Ella Enchanted (Anne Hathaway)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over a decade since we first saw - and liked - the DVD of ‘Ella enchanted’. I remembered that it was based, fairly loosely, on the classic story of Cinderella, but that was about all. We thought it would make a pleasant, undemanding (and not too long) film to watch.

Anne Hathaway stars as Ella, and she is perfect for the role. She’s feisty, athletic, and has excellent comic timing. She can also be very romantic. But the film doesn’t open with a grown-up Ella. It starts with a scene that could almost have been from Sleeping Beauty rather than Cinderella. Baby Ella is adored by her parents, and by the not-very-competent household fairy Mandy (Minnie Driver). 

Then with a magical swirl, Lucinda arrives. Ella’s mother doesn’t quite manage to hide the baby, although she would like to, because Lucinda is reputed to give unhelpful gifts. Not that she’s a bad or evil fairy - but her gifts tend to backfire. And she becomes offended if anyone asks her to take them back. She decides to give Ella the gift of obedience. She assures the household that this will make her a very easy baby…

We see a few scenes of Ella as she grows up, and does everything she’s told to do. Then there’s a poignant scene as her mother lies dying, and tells her that she must not let anyone know her secret, or they will take advantage of her. 

But when her father remarries - Joanna Lumley makes an excellent selfish stepmother, and the two stepsisters are caricatured brats, played very well by Lucy Punch and Jennifer Higham. By this stage, Anne Hathaway has taken over the role of Ella, who must be about sixteen by this stage. She wants to make her new stepfamily feel welcome, but quickly realises that they are greedy and think of nobody but themselves. They are also huge fans of Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), heir to the throne.

There’s a political element to the film: the King was reputed to have been killed by an ogre, so his brother - who is ruling the country until Prince Char is old enough to take over - exiled the ogres, and then enslaved the giants and elves. The different races had been living together amicably until this point. But now the giants are in forced labour in the fields, and the elves have to sing and dance on every possible occasion, or risk dire consequences.

Ella has no interest in the prince, but bumps into him (almost literally) on a couple of occasions. He rather likes the fact that she doesn’t swoon at his feet, or fall into his arms. He’s a bit annoyed that when he rescues her from danger, she doesn’t appreciate it; meanwhile she thinks he’s rather feeble, and wants him to reverse all the segregation and slavery rules.

When the stepsisters realise that Ella does everything they say, they make her do worse and worse things. So she decides she has to find Lucinda and somehow get her gift reversed. She sets off with nothing but an enchanted book to guide her, though she soon befriends an elf, after rescuing him from peril. Inevitably they take up with the prince once more, and the bickering turns to friendship… 

There’s lots of excitement in this fast-paced fairytale film. It’s PG rated, and entirely suitable for all the family, if a bit tense and possibly scary in places. Of course the eventual outcome is predictable, but I found myself wondering, more than once, how it was ever going to reach its happy-ever-after conclusion. 

We thought it extremely well done, including a few places where there are song and dance routines. There are a few lines that made us laugh, much that made us smile, and some quite poignant scenes too. And while it’s intended for children, there’s plenty to make it enjoyable for adults too. 

Our DVD has some interesting extras including deleted scenes and a ‘making of’ introduced by Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy.  Apparently the film was based on a book of the same title. 

Definitely recommended if you like this kind of thing. 

Review copyright 2026 Sue's DVD Reviews