Ella Enchanted

I love watching movies with my two teenaged daughters. We like to think we have taught them to enjoy a variety of movies types, from mysteries to histories, and dramas to chick flicks. Together, we enjoy everything from the X-men to Hello Dolly to Great Expectations. The only movies we will not watch are horror movies. This afternoon my daughters went to our local library to find a video to watch this afternoon. They brought home Ella Enchanted, which they had already seen once or twice, but this time, they asked me to watch it with them. While I have seen Anne Hathaway in several other movies and loved them, I did manage to catch the very end of Ella Enchanted several months back. All I saw was Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, and a cast of mythical looking creatures singing a very lame rendition of "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart," made famous many years ago by Elton John and Kiki Dee. Being a music lover that is partial to Elton John and that very song, I was immediately put off. Still, my teen daughters were telling me that they wanted to spend a Saturday afternoon with me, their mother - something that can be a rare occurrence in this day and age; so I caved and sat down to watch the movie.

I looked around the room for any paperwork I might be able to work on while the movie played, but none was about and the movie was starting. I looked into my daughters' faces and saw that they were excited to be with me. They told me straight away that this is a chick flick and that it is silly, but that they thought I would like it. I have to say, not long into the movie, I was captivated.

The movie begins with baby Ella lying in her tiny cradle fussing, and her mother comes to pick her up. Nearby is the family fairy named Mandy who seems to be employed there at the home, but who is also a very dear friend to Ella's mother. The fairy, played by Minnie Driver, was a pleasant surprise to me, as she is one lady who can definitely act. The story finds conflict very early when Ella's godmother, a hapless fairy played by Vivica A. Fox, gives the baby the gift of obedience, meaning that all her life she will always have to do as she is told. Although Mandy and Ella's mother are perplexed and unhappy about the gift, it can only be undone by the fairy who gave it.

The story goes on to show how this immediate obedience affects Ella's young life. By the time she becomes a young woman, she is used to people telling her what to do, and although people do not know about her situation, she often finds herself doing things she would not normally do. In predictable fairy tale fashion, Ella's mother dies and her father remarries a horrible woman with two equally horrible daughters, reminiscent of the step-sisters in Cinderella. The father must go away on business and the sisters soon learn of Ella's curse. They tell her to do all types of odd things, manipulating and humiliating her in the process.

Equally as predictable, Ella befriends and then falls for the prince who is in line to the throne of an evil king. Through a series of adventures through the land of giants, the land of elves, and countless daring mishaps, Ella searches for her godmother, the only one who can take back the "gift" so that Ella can ultimately lead a normal life. Along the way, she is forced to do odd, embarrassing, and sometimes bad things, but in the end, when she finally does find her godmother, she learns that she had a power within her to break the spell all along.

Ella Enchanted has a wonderful cast including the aforementioned actors, as well as Cary Elwes of the Princess Bride fame as the evil king, handsome Patrick Bergen as Ella's father, and Eric Idle of Monty Python as the narrator. I must say that although Ella Enchanted is a fairly predictable fairy tale, it was funny, smart, and was a wonderful, enchanting surprise!