ella Enchanted” already claim that feat?
1998’s Ever After and 2004’s Ella Enchanted both put an empowering spin on the Cinderella story by giving their Ellas progressive ideals and the courage to seek out a more equal society, while incidentally falling in love along the way.
Unlike such winking fairy tale overhauls as Ella Enchanted or Mirror Mirror, this one remains fundamentally traditional.
Meanwhile, those who have seen everyone from Brandy in the 1997 TV musical to Anne Hathaway in 2004’s “ Ella Enchanted ” attempt to step into Cinderella’s shoes might wonder why more liberties weren’t taken in this faithful iteration.
But just in recent years, you’ve got Drew Barrymore in Ever After, Anne Hathaway in Ella Enchanted, Hilary Duff in A Cinderella Story, and Selena Gomez in Another Cinderella Story — hell, Disney was doing the glass-slipper shuffle just three damn months ago, with Into the Woods.
"Ella Enchanted" the movie is an overcalculated fusion of "Shrek" and "The Princess Bride" with all the smarts replaced by smartass.
A cinematic Frankenstein of movie parts, "Ella Enchanted" stitches together "Sleeping Beauty," "Shrek," "Cinderella" and "A Knight's Tale" with the sensibilities of "The Princess Bride," though not always successfully.
The context for these activities is lifted in equal parts from Cinderella, Shrek, and The Princess Bride, with seemingly general inspiration from The Bullwinkle Show's beloved "Fractured Fairy Tales."
The presence of such normally amusing actors as Eric Idle, Joanna Lumley and the star of "The Princess Bride," Cary Elwes, might lead audiences to expect great things from "Ella Enchanted."
Ella aspires to the fabric-puncturing winkery of The Princess Bride (whose Cary Elwes appears here as Charmont's backstabbing uncle), and those who prefer their fantasy straight (ahem) should return to Middle Earth.
I’m glad to say that my fears were unfounded and “Ella Enchanted” is on a par with other such fairytale fantasy adventures as “The Princess Bride.”
A cinematic Frankenstein of movie parts, "Ella Enchanted" stitches together "Sleeping Beauty," "Shrek," "Cinderella" and "A Knight's Tale" with the sensibilities of "The Princess Bride," though not always successfully.
Though it doesn’t quite hit those heights, it’s still a lot more enjoyable than the equally similar A Knight’s Tale, thanks to a delightful performance by Anne Hathaway.
Following in the footsteps of the "Fractured Fairy Tales" cartoons, "The Princess Bride," "Ever After," "Shrek" and "A Knight's Tale" -- but never quite matching any of their wit or novelty -- "Ella Enchanted" is an amusingly self-aware fable of handsome princes, evil kings and one very plucky heroine caught up in a magic spell.
Taking cues from Labyrinth, Ever After, A Knight's Tale, and many other films, the incredibly charming Ella Enchanted adds its own spice to become one of the most endearing kids' movies in a long while.
(A better approach might have been to make up an original fairy tale that cheerfully evoked and kidded the classics--the take employed by the likes of "Fractured Fairy Tales" and the lovely-but-underrated "Ella Enchanted.")
Reasonably worried over her niece's welfare, Mandy stays behind (she's a house fairy, thus, apparently immobile), but also gives her a gift, the use of her fianc�, Benny (Jimi Mistry, of The Guru), whom she accidentally turned into a book some time ago.
Jocelyn (Maria Bello, "A History of Violence," "World Trade Center") is a determinedly single Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder who impulsively invites Grigg (Hugh Dancy, "Ella Enchanted," "Evening"), a stranger who mistakes her for a hotel 'Buffy' conventioneer, to join their club to extend his literary knowledge beyond sci-fi.
The problem here is that the film doesn't find a particularly fresh take for such an approach--as, to give one example, the wonderful and perennially underrated "Ella Enchanted" did once upon a time--and as a result, the whole thing feels too familiar for its own good.
A partir de entonces, The Black Phone puede recordar a películas como Room , Prisoners , Ghostland o An American Crime.
But when Ella strikes up a relationship with the handsome Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy, "Black Hawk Down"), their jealousy lends a malicious element to the manipulation.
Years later, Lucinda's gift of obedience becomes a real burden when it is discovered not only by her stepsister Hattie (Lucy Punch, "Greenfingers"), the president of Prince Charmont's (Hugh Dancy, "Black Hawk Down") fan club, but by Prince Regent Edgar (Cary Elwes, "The Cat's Meow"), who decides that the perfect weapon to get rid of his nephew is an "Ella Enchanted."
As her love interest, Prince Charmont, Dancy ( Black Hawk Down ) clicks with Hathaway and has the looks and personality Teen Beat readers (or, as the magazine's called in the film, Medieval Teen) drool over.
The original songs, written by Marc Shaiman (1999's "South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut"), are a lot of fun and also aid in raising the movie to a higher level than it otherwise would have gone.