This one’s for a baby, named Ella of Frell.”
Sound familiar? If you’ve ever seen Ella Enchanted, you might recognize it as the last lines of the
narrator’s opening rhyme. True to his word, the first scene shows Lucinda the
fairy giving baby Ella the magical gift of obedience. Gail Carson Levine’s book
opens in almost the same way, and that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
Ella
Enchanted is one of my favorite books, yet also one of the cheesiest
movies I’ve ever seen. I could enjoy it on a superficial level – the scenery
was pretty, they had some fun songs, and it was generally a feel-good movie. However,
the addition of a rhyming narrator, outrageously colorful costumes, and an
unnecessary villain detracted from what was already a good story. In my
opinion, the movie and the book might as well not be related. Take away the
premise of a girl under an obedience spell, and this could be its own film. Just
change the names. It is an extremely loose interpretation. Basically, I’m here
to say: Don’t judge a book by its movie. (Also, spoilers below.)
The movie:
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| imdb.com |
Ella
Enchanted, starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy, is a fun romp
through fairytale land, but that’s one of the only good
things about it. It’s fun. The acting isn’t too bad, yet it’s difficult notNOT to seem
ridiculous in a land of singing elves, blue ogres, and a cartoonish villain
with a pet snake. Gail Carson Levine’s book is turned into a simplified, gaudily
costumed story.
The story centers around Ella, cursed with obedience, and the
quest to break her spell. Ella finds that she cannot endure her horrid new
stepfamily once stepsister Hattie learns of her obedience and constantly
torments her. She goes to find Lucinda, the fairy who cursed her, meeting a
lively bunch of characters along the way. Ella befriends an elf named Slannen, runs
into ogres who want to eat her, and even attends a giant’s wedding. She also
happens to run into Prince Char numerous times. At first, she dislikes him
because of his uncle’s policies, but her opinion changes as she gets
to know him. They fall in love, yet Ella finds herself in a bad predicament
when she is ordered to kill Char at a royal ball. Edgar, Char’s uncle, wants
him dead so he can keep the throne – the throne he stole once already by
killing his brother, Char’s father. Luckily, Ella breaks the curse just in time,
but she’s put in prison while Edgar concocts another scheme to get Char killed.
Ella’s new friends manage to release her, allowing her to save Char once and
for all by revealing Edgar as the murderer he is. The story ends with Edgar
accidentally wearing the poisoned crown, and Ella and Char living happily ever
after.
Some of the changes in the film seem to be because it is
geared towards kids. This would explain the bright costumes, to an extent.
Portraying a nicer version of Ella’s father makes a little more sense. Why
would a father in a fun fairytale not love his daughter? The addition of Edgar,
Char’s evil uncle, can be seen as giving the story a concrete villain rather
than the intangible curse. The fact that he doesn’t even die at the end when he
puts a poisoned crown on his head is only more proof that the movie caters to children.
Yet, the book is also a children’s book and Levine had no qualms
writing the way she did. I think children can handle greedy fathers and
drawn-out romance and understanding internal struggle, so I supported her
choices. Personally, it made the story better for me as a child and an adult.
The book:
 |
| goodreads.com |
Gail Carson Levine’s Ella
Enchanted isn’t your average Cinderella story. It isn’t flashy like its
movie counterpart, but I think that works in its favor. For one thing, the book
follows the fairytale more closely. Ella has a fairy godmother – though she
helps emotionally more than magically – and her evil stepfamily plays a larger
role than in the movie. In fact, stepsister Hattie is probably the main
antagonist besides the curse itself, whereas she doesn’t interact as much
with Ella in the film. Furthermore, towards the end of the book, there are
three royal balls in which Char is rumored to decide upon a wife. Ella attends
them in a magical pumpkin carriage, courtesy of a nicer, reformed Lucinda, and
loses a slipper at the last one. This prompts the prince to identify her at her
home afterwards despite the fact that she disguises herself in order to avoid
marrying and putting him in danger.
Furthermore, characters that have large roles in the movie
only appear briefly in the book. For example, Slannen is only in one chapter of
the book and he is a green-skinned elvish trader rather than an aspiring
lawyer. Elves are also not forced to be entertainers like in the movie (because
there’s no Edgar forcing them) and after one night, Ella goes on her merry way
and probably never sees him again. In this way, Levine’s book focuses more on
Ella herself. The book is mainly about her – her strength, her quest, her perseverance.
She has a lot more quirks in the book too. She has a knack for languages and
she’s always joking and she’s clumsy, but a hard
worker. I felt like I almost knew Ella when I read, a feeling not present when
watching the movie.
Her and Char’s relationship is also explored more fully.
Rather than the whirlwind romance portrayed in the film, Ella gets to know Char
over a long time and actually falls in love with him when he is away in another
country for a year on diplomatic duties. They write letters to each other for a
year. I can see how that could be difficult to show in a movie, but there were
just so many good things in this book that were changed for no logical reason.
Other notable unused scenes include: Ella tricking ogres by using their own
persuasive language against them, her father trying to marry her off to old
rich men, and her and Char flying down stair rails for fun. Even though there
are less “action” scenes in the book, the story is fast-paced and complex. The
characters are interesting and the plot has just enough style to hold its own
while also paying homage to the classic Cinderella.
Conclusion:
Maybe the story of Ella
Enchanted is simply better suited for a book. Yes, a lot of the things that
made the book good wouldn’t play out well onscreen. But I thought the movie
adaptation could have been better had they not changed so much. My
recommendation? Think of them as separate entities, and read the book.
Written by Alex Kowal
