I'm Not Under Ella Enchanted's Spell

I love a good fairy tale, and I was charmed by Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries, so I figured Ella Enchanted was right up my alley. The 2004 movie stars Hathaway as Ella of Frell, a girl who, like Sleeping Beauty before her, has been given a most inconvenient present by an unhinged fairy. Unlike Maleficent, Lucinda (Vivica Fox) doesn't mean for her gift to be a curse, but blessing the infant Ella with "obedience" means that throughout her life, she must do exactly what she is told, no matter what the task. Before her untimely death, her mother (Donna Dent) forbids Ella to tell anyone about her gift, lest that knowledge be used against her. But can such an unusual attribute be kept secret forever?

While there are bits of other fairy tales tossed in here and there, along with references to Monty Python (Eric Idle serves as the rhyming narrator), Ella is mostly a new twist on the story of Cinderella. After some background on Ella's infancy and childhod, the tale resumes with the marriage of Ella's father to the obnoxious and cosseted Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley), who has two daughters: the cruel, scheming Hattie (Lucy Punch) and ditzy, elastic-faced Olive (Jennifer Higham). Olive doesn't come into the story much, but her facial expressions are so bizarre that when she is on-screen, it's hard to focus on anyone else. Hattie is the one who most actively undercuts Ella, especially once she begins to notice a pattern behind the strange things her new step-sister does.

Ella does have allies: her aunt Mandy (Minnie Driver), a fairy of only moderate talent, and her best friend Areida (Parminder Nagra). And she finds more friends as she embarks on her journey to find Lucinda and beg her to allow her to live a life free from the demands of others. Chief among these are Slannen (Aiden McArdle), a rebellious elf who desperately wants to be a lawyer, and Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), the gorgeous prince who inspires Beatles-like furor among all the young maidens of the kingdom - except Ella.

Her own peculiar form of enslavement has made her extremely sympathetic to the plight of the kingdom's mistreated beings - namely, the elves, who are only allowed to work in the entertainment profession; the giants, who have been forced into slave labor; and the ogres, who would be wiped out entirely if the prince's diabolical uncle Edgar (Cary Elwes) had his way. She can't understand why someone with Prince Char's influence isn't doing more to help his kingdom, while the naive prince is just having his eyes opened to the evils around him.

The film's premise is promising, and I have a hunch that it is executed with rather more sophistication in the Gail Carson Levine book on which the movie is based. The trouble is that Ella is very clearly aimed at a tween audience and as such is an extension of the sort of corny, noisy fare shown on Nickelodeon and Disney nowadays. In trying to be hip by inserting contemporary elements such as rock music, which really doesn't gel with the fantasy setting, and references to current pop culture, it turns into a modern mish-mash. This technique worked pretty well for Shrek, but partly because Ella is live action, it just seems silly here.

One of the strangest parts of the movie is Heston (Steve Coogan), a sinister snake who acts as Edgar's henchman. I can buy cartoon villains having talking animal henchmen, such as Iago in Aladdin and Bartok in Anastasia. I can handle Lord Voldemort having a right-hand snake to whom he spouts instructions in Parseltongue. But to have a snake in a live action film just sitting there chatting away on the villain's shoulder is a little too much for me. It immediately makes Edgar less intimidating, since he just looks so ridiculous gabbing with that goofy snake. It's not that I can't accept The Princess Bride's dashing farm boy as a bad guy; he was chilling in The Jungle Book. Here, however, he's just campy.

Hathaway is sweet and engaging, and she's a good sport for doing all the crazy stuff the script calls for. There are a lot of cheesy special effects and groan-worthy puns that come flying at the audience, and there's likely to be some rolling of the eyes among anyone older than 15 or so, particularly with moments involving such gems of wit as the flatulence of giants. I wish that the music didn't seem so out of place, because Hathaway does have a very pleasant voice. I don't so much mind her big karaoke number, though, because it shows us how Ella's obedience actually can be a gift, since it forces her to use skills she might not ordinarily have. This also comes to light in a scene in which she rescues Slannen from distress with some impressive martial arts moves.

Dancy is my favorite cast member and nearly the only one who doesn't seem over-the-top. Not just a pretty face, the prince is kind and considerate, though he's so intimidated by the idea of being king that it seems he won't be much good for the kingdom. Meeting Ella changes his perspective, awakening his activism. I also liked Areida, but Ella's best friend is extremely underused after a nasty trick by Hattie knocks her out of the picture. I was hoping that she would play some sort of significant role later in Ella's adventures, coming to her aid in a tight spot as a testament to her unconditional friendship, but she only showed up for a moment at the end, just long enough to show us that Hattie's damage had been undone.

I like the clever reworking of the Cinderella story and the way Ella finally manages to free herself from the bonds of obedience that Lucinda imposed upon her, but of the several film versions of the classic fairy tale that I have seen, this would be near the bottom of my list of recommendations. It's nice that they seem to be encouraging social consciousness with this fable, but the same point was achieved much more skillfully with Ever After, whereas the fantasy elements are most beautifully preserved in the Rodgers and Hammerstein version with Leslie Ann Warren. Tweens might get a kick out of this spunky retelling, but this 26-year-old was not especially enchanted.

Third Time Holds Little Charm With Shrek the Third

I've been looking forward to May as the month of the blockbusters, and a couple weeks ago my movie watching got off to a good start with Spider-Man 3. Though I read some pretty scathing reviews, I thought the film was phenomenal and looked forward to watching the next big premiere, Shrek the Third. There were lines around the lobby for Spidey, so I thought we might do well to buy tickets for Shrek ahead of time. We never got around to it, so I was a little nervous when we got to the theater. I needn't have worried about getting seats; I might have done well to worry instead about other things...

When we walked into our theater at 10:15, the previews had started without us, but we were the only people in the audience. A few minutes later, a couple came in and sat down. And that was it. Seven people at the second showing of Shrek the Third. Impressive. If our reaction was a typical response, I doubt Shrek will be packing folks in. I personally couldn't have laughed aloud more than half a dozen times, and I think every time it was something I'd seen already on the previews.

The movie begins roughly where the second left off, with Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) living a cushy life in the royal kingdom of Far Far Away. They're on an extended visit, but as much as they enjoy their fancy lodgings, they're both anxious to get back to their old life in the swamp. Well, Shrek is, anyway; Fiona thinks it might be time to change things up a bit with some new additions. But any arguments about the pitfalls of parenthood will have to wait, because the king (John Cleese) is dying, and he needs someone to take over. That means either Shrek or Fiona's cousin Arthur (Justin Timberlake). And since the last thing Shrek wants is to rule the kingdom, another quest is in order...

It seems like bringing the Arthurian legend into Shrek's world would be an inspired idea, but it turns out to be only one of many weak threads in a film that is surprisingly lackluster. The most interesting thing about Arthur, an insecure, unpopular boy teased by all of his classmates at his medieval high school, is his former magic teacher, Merlin (Eric Idle), a highly eccentric old man with a trick or two up the sleeves of a robe too short for common decency. There's a bit of conflict between Shrek and Arthur deriving from the fact that the ogre initially conceals the fact that he was actually the first in line, but it never feels very pressing.

Nor was I all that invested in the antics of the women attending Fiona's baby shower at the time when Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) showed up with an army of villains to take over the kingdom. Narcoleptic Sleeping Beauty (Cheri Oteri), mannish stepsister Doris (Larry King) (whose sister Mabel (Regis Philbin) is in league with the villains), tough-talking Snow White (Amy Poehler), bitter Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph) and perfect Cinderella (Amy Sedaris) all have their moments, but nobody really stands out to me as an exciting new character.

The most consistently entertaining characters remain Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). In this installment, there's a bit of added amusement when the two inadvertently switch bodies, much to each other's horror. Little of their dialogue is particularly memorable, however, and my favorite aspect of Donkey this time around is his little bunch of baby donkey dragons, which are as adorable as they are physically improbable. In fact, visually speaking, this movie does have a lot to recommend it, though the baby ogres are a bit freakish looking. Several contemporary songs are prominently featured, most effectively Cat's in the Cradle and That's What Friends Are For, but none of them makes much of an impact.

In the end, Shrek the Third is a movie to watch because you loved the two that preceded it. You'll find enjoyment in the familiar characters but bemoan the fact that they aren't delivering as many laughs as usual, nor coming together in service of a story that feels coherent. Hopefully you'll walk out of the theater smiling, but there's certainly not much need to order these tickets ahead of time. Something tells me Shrek won't be catching up to Spidey anytime soon.

You Can Spot it as a Sequel from a Mile Off

I was on Spring Break last week, and during the middle of the week my friend and I decided to take a trek to the mall and its adjoining dollar theater. I'm a sucker for anything Disney and she loves dalmatians, so it was pretty easy to agree on 102 Dalmatians. I was quite impressed with the live-action remake of the animated Disney classic, and I wondered how this one would hold up. Disney did, after all, give us The Rescuers Down Under, Simba's Pride, and Toy Story 2. But when it comes to live-action, most of their recent attempts at sequels have been rather weak (as opposed to sequels to early movies, such as The Absent-Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog, and The Love Bug). I went expecting a decent but not outstanding movie, and that's what I got.

The movie begins in the prison wherein Cruella DeVil (Glenn Close) is housed. After undergoing an experimental treatment, she seems to be cured of her despicable nature. When she returns home after her release from prison, Cruella (or "Ella" as she now prefers to be called) insists upon having all of her furs locked away because she now cannot bear the thought of harming an animal. She is now ready to re-enter society as a productive citizen.

Her parole officer, Chloe (Alice Evans), is not convinced, and she is very suspicious when Cruella takes over the Second Chance dog shelter, about to be shut down due to lack of funding. While keeping tabs on Cruella and another client who works with the dogs, she meets Kevin (Ioan Gruffudd), who happens to be quite a dapper gent, in my opinion. He has four "dogs" -- one is actually a parrot named Waddlesworth (Eric Idle) who insists he is a rottweiler. A romance begins to blossom between the two of them, and the dog shelter flourishes. It seems that the biggest worry at the moment is helping Oddball -- daughter of Chloe's dog, Dipstick, who appeared as a pup in the first film -- deal with the fact that she has no spots.

But disaster strikes when the resounding chimes of Big Ben cause Cruella to revert back to her old cruel self. Determined once more to get her dalmatian coat despite the judge's stipulation that a repeat offense would lead to the transferral of her entire fortune to the dog shelter, Cruella drags her butler Alonso into the task of kidnapping the puppies. She also employs a French furrier, Le Pelt, to aid her in the creation of her wonder garment. And how does she get away with it? Why, Kevin, of course. The perfect motive: he wanted her money for the shelter. Kevin is framed and thrown in jail, and Cruella prepares to steal Dipstick's pups, which will provide the hood of her coat.

The rest of the movie is, obviously, a race against time to try to keep Cruella from doing her dire deed. This is Oddball's chance to shine, and she proves that the greatness of a dalmatian is not determined by the number of her spots.

There are a couple of twists and turns in this movie, but it's not as entertaining or endearing as the original. Alonso the Butler, who I pitied from my first sight of him in the original, has his moment in the sun in this movie, and I was glad to see that. But the focus in this film is first on Cruella, then on Chloe and Kevin, who weren't even in the original. Their prolonged courtship does strike me as more realistic than Roger and Anita's instant marriage, but I thought there was too much focus on the humans. The dogs have a much lesser role in this film, and I think that's a shame.

Also, there are a couple of little things I don't quite get. How could Cruella not have heard Big Ben all that time? What police department allows a guy to take his pets into prison with him? And how could Kevin just get off scot-free after escaping? Granted, I wanted him to, but I don't think it would work that way.

Still, it's a good movie, and well worth seeing at the dollar theater or renting. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it, but I'd say it'd be entertaining for at least a couple viewings.