I hate making excuses, but Nick is a cool ticket salesperson and I bet he was just starting to think I was cool, too.
Anyways, I really didn't have much else to do and I had just gotten done having lunch with Dad, so I dropped by for Ella Enchanted. It's always the ones you least expect that end up knocking you to the floor.
First off -- holy Guacamole, Anne Hathaway is good lookin'! Have I seen this girl before? Nope, nope, doesn't look like it. Aside from being good looking, Anne gets to sing, dance, fall in love, endure the taunts of two evil stepsisters, oh yeah and do everything she is told. It kinda turns you on after a while.
This is Ella, born in The Land where fairy tales are made. Just one look at the opening CGI-drenched sweeper shot of the kingdom, and suddenly, the wait for those LOTR DVD's didn't seem so long after all. A pretty typical old voice (Eric Idle) offers some narration, settling us right into the story. Ella is born and she is visited by the magical fairy Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox).
"Lucinda always gives the worst gifts," the parents warn, and in Ella's case, yeah it's pretty bad. Ella gets the gift of "obedience". Now, any time someone tells Ella to do something, she does it, even if she knows it's wrong (stealing), even if she doesn't know how to do it (tae kwon do), even if it's not humanly possible! In reality, there's no way anyone could make it with a curse like that AND keep it secret, so suspension of disbelief is a necessity. If you can get past that, though, this one's near perfect.
After Ella's mother passes away, all that remains is her father (who must go off for work) and the stepfamily. Ella hears about the unfair treatment of the Elves, the Giants, and the very cool-looking Ogres, and when the stepsisters cause her to get into trouble out in the town, she decides she has got to find Lucinda.
Then it happens. She (literally) bumps right into Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy) or "Prince Char" as they call him. Cleverly, her curse is demonstrated to the audience, but remains unexposed to him (as is the case with almost everyone she meets). As time goes on and they somewhat conveniently meet again, she gets a chance to talk to him about the unfair treatment of other "races" and what he should do about it. But things start to get really tangled when King Edgar (Cary Elwes) who is actually Char's uncle, comes into the picture with his talking snake.
Along the way, she also meets Slannen, a highstrung elf who wants to be a lawyer (Aidan McArdle) and she carries around a talking book (with a face and all) which is actually the boyfriend/spell victim of her friend Mandy (Minnie Driver).
As far as how the curse is finally broken, it's something you'd think she would have thought to do at some point in 18-odd years, but at least it's better than her just "deciding" she doesn't have to, which is what her mother advises in one predictably rehashed moment. Funny, that's the only thing I even came close to predicting. I would've liked to see a sword duel between Prince Charmont and the villain (My name is Charmont, you killed my father, prepare to die!) rather than what did happen, but you can't win them all, I suppose.
The only thing this movie has in common with The Princess Bride is that Cary Elwes is in it. Hardly basis for a comparison, though I can see how the atmosphere would evoke the same kind of feeling.
Acting is nothing to write home about, but Elwes (the "other boyfriend" in Liar Liar for those who can't figure out where else they might have seen him) is a treat, the two leads are cute and have enough chemistry to fry an egg. Lucy Punch and Jennifer Higham were good and nasty as the stepsisters (they could've just about used their last names as their character names, eh?). The only real annoying part was when mobs of girls screamed at Prince Char the way they do at Justin Timberlake, but still a nice satire on the movie's part.
There was also some really nice musical motivation going on here. The opening (and excellent) cover of ELO's "Strange Magic", Ella's very own performance of Queen's "Somebody To Love" (someone told her to sing), and the big finish, set to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". It's THIS close to being cheesy, well okay maybe it walks the line a few times, but it didn't bother me. And I can get pretty squeamish watching that stuff.
Ella Enchanted is just a cute little movie. There is only the slightest of crude humor, and a little bit of violence, but by the time kids pass any "acceptable" age to see a movie like this, they'll still be a couple years away from being old enough to wholly appreciate it anyway. The movie really melted me down and made me want to go hug somebody and tell them I love them. So sue me.
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