Ella Enchanted (2004)

Directed by Tommy O’Haver. Starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Aidan McArdle, Cary Elwes, Lucy Punch, Jimi Mistry, Minnie Driver, Jim Carter, Joanna Lumley, Eric Idle, Alvaro Lucchesi, Patrick Bergin, Jennifer Higham, Parminder Nagra, Vivica A. Fox, Donna Dent, (voice) Steve Coogan. [PG]

Cinderella gets the “fractured fairy tale” treatment in this brisk but chintzy fantasy-romance liberally adapted by five credited screenwriters from a Gail Carson Levine book. Hathaway’s Ella got the short end of the stick when they were handing out fairy godmothers, since the one assigned to her ends up “charming” the poor girl with a curse instead of a gift—Ella must be obedient to any command given to her. This unfortunate spell is exploited by the usual grab-bag of rotten stock characters (spiteful stepsister Punch, sinister royal schemer Elwes, and so on), but she still finds the time to recruit a motley fellowship of cohorts, and fall for Prince Charming…er, Prince Charmont (Dancy). Benign fluff for kids and easily-distracted parents, although it suffers from a shortage of clever inspiration, wildly inconsistent production design elements and digital effects, and an abundance of crowd-pleasing filler in the form of pop music covers, cameos, etc. Elwes looks to be having hammy fun playing a dastardly villain, even if his presence summons unfavorable comparisons to the sub-genre’s gold standard, The Princess Bride; this one barely clears the low bar set by the Shrek sequels.

48/100