Manthast Absolutely amazing

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

erika-2-160114 The Fantasy part was lacking or it seems the people who did this film spend so little time with this part the film. It seem it was all fake . The plot did not stay together really well like it was hit and miss the whole film. The acting was not really good.What saved it for me is the funny parts of the film.

Bonnie O'Connor 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.

Dianne D I wanted to like this movie, but it was too anachronistic. At the end Anne Hathaway is wearing go-go boots and a 60's style dress as she dances the night away to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." It was just too weird and sideways. I have to say that Anne was just beautiful and it's a shame that she didn't have a better script. The chemistry between her and the prince was truly "enchanting" and sweet. They are the only reason that I'm not giving this one star. Perhaps the author of the book was taken over by her own spell, where she was "too obedient" and let Hollywood do whatever the heck they wanted with her beautiful book, turning it into a big hot mess. Too bad the people who worked on Malificent weren't available to help on the script for this picture.

TheSeaLion "Ella Enchanted" is the kind of kids movie that, if you're older and have kids or younger siblings, you can sit down and watch it with them, they'll enjoy it and you can just forget it afterward. For a kids movie, it's not unbearably stupid, nor does it treat kids like they don't have brains, it's just a very generic kids fairy-tale movie filled with simplistic, one-dimensional villains, musical numbers, goofy side-characters, and an obvious love story.Ella of Frell (Anne Hathaway) is is given the gift of obedience by the fairy Lucinda (Vivicia A. Fox) and must keep her gift secret so people can't use it against her. After Ella's mother (Donna Dent) passes away, her father (Patrick Bergin) remarries several years later to Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley), Ella's generic evil stepmother, who has two daughters who are Ella's generic evil stepsisters, Hattie (Lucy Punch) and Olive (Jennifer Higham). The two stepsisters discover Ella's gift of obedience and use it to make her life miserable, forcing her to steal from a mall and get rid of her best friend (Parminder Nagra). Ella, ventures out to find Lucinda to take back her gift, with the help of her house fairy Mandy's (Minnie Driver) boyfriend Benny (Jimi Mistry) whom Mandy has accidentally turned into a book, Slannen (Aidan McArdle), an elf who wants to be a lawyer, and Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), whom Ella is at first repulsed by because she believes he is like his evil uncle Edgar (Cary Elwes). As they search for Lucinda, Ella and Char begin to fall in love with one another and Edgar, learning of Ella's obedience, hopes to use her in his plan to assassinate Char before he can claim the throne.The villains of the film are all generic, one-dimensional characters that we have already seen before. Edgar is the evil uncle who wants to rule the kingdom who has killed his brother and now wants his nephew out of the picture, like Scar (Jeremy Irons) from "The Lion King". Then, we have the mean stepmother and stepsisters who treat Ella poorly, like with the stepmother and stepsisters from "Cinderella". While the main characters are given a little more to their characters than just a generic character-type, it doesn't always lead anywhere. Slannen says he wants to be a lawyer and that he does not sing. He has one quick moment where he acts like a lawyer, but in the last scene of the movie he is singing when he has made it clear he doesn't want to sing or perform.The two main musical numbers that I remember being performed in the movie, Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and Queen's "Somebody to Love" serve no purpose to the actual story. They aren't like the songs you would get in a Disney movie where they are used to further the plot, these songs bring the movie to a screeching halt. It feels like these songs are in the movie for two reasons: 1. Because it's a kid's movie and kid's movies need musical numbers in it, and 2. To show off Anne Hathaway's singing. Now, Anne Hathaway is a talented singer and she does a fantastic job in this movie, especially with "Somebody to Love", but that does not dismiss that these songs are pointless to the overall movie and bring the movie to a standstill.At the end of the movie, Ella breaks the spell of obedience by looking at herself in a mirror and telling her to no longer be obedient. For the whole run of the movie, I was questioning why neither her mother or Mandy the household fairy told her to not be obedient to anyone ever again, which would have solved the whole movie within the first ten minutes. I find it very hard to believe that no one in Ella's family thought of this idea for all the years that she had the curse."Ella Enchanted" is a movie that the best way to describe it would be generic. It's not terrible, but it does not stand out when it comes to the long list of kid's fairy tale movies that exist. It has the regular love story that you can see coming from a mile away, simplistic villains with no depth or charm to them who are just made as evil as possible so you hate them and like the heroes more in comparison, goofy side-characters, musical numbers, and all the other stuff you'd expect to find in a kid's movie. Once again, it's perfectly acceptable for kids. While generic and simplistic, it does treat kids like they have a brain and if you have kids or a younger sibling, you can watch with them and forget about it when it's done without feeling like you've lost brain cells.