Simply Perfect

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The only thing that this movie really has going for it is that its a bit funny, though a lot of the humor is pretty cheap and unoriginal. The story is poorly executed, partially due to the random bits of narration and the over reliance of characters being dumb. The acting is ok. Some of the actors are terrible, a lot of them are pretty bad. There are a lot of obvious green screens in this movie. The set designs and costumes and effects aren't that great. Its a fun movie, but overall I wouldn't recommend it.

The story of Ella Enchanted, according to the book is a gorgeous Medieval version of Cinderella where a girl named Ella gets cursed to be an obedient child. When I read this story I fell in love with it for it's timelessness, characters, the story itself, the conflicts, and the creatures of the land.The story of Ella Enchanted, according to the movie is a hip modern, pop cultural retelling of the Medieval story of a girl named Ella who gets cursed to be an obedient child. When I saw the movie I did not see Ella Enchanted in almost any way other than the main character's forced to be obedient, there are fantasy creatures, she falls in love with Prince Char, and is under her step mother and step sisters. So as you can see, there is already a bucketload of wrong with this movie. First off, the story was suppose to be timeless and fantastic, and this movie stole other movie references, pop songs, added fangirls, modern inventions, modern clothes (for the giants), and the dialogues were very dated. All of that caused the atmosphere of the movie to be way too dated and less magical and whimsical. Also adding onto that, the jokes are a groan fest, because they've been done to death. Most of them consist of giant puns, farts, nut shots, and modern jokes that have nothing to do with the story. In fact, if you cut those jokes out, you're not missing anything. Second, the story is i the same clichéd pattern: Girl has problem, she has controlling enemies, girl meets guy, hates him, she sets out to prove herself, gains allies, guy saves girl, they start falling in love, something separates them, love saves her from curse, epic battle (or not as epic in this movie's case), villain's (not) death, they marry, and happy ending. Forgetting that the original story was not like that at all, there are more clever ways to make the story work, but this movie doesn't try hard enough.Third, this movie tries to make Ella a strong female lead, which I'm all for, but this movie shows how much she really needs a man. Think about it, she has to be saved twice by Prince Char, and it is only through the power of love that she finally breaks her curse, something she was clearly not capable of as a kid. It feels like the movie's saying, "Just remember kids, you need a man in order to break your curse." If you want a story where a man doesn't save the day I would suggest watching Mulan, Frozen, or just reading the book Ella Enchanted. Those stories did not have to rely on falling in love with a man to make the story interesting, epic, or inspiring. I'm not against men saving the day, unless it is botching one of the most original stories or if it is done in the most clichéd and lazy way, which is exactly what this movie did. Also by focusing on Ella's strong character trait, it causes her to have no real character development. I think this is one of the reasons people aren't too fond of Anne Hathaway as an actress, because despite that she tries to everything she can to make her characters interesting most of them still wind up being bland, sappy and way too perfect. I don't blame her, but I blame the writers.Fourth, the forced villains. Honestly, the king killing his nephew Prince Char not only had nothing to do with the original story, but was entirely pointless. It only served to make the story juicier. I'm pretty sure a girl struggling to fight her curse and her step family is enough to fill a plot. By adding the villain Ella Enchanted became two different stories smashed together: the story of Ella cursed with obedience and the lazy story version of Prince Caspian. Even the author knew how to make her story interesting without having to rely on Hollywood clichés, why couldn't this movie do that?I have not mentioned all lazy faults of this movie, but these are some of the basic sins of the movie. Compared to the book itself, the film takes a backseat from originality and from being a masterpiece. I encourage you to read the book. It is a lovely Cinderella-like story, not just with a real strong female lead with real character development, a gorgeous setting, and a magical feel to the story.

The whole move was so horribly written, played, and executed. It's certainly different from the usual fairy tail love story, because it's the worst love story in the history of all love stories. I really, really feel sorry for the people who actually paid real money to watch this disaster of a movie. Spoiler: I really despise how they have the old Victorian Era setting but also have modern invention, like the escalator. No actor or actress in this world could make this abomination half decent. I like Anne Hathaway. She performed some of favorite movies of all time. So it's very curious to me way the hell in the world would she CHOOSE to play in this movie? It like a stain on her career!

"Ella Enchanted" is usually the sort of movie that I would heckle, but Anne Hathaway is not someone whom I heckle. It's true that she started out in roles like "The Princess Diaries", but her later turns in "Brokeback Mountain", "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Rachel Getting Married" showed her to be more than just another pretty face, although I do find her quite attractive. Watching the movie, I assumed that the kingdom under its current governance was an allegory for racism: the giants, elves and ogres are only allowed to do certain things, with all prestigious careers reserved for humans. One could argue that using a fairy tale setting to address racism is inappropriate given what racism can lead to (i.e., genocide), but what are ya gonna do? I read that the movie took some liberties with the novel on which it's based. I of course had no idea that it's based on a novel and will most likely never read the novel, so I only have the movie to go on. I actually didn't find it to be a bad movie, mainly since it pokes fun at the fairy tale genre by incorporating modern things (escalators and even a Ray Charles song). Worth seeing.