Ella Enchanted
Grade:
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Plot Summary:
Ella--under an enchantment to obey every command people give her--goes on a journey with the help of some exotic friends to save the kingdom from an evil king. Much fairy-tailing ensues...
Opinion:
I'd like to
like Anne Hathaway--I really would. She has a nice smile, a pleasant demeanor, and a personality that's perky without being annoying. And yet, as an actress her projects to date have been less than inspiring. We can probably forgive her for
"The Other Side of Heaven", since her part was small and, in fact, usually isn't even listed on her film resume (Wise choice, Anne...), but
"The Princess Diaries" was pretty dull and clichéd even with Anne trying her best, and the sequel doesn't look any better. That
"Ella Enchanted" then, is probably her best movie is therefore relatively
faint praise. While containing some nice visuals, some clever ideas and jokes, and, of course, Anne Hathaway's winning smile, Ella Enchanted is fairly mundane and unexceptional, and will probably promptly be forgotten the day after viewing. Perhaps it's time for Ms. Hathaway to consider roles other than bland movies aimed at pre-teen girls. (which, *ahem*, apparently she has--see
the Random Comments section below...)
Ella Enchanted takes the basic Cinderella story and adds in a few modern twists. The fairy-tale/fantasy aspect of EE, along with the jokes and one-liners, are probably purposely meant to remind us of
"The Princess Bride"--which, coincidently or not, also features Cary Elwes (although I think he probably won't emphasize
this film highly on his film resume) EE, while it does have some witty lines and clever sight gags involving the juxtaposition
of medieval and modern society, doesn't have half the humor or pathos of
that classic, which even today remains one of the most quotable movies ever created.
(Must...resist...temptation...to start quoting "Princess
Bride"... "You're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen!"
"Rest well and dream of large women!" "Mawage! Mawage is what..."
(*slap* *slap*) Stop it...)
(EE also contains a few references to another one of the most quotable movies ever created: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"--and, in fact, contains one of the original 'Python-ites'--Eric Idle--as the narrator. Apparently, the filmmakers' philosophy is to constantly remind the audience subconsciously of other, more funny movies they may have seen, and thus the EE experience will be improved as a result.. I'd be interested to know if this really works, or if it just reminds you
that you should be digging out your "Princess Bride" or "Holy Grail" DVDs and watching them instead...)
Ella Enchanted sets up Ella within the standard Cinderella framework--her mom dies, her father remarries a mean woman with two meaner daughters--and then takes her on a journey involving elves, ogres, magic books, talking snakes, and--oh, yes--romance with a handsome prince. There's some non-subtle social commentary which has some promising ideas (see below...) but which are only partially developed. That, in fact, is one of the main problems with EE as a whole--it tries to be a fantasy adventure AND a comedy AND a social satire AND a romance AND a children's fable about friendship and being yourself--there
are so many different aims that the movie seems overburdened, and as a result often seems unfocused and shallow. This may not have been as big a problem in the original book (which I haven't read, but I hear is pretty good) but is a little too big a bite for a 96 minute movie to chew.
Similarly, EE contains so wide an assortment of characters that it just doesn't have enough room for them
all to do things. Ella's dark-skinned best friend, Arieda, (Parminder Nagra, whom you might remember from the much better film "Bend It Like Beckham") is a good example--she appears in the first 25 minutes of the movie and then disappears for the rest of it. Normally, her race wouldn't deserve comment, except she seems to be in the movie for the sole purpose of
being a dark-skinned face--to show that Ella is a Friend To Minorities. Vivica A. Fox (who is black, of course) also has a key role as one of Ella's Fairy Godmothers, and
her race normally wouldn't be worthy of mention
either, except she acts
the part like a 'Black Fairy Godmother' instead of a 'Fairy Godmother who happens to be black' (if that makes sense) which is (a) stereotypical and (b) distracting.
The movie cheats on its main conceit, too. Ella is put under a spell that makes her obey any command other people give to her. This is handled inconsistently by the filmmakers--sometimes to strict, unrealistic literalism ("Freeze" causes Ella to stop instantly in mid-air during a jump...wouldn't she turn into ice, then?) and other times she receives one command and then someone says something which according to the rules of the curse should have caused her to obey the second command
literally and not the first, but doesn't. It's all kind of arbitrary, actually...
In summary, EE isn't excruciatingly bad--it's a somewhat mediocre family movie with some moderately entertaining parts, but with a mishmash of ideas and characters that aren't developed fully and, at worst, simply remind you of other movies that were done better..
(must...resist... "Never go in against a Sicilian, when *death* is
on the line!" "You mock my pain!"/"LIfe is pain, highness.
Anyone who says differently is selling something!" "Wuv! Twu Wuv!")
Content Analysis: (PG, 0-0-1-0 on the Baron's scale)
As always in this kind of family film, there's nothing dirty, but the filmmakers can't resist putting in some fart and urine jokes. For the love of all that is good and holy, am I sick of fart and urine jokes...
In-depth Analysis:
One of the deeper issues hinted at by the movie but not fully explored takes place about halfway through, where Ella learns about the human kingdom's policy of hunting down ogres, which Ella considers immoral. Later, however, Ella and friends are kidnapped by ogres and are almost eaten for dinner before being saved by the prince. This is an interesting idea, because it shows ogres as being a direct threat to humans, and thus the human policy towards them could be justified. After the initial encounter, though, the movie makes the ogres friendly and helpful towards Ella--emphasizing the inherent goodness of the ogres at heart, and the (supposed) inherent wrongness of the hunting policies.
I can understand why they did it (movies aimed at 10 year olds can't be too subtle in social commentary), but I think they should have stuck with the original, more morally gray idea--that ogres were never friendly towards Ella or any human, yet (perhaps) were still deserving of 'human rights' (as it applies to non-humans). Think about it: if the ogres throughout the movie remained more or less exactly what the humans think they were--bloodthirsty cannibals who will eat any human who falls into their grasp--then the issue of whether the humans should or should not hunt them becomes much more gray. Why
shouldn't the humans declare war on the ogres if they represent a
direct physical threat? For Ella (or others) to discuss and support more
compassionate treatment of the ogres, despite the fact that they'd eat her
indiscriminately if given a chance, would require a much higher level of
moral purity and charity--and a more powerful lesson. It's always easy to
care and support people you like, and whom help you, but it's how you care
about people you don't like, or who do things you don't approve of, that
shows how deeply you care about respecting the rights of others. (Compare
this to a fervent opponent of capital punishment who one day has to defend a
criminal who murdered someone close to them. Will he/she still oppose his execution on principle without letting emotions get in the way?) This is an interesting idea that the movie sort of glosses over...
Random Notes and Comments:
(1) As noted in a October
blog post, Anne Hathaway has apparently felt confined (and typecast, perhaps) in her string of family movies and felt an urgent need to break away from her 'lily-white' image by taking a role involving hard-R sex, nudity, and drug use. (The film, "Havoc", is currently finished, but still waiting a release date). I can only imagine she specifically asked for and sought after the role herself, since I can hardly see a producer sitting down with the script and saying, "Hmmm...copious amounts of nudity, sex, and drug use? You know who would be good for this
part?
Anne Hathaway!"
(2) Anne Hathaway is not hard on the eyes at her current age, of course, but I can't help think ten or fifteen years from now she's going to fall solidly in the Jennifer Connelly/Nicole Kidman category of Actresses-Who-Look-Much-Much-Better-In-Their-Mid-Thirties-Than-They-Did-In-Their-Twenties-For-Some-Reason.
