In general, the reviews for this film were not that good. However, Roger Ebert has been championing this film since its release, so I had to give it a shot. The film is based on a novel by Gail Carson Levine, which I have not read, however I have read that the film takes a lot of liberties with the book. First and foremost, the film really tries to be a live-action SHREK by brining pop culture and modern references into a fairy tale setting. This is where ELLA ultimately fails.
The modern winks were hit or miss throughout the film, some even groan inducing. I really think the filmmakers should have modeled the movie more after THE PRINCESS BRIDE, a masterful example of playing fantasy for laughs. Ella (Anne Hathaway, THE PRINCESS DIARIES) has been cursed with the gift of obedience. Whenever anyone tells her to do something she must obey. Once her evil step-sisters Hattie (Lucy Punch, TV’s THE 10TH KINGDOM) and Olive (Jennifer Higham, TV’s STAR) find out about the curse they set out to make Ella’s life miserable. Adding to the tension between Hattie and Ella is Hattie’s love and Ella’s dislike of the handsome prince Char (Hugh Dancy, KING ARTHUR). Ella has an activist heart and dislikes Char’s seemingly pretty boy mindlessness. However, as these types of stories go, Ella and Char are brought together. Char likes Ella because she’s not like the other girls who chase and swoon over him.
The film is of course predictable, but I liked the use of the obedience curse as a metaphor for not being able to do what you want to do. In Ella’s journey to rid herself of the curse, she meets elf Slannen (Aidan McArdle, TV’s JUDAS), who doesn’t want to be an entertainer, which his lot is forced to be, but wants to be a lawyer. McArdle steals a lot of the scenes that he is in. Then we come to the look of the film. The visual effects are at times good and at other times really cheap looking. So in the end the film is really a hit or miss proposition. Because I liked the premise, I’m sure the book is really good. I think the filmmakers tried too hard to make the film hip and lost what was so great about the source material.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
