Release Date: April 9, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG for some crude humor and language
Directed by: Tommy O'Haver
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Patrick Bergin, Steve Coogan, Minnie Driver, Jennifer Higham, Eric Idle, Joanna Lumley, Aidan McArdle, Parminder Nagra, Lucy Punchy

Plot:
Ella (Anne Hathaway of "The Princess Diaries") lives in a fanciful and magical world where all children are given a "gift" from a fairy Godmother at the moment of their birth. Little Ella's birthright is the gift - and curse - of obedience. As a result of this unfortunate circumstance, Ella cannot refuse any command, and is often left at the mercy of unscrupulous personalities. In a bid to regain control of her life, Ella goes on a quest to free herself from this mysterious curse. Ella must outwit a kingdom filled with ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, talking books and evil plots. And, if she's lucky, she may find love along the way.

Review:
Ella Enchanted, the story in which a girl goes under a spell that if she is ordered to do something she must do it. The spell was given to her when she was an infant by Fairy Lucinda who is actually played by actress Vivica A. Fox in the film. Ella Enchanted is actually a book written by Gail Carson Levine and as far as sticking to the books, the film does so somewhat.

Perhaps some books are just not meant to be made into films. This film could have been a success, but instead it turns into a lame Hollywood fantasy that brings nothing worth bragging about. There are elements in Ella Enchanted that draws attention and interest, but the flaws with the film itself is the fact that it draws itself away just as it is beginning to develop something.

With those words, I mean that this film constantly tried to go forward in pursuing ti impress, but instead it keeps moving backwards and almost completely falling apart into just a pile of ashes. Ella Enchanted from its start has nice principles, a nice direction and a story that is developing rather quickly. The main star is perhaps the most delightful thing of the film.

Young actress Anne Hathaway plays Ella and I am bound to say that it was a wise choice in choosing her. She actually provides the film with a great charm and a performance that may uneven at times, but works overall for this fantasy adventure. If only the film itself had as much strength and care for itself as Anne did then we might have had a film that resulted in a much better way than this film did.

Director Tommy O'Haver doesn't have a resume with outstanding pictures whatsoever. His films include Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss and Get Over It, so to say expectations for this film were high wouldn't be honest. However, one cannot say his vision and style was awful because it actually brought a nice touch that the film was lacking in spirit.

His direction overall was solid in the sense of cartoonish special effects and fantasy style sets. That's what the film intended for it to look like and kids will indeed love it. However, besides the nice visuals, O'Haver runs scenes too long involving pointless situations that could have been cut down from the film. O' Haver did an average job with his style, but what did lack in places was the screenplay for Ella Enchanted.

The script suffered a bit and that is what causes most of the often dull bits that is in Ella Enchanted. It focuses too long on Ella's spell and the script makes her do this odd acts just for humor and it falls flat. After the first few times we notice the way Ella's spell works we understood it. There was no need for the constant commands and it became too constant and annoying all in one.

This film takes a simple concept and expects for it to drive interest and entertainment to its audiences for a good two hours. Instead, Ella Enchanted is indeed boring, overlong and too repetitive for its own good. There are fans of this enchanting book and if there is anything I would suggest then it is too read the book again and skip this film unless you feel the need to witness it. While this film is not awful, it lacked completely in what seemed like an interesting idea.