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By
WAYNE KLEIN
A delightful and charming
romantic/fantasy/comedy, "Ella Enchanted" echoes
"Shrek" and "The Princess Bride" in a clever
fairytale about Ella (Anne Hathaway) who is given
the gift of obedience by a goofy fairy godmother
(Vivica A. Fox). So, for her whole life Ella must
do what others tell her, which can lead to some
unexpected complications -- for example, her
mother instructs her daughter to "dig in" on her
birthday and Ella proceeds to stuff her face with
cake using her hands.
When Ella's mother dies, her father Sir Peter
(Patrick Bergin) remarries and suddenly she has a
wicked stepmother (Joanna Lumley) and two
manipulative wicked stepsisters. Ella decides that
she must find the fairy godmother that gave her
the dubious gift and ask her to take it back.
Along the way, she meets and falls in love with
Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy), ogres, fairies and
giants. When Charmont realizes he loves Ella, his
evil uncle Edgar (the delightful Cary Elwes) uses
Ella for a wicked plan.
Featuring great performances of songs performed by
ELO, Queen, Katrina & The Waves and others, "Ella
Enchanted" captures much of the spirit of "Shrek"
without copying it.
The widescreen anamorphic transfer looks
spectacular with rich storybook colors and
fairytale blue skies. There is some minor edge
enhancement but, on the whole, the film looks
marvelous. The sound comes across with tremendous
presence. Since many popular songs from the '70s
and '80s are integrated into song and dance
numbers in the movie, the carefully blended sound
and the 5.1 mix become almost as important as the
image.
Two featurettes are included on this disc: The
first is a nice glimpse behind the scenes. The
"Red Carpet Premiere Special" was originally
telecast on the Disney Channel. It's nothing
special but fans of Anne Hathaway will want to
watch it to get a glimpse of her looking radiant
at the movie premiere. There are also deleted and
extended scenes, a music video performed by Kari
Kimmel and "Prince Charmont's Fan Club" game.
Watching the deleted scenes, it's clear that many
of these would have worked in the final film
version, but they were cut for time constraints or
pacing. We also get the "Happily Ever After"
DVD-ROM feature which I couldn't quite get to work
correctly. A fun, informative commentary by the
attractive stars of the film Hugh Dancy and Anne
Hathaway with their director Tommy O'Haven. Both
O'Haven and Dancy also provide commentary for the
deleted scenes.
The brisk direction, witty script and deft
performances make this a delightful movie for all
ages despite the PG rating. By the way, the PG is
for some crude humor but nothing your kids
probably haven't already heard or seen in their
school (or "Shrek" and "Shrek 2" for that matter). |
