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Anachronisms only slightly mar 'Ella Enchanted'
Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy
David Appleby/Miramax Films
Director: Tommy O'Haver
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Lucy Punch
MPAA rating: PG for some crude humor and language
It is both enhanced and compromised by the comical anachronisms that are out of sync with a Medieval romantic fairy tale. Then again, with Eric Idle as narrator ...
Shortly after her birth, Ella of Frell is visited by fairy godmother Lucinda (Viveca A. Fox), who "gives the worst baby gifts," which even the loving nanny Mandy (Minnie Driver) cannot offset.
Lucinda saddles Ella with the gift of obedience, a curse when discovered and exploited by others.
When her widowed and nearly destitute father Sir Peter (Patrick Bergin) remarries for money, the now-teen Ella (Anne Hathaway of "The Princess Diaries") is burdened further with a wicked stepmom Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley), scheming stepsister Hattie (Lucy Punch) and stupid stepsister Olive (Jennifer Higham).
All encounter the very eligible Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), whose ascent to the throne may be sabotaged by the regent Sir Edgar (Cary Elwes of "The Princess Bride").
Edgar as much as anyone keeps the elves, ogres and giants enslaved.
Ella can't help anyone, much less herself, until she tracks down Lucinda and persuades her to rescind the cursed gift. The girl is joined on her odyssey by the talking book Benny (Jimi Mistry) and the elf Slannen of Pim (Aidan McArdle).
Although the inevitable romance between Ella and Char is a chatty and decidedly unmagical bore that bogs the film midway, the picture perks with frequent infusions of pop songs spanning several decades ("Let Me Entertain You," "Hit the Road, Jack," "Joy to the World") and full-throttle renditions of "Somebody to Love" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
Partly for comic intent and undoubtedly to make the material palatable to today's young audiences, "Ella Enchanted" is full of contemporary elements: malls, groupies, posters, trendy choreography, recycling baskets for parchment; and dialogue: "Yeah, whatever," "Do you get a kick out of near-death experiences?" and the ironic "Hel-l-lo?!"
The imposition of a socio-political agenda feels heavy-handed more often than not. An army of five screenwriters adapted Gail Carson Levine's novel, which was bound to splinter the tone and point of view.
More interesting, if thoroughly inconsistent, is the dramatization of Ella's obedience.
Especially in the beginning, Ella snaps to with robotic subservience. More often later she pauses to signal to us her involuntary compliance. And yet when the courtly prince says, "Allow me," the film doesn't notice that Ella asserts herself by brushing him off.
Whatever. What's really enchanting is Hathaway, who has the decorum of a young Julie Andrews.
