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Based on the 1997 book by Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted tells the tale of Ella of Frell (Anne Hathaway), who leads a very complicated life. At her birth, the fairy Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox) grants her the gift of obedience, making her the “perfect child”. However, life does not prove to be quite perfect for Ella herself. The “gift” enslaves her to do anything anyone asks of her, even if it goes against her moral fibre.

This is where the plot goes straight along the Cinderella line. When her mother passes away, Ella’s hard up father (Patrick Bergin) marries the wealthy Dame Olga (Absolutely Fabulous’s Joanna Lumley), who – surprise, surprise – has 2 daughters, Hattie (Lucy Punch) and Olive (Jennifer Higham). They lose no time using her gift against her, after discovering it, so Ella’s fairy housekeeper Mandy (Minnie Driver), encourages Ella to seek out Lucinda in the hope of convincing her to lift the spell. To help her, Mandy gives Ella a talking book, who is actually Mandy’s boyfriend Benny (Jimi Mistry), transfigured in a badly-cast spell.Their journey covers obstacles including saving a tortured elf, Slannen (Aidan McArdle). Our elf in distress is closer to the stereotype of the short, pointy-eared, humans with pointy shoes and striped socks than the Legolas-type in The Lord of the Rings. What's worse, as an elf, he’s condemned to be an entertainer by the Prince Regent Edgar (Cary Elwes) who is aptly described by James Berardinelli of Reel Views: Berardinelli Sees Film, as the "villainous, evil uncle (right out of Hamlet, no less)". To make things worse, Edgar has also banished the Ogres and enslaved the peace-loving Giants.

Ella, being the politically correct girl she is, encourages the elf to go with her to the capital city of Lamier, and present his case to the king-to-be-, Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy) who remains completely ignorant of his uncle’s tyranny. And what a coincidence it is when Charmont himself lands up saving our heroes, and along the way, capturing the heart of our heroine.

This story is a far cry from the book it was based on. Although it takes place in a fairytale land, far too much 'spice' has been added. For one, the elves were never the cabaret sort portrayed in the movie. Instead, they were brilliant potters who were never oppressed at all. What really stands out however, is that Ella never made any attempt to fight her 'gift' here whereas in the book, she fought to the point where she had fits.

The soundtrack featuring largely 70s and 80s music, might not be too familiar to a younger audience, but it’s hard not to be wowed by Broadway-aspirant Hathaway’s rendition of Queen’s ‘Somebody to Love’. Because the elves have been forced to become entertainers, you can expect characters to be constantly breaking into song and dance, very similar to the Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella TV film. The finale number of ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, however, is the ultimate cheesy Grease meets Shrek production.

Give me the 1998 Drew Barrymore movie Ever After, by far 1 of the best adaptations of the Brothers Grimm tale, anytime. Both remakes share a reluctant prince who has his eyes opened to the poverty of his people by a headstrong, brave, poor young heroine. The most stupid thing is, it isn’t that the writers of this film had to come up with a plot right from scratch - the original book won the Newbury Honour Medal, given out annually by the Association for Library Service to Children to authors of American literature for children.! If the director had just stuck to the original plotline the film might have been really good.

While the Irish locations and some of the CG were breathtaking, a few basic film production techniques seemed to be wanting. The most glaring mistake takes place during a scene in the forest. One moment, the lighting is warm and cheery, the next, it’s cold and bright and the wind is blowing their hair and cloaks. Such an obvious change of location from the studio to an outdoor location is really hard to ignore.

Just about the only redeeming factor about this film are the actors’ performances. Hugh Dancy (Tempo, King Arthur) plays the charming prince well and Cary Elwes is understatedly evil as the Prince Regent Edgar. Newcomer Aidan McArdle is also a scream as the wry elf Slannen, especially with his updated expressions of “Whatever”. Besides that, the film’s gags are so cheesy that they are likely to have audiences above the age of 11 groaning. In fact, the film is so bad that when it was released in America in April, fans of Gail Carson Levine’s book made a huge fuss, boycotted the film, and signed a petition wanting the filmmakers to change the name of the film as “it had nothing to do with the book”, according to Zap2it.com.

Despite this, the movie was apparently one of the most searched items in yahoo.com in Singapore, even if Anne Hathaway, from The Princess Diaries, was not. This might have something to do with the book, which we highly recommend.

Still, this film will do for people who have time and money to waste, or young children in the house. It’s a clear example that good acting most certainly does not make a good movie.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

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