Its knockabout humor grows on you, as does Anne Hathaway.
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04/08/04
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Ella Enchanted (2004)
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Reviews Counted:111
Fresh:55
Rotten:56
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Hathaway is a charming heroine, but the simple storyline gets overwhelmed by silly gimmickry.
Theatrical Release:Apr 9, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $22,811,339
Synopsis: Similar to SHREK and THE PRINCESS BRIDE, this fantasy adventure, based on a book by Gail Carson Levine, combines fairy tale with sly, 21st century pop humor. Teenage Ella (THE PRINCESS DIARIES'... [More]
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Joanna Lumley, Cary Elwes
Director: Tommy O'Haver
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Reviews for Ella Enchanted
Top CriticHathaway embodies the movie's sweet atmosphere, exuding a bubbly charm that will endear her to young viewers, and a girl-next-door wholesomeness that will reassure parents.
04/08/04
It's glossy, shiny candy that tastes oddly familiar yet lacks sugary punch.
04/08/04
After the first half hour or so, it sinks deeper and deeper into a mediocre self-aware pseudo-hipness.
04/08/04
Top CriticElla Enchanted is a delightful fairy tale romp from start to finish with a spunky heroine who has an ardor for justice.
04/08/04
...doesn’t forget that the audience is very much in on the joke.
04/08/04
... mostly works, thanks [to] the... talents of Anne Hathaway... [undermined] with unnecessary things like ogres showing butt crack.
04/08/04
It has just enough wit and humor to make it to the Grand Ball, but in the end, this fairytale, to those who have seen better, is a clear disappointment.
04/08/04
Has plenty of charm (but) had O'Haver been smarter about its self-awareness and more consistent with its cleverness, the movie might have been able to stand the test of time.
04/07/04
The hoot and giggle of a girl-power fairy tale blended from potions of Monty Python, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Shrek.
04/07/04
Top CriticCompletely owing its body and soul to Shrek, this is yet another fractured fairy tale designed for kids living in a postmodern age.
04/07/04
I still liked it, but Ella Enchanted is not one for the ages
04/07/04
Anne Hathaway is charming and magnetic, but her journey across fairyland is laughable, a series of co-incidences and instantaneous edits.
04/06/04
Cheesy and witless.
04/06/04
Transpires in a somewhat chintzy fantasy kingdom lousy with more cameos than your typical Love Boat season.
04/06/04
Note well that Ella is enchanted, not enchanting...any charm it might have possessed is buried under reams of cuteness and silly anachronism.
04/05/04
Nothing un-beguiles a fairy tale more than forced whimsy and labored magic.
04/05/04
Top CriticFrom the very beginning, the film’s primary dysfunction is that it can’t decide exactly how smarmy or adorably postmodern it wants to be.
03/28/04
uses the archetypal story of Cinderella to skewer convention with that most deadly and effective of weapons: humor
03/27/04
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