Product Details

• Actors: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Joanna Lumley, Aidan McArdle
• Directors: Tommy O'Haver
• Writers: Gail Carson Levine, Jennifer Heath, Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith, Laurie Craig
• Producers: Bob Weinstein
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Miramax
• VHS Release Date: August 24, 2004
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (296 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000286RMA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,187 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A high energy family-friendly delight of a film!!, April 13, 2004

By 

randomartco "period film aficionado" (Greater Washington D.C. area) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Not your typical Cinderella story...

What do you get when you mix a bit of fairy tale-Cinderella world with some Shrek, throw in some Princess Bride, a little bit of Disney's Robin Hood (see Hester the snake), along with a little singing, and some random modern-day references thrown in for good measure? You get Ella Enchanted, Miramax's newest gem of a film, narrated by Eric Idle and starring the lovely Anne Hathaway and the dreamy Hugh Dancy.

Ella of Frell (Anne Hathaway) has a gift. Er, I mean, a curse. A gift, a curse, it all depends on how you look at it: no matter what you tell Ella to do, she must obey. A rather capricious fairy named Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox) gave baby Ella the "gift of obedience": anything spoken to Ella as a command, she must automatically do. Fast forward a few years: Ella is now a young lady, and no one except her aunt Mandy (Minnie Driver) knows about this gift/curse. Not even her best friend and fellow civil rights activist Arieda (played by "Bend It Like Beckham's" Parminder K. Nagra) is aware of her "problem." When her father brings home a wicked new stepmother (Joanna Lumley) and two evil stepsisters, Hattie (Lucy Punch) and Olive (Jennifer Higham), Ella must deal with their demanding ways, hopefully without giving away her secret!

Her stepsister Hattie is the very obsessive and very active president of the Prince Charmont fan club! She and her friends go absolutely ga-ga, every time they even think of the hunky prince (much less when they see him). Prince "Char" (Hugh Dancy) as they lovingly call him, is the heir apparent to the throne currently held for him by his evil uncle Edgar (Cary Elwes). The coronation day coming soon, and the kingdom in a bit of upheavel due to the heavy handed rule of Edgar, ogres, giants, and elves alike are all ready for a change! But will everyone accept Prince Charmont as their new king?

One magical day when Ella and Prince Charmont cross paths, it is love at first sight for Prince Char. But the feisty and proud Ella is not so quick to fall for the prince; she is sure he is as unfeeling and uncaring as his uncle is. And since Ella actively fights for ogres' rights, along with any other magical creature in her kingdom (giants, elves, etc.), she wants nothing to do with the handsome Char. But when their paths keep crossing again and again...what's a girl to do!?!

And so Ella of Frell sets out to find her fairy godmother Lucinda, to ask her to take back her "gift" of obedience, armed with Mandy's boyfriend book named Benny (who can picture anyone, anywhere) and elf pal Slannen, they encounter much along the way (including Prince Char!). They reach the land of the giants only to discover that Lucinda has already left, and Ella is forced by her obedience gift to stay and sing for the giants (her rendition of "Someone to Love," is entertaining and very well done!). But when Ella is finally commanded to do something that tests her very will...can she find Lucinda in time? Will she end up doing something she will forever regret?

Content: This film had very little objectionable content: there were a few general references that would be above most children's heads, very little language (a few words), and only some mild violence. Given a PG rating: "For some crude language and violence." A young girl (with some help) defeats ogres and fights various magical creatures, giants are shown slaving in a field, someone is "poisoned," and a giant falls in love with an elf.

A high energy family-friendly film that reminds you again, why every girl waits for her prince and wishes for that happily ever after (but has some serious fun in the process!). The modern day references did not detract from the story at all, but added a bit of fun and light-hearted teasing to an entertaining movie. I laughed and laughed at the sometimes silly and sometimes serious jokes that poked fun at various modern day places and things. One particular moment that caused a huge laugh: Ella and Arieda are leaving a building and travel down a "medieval escalator" (a wooden set of moving stairs, with a giant wheel turned by servants). From "Medieval Teen" magazine and trips to "Ye Olde Shopping Mall, to an elf who wants to be a lawyer and giants who love to sing, from the "VI Seasons" hotel and "Frell Community College," this energetic and colorful film will leave you laughing, and feeling light and free.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lost the Charm, July 9, 2005

By 

S. Gregory "Pocketbat" (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ella Enchanted (Full Screen Edition) (DVD)

Ella Enchanted is by far one of my favorite books of all time. In fact, I read my original copy so much, I had to purchase a new one after I started losing the cover, copyright page, first chapter ... The story is truly heartwarming and genuine.

However, if it is your intention to enjoy this tale, please read the book. Because this movie, despite the fact that all the characters have the same name, is so completely different from the book that it's a disgrace. The movie is dolled up and modernized until it's unrecognizable from the simple story of a girl finding herself into a hiphop mistake that flounders in a world that Gail Carson Levine did NOT write.

The lead character, by far the most important, a young woman who is supposed to have backbone and strength of heart, is very poorly played by Anne (sorry if it's actually 'Ann') Hathaway whose self-consciousness is so evident on screen it's uncomfortable to the viewer. Her talent only spreads so far in a story that means so much. As she struggles to portray one of the most beloved females of modern literature among young girls today she fails miserably (though the horrible reconstruction of the story itself has something to do with that as it attempts to incorporate political intrigue in the lighthearted tale.)

The one redeeming quality of the movie is the tongue-in-cheek attitude some of the actors exhibited. (Ms. Hathaway was not one.) Hugh Dancy was fairly good (and quite good-looking--in fact I liked his performance, but being as I'm a young teenage girl and in love with fairytales, I'm biased) and seemed to play his role of prince less seriously and more as a joke, which was perhaps the initial intention of the film. Yet it is Ms. Hathaway with her uncomfortable presence and awkward acting that pulls the movie down.

Its other small problems, including a very pleasant view of huge, naked ogre rears, might have been overlooked, but in the end the movie Ella Enchanted is nothing but a sad memory of the book loved by so many.

If you must watch it, please try to think of it as another story entirely.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite movie of 2004 so far, April 20, 2004

By 

John Wiley (not so far away) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This movie is seriously, a great movie. From the very beginning we are sucked into this world of magic and fantasy and we stay there until the end when the narrator tells us we have to go back to the real world.

We join Ella on a magical journey to find her godmother to remove a spell that was cast on her as a baby. As she travels across the country she meets elves, ogres, giants, and the handsome prince (in leather pants).

Hathaway makes Ella real and gives her emotion, crucial to make this more than just a fairy tale. She makes Ella someone we can all relate to by giving her depth. Her best acting comes when the Evil Uncle discovers her curse and when she has to stab Char (in the leather pants). It was beautifully shot.

Of course this movie is more humor than seriousness. And the humor is excellent. For most of the movie the entire theater was laughing at the jokes, which is a good thing for a comedy.

Of course I can't end a review for this movie without mentioning the singing. Hathaway sings a song at the giant wedding, she is excellent. When I first found out Anne was going to sing in this movie I was nervous for her. But she does an excellent job. As does everyone else (including Char in the leather pants) when the whole cast sings at the end.

Go, go see this movie. And Anne Hathaway. And the prince. In leather pants.