In 2004 the beloved children's book Ella Enchanted was adapted into a major motion picture. The original story by Gail Carson Levine is about a young girl who is given the "gift" of obedience by a fairy. The gift turns out to be a curse, and Ella sets out to find the fairy who bestowed it on her in order to break the spell. While the central plot remains the same, the film adaptation added many new elements not seen in the book.
It also changed the characters in some ways and left out certain aspects of the original plot. Here are some ways the film adaptation ruined the book, and some things it did well.
Did Well: Casting
Fortunately, the cast of Ella Enchanted was well chosen. Anne Hathaway knows how to portray a smart and headstrong heroine and has plenty of experience in fairy tale movies. She wasn't ridiculously older than her character was supposed to be and is able to look and act young enough to pull it off. Hugh Dancy makes a terrific handsome prince and Cary Elwes is a perfect bad guy. Lucy Punch and Jennifer Higham are also hilarious as Ella's mean (and slightly dim-witted) step-sisters. Heidi Klum even makes a guest appearance as a beautiful giantess, which might be a nod to her 5'9 stature.
Ruined: Damsel In Distress
One of the worst things about the movie version of Ella Enchanted is that Ella is turned into a damsel in distress. In the book, she is not only her own savior, but the savior of Prince Char, his knights, and her entire country. True, Prince Char and his knights do help her escape the ogres, but she was well on her way to escaping already. It is only because of her ability to mimic the ogres language and persuasive way of speaking that Char and the knights are able to capture them. In the movie, she is simply rescued by Char and his knights who fight off the ogres and save the day. Ella is also saved by Char when she is almost run over by a wagon and attacked by guards at the king's palace - two things that never happened in the book.
Did Well: Setting
Ella Enchanted is set in a fairy tale kingdom and there is often talk of traveling through woods and forests in the book. With this in mind, Ireland was the perfect choice for filming a beautiful fantasy world. The setting is green and lush and the town and Ella's home have a fantasy element without being too over the top. The movie uses Ireland's beauty to its advantage to create some truly breathtaking scenes.
Ruined: Leaving Out The Cinderella Story
Gail Carson Levine cleverly spun a Cinderella story into the depths of Ella Enchanted. When Ella's father marries Dame Olga and her cruel stepsisters find out about her gift, they force her to do all the household chores and sleep in a tiny room.
When Ella hears that Prince Charmont is holding a ball, she sneaks away in disguise with the help of her fairy godmother. She even loses a shoe, which is too small to fit anyone else due to her unusually tiny feet. The Cinderella story with a twist was a really fun part of the book that was unfortunately left out of the movie.
Did Well: Humor
Ella Enchanted can be heavy at times, but there are certainly elements of humor in the book. In many ways, the movie does a good job of incorporating these elements. It plays up the fact that Hattie and Olive aren't the brightest ("Have you noticed it gets darker at night, then lighter when the sun comes up?"), and that Ella has the upper hand as far as intelligence. It also incorporates Ella's tendency to try to avoid her commands by finding loopholes. For instance, she comes downstairs when ordered, but takes her sweet time doing so.
Ruined: Darker Elements
Despite being a children's book, Ella Enchanted had its fair share of darker moments. These dark elements were largely cut out of the film. The ogres in particular were trivialized in the movie, almost to the point of being a comical aspect. In the book, they are really quite terrifying, and not just because of their size, strength, and habit of eating humans. They have the ability to speak in a soothing, persuasive way that lulls hapless humans into an almost hypnotic state. We're not saying the movie had to include the fact that the ogres ate Ella's horse and left behind a pile of bones, but they could have taken the ogres a little more seriously.
Did Well: Areida
Although the circumstance of how and why Ella meets Areida are different in the movie, the meaning behind their friendship is the same. Areida is an outcast because she is an Ayorthaian, has an accent, and is poor. Ella doesn't care about these things and stands up for her friend against bullies. In both the film and the movie, being ordered to end her friendship with Areida is the final straw that makes Ella decide that she must break her curse. The movie actually makes this scene even more heartbreaking, by showing a sobbing Ella forced to tell her friend, "I could never be friends with an Ayorthaian".
Ruined: Breaking The Spell
The ways in which Ella breaks the spell are significantly different in the book and movie. In the movie, Sir Edgar orders Ella to stab Char, and she resists because she loves him. However, the book is much more complex. Char asks Ella to marry him and, even though she wants to, Ella knows she must refuse. She does this because if she were Prince Char's wife, she could not only be ordered to kill him but to destroy her entire country.
"I was the cause of his joy and would be the cause of his destruction: a secret delivered to his enemies, a letter written in my own hand, a covert signal given by me, poison in his glass, a dagger in his ribs, a fall from a parapet."(29.47)
In the book, breaking the spell isn't just about not killing Char, it's about protecting Ella's entire country, even at the sacrifice of her own happiness.
Did Well: Char's Fan Girls
The movie version of Ella Enchanted adds a few slightly modernized elements. One thing that the film did well in this aspect is expressing the idea of Char as a "celebrity". In the book, he is a young handsome prince, so of course, girls flock to him, and (to his dismay) Hattie finds him attractive. The movie hilariously adds Prince Charmont's over-the-top fangirls, who make signs, scream, and chase him around town. Ella is not interested in the fan club or Char at all, in the beginning, setting her apart from the superficial girls who only like Char because of his looks and title.
Ruined: Adding Too Many New Elements
From turning Mandy's boyfriend into a book to adding the evil Sir Edgar, to creating a subplot in which the giants were enslaved, the movie version of Ella Enchanted adds a ton of stuff that was not in the original book. So much so that the film is almost unrecognizable. Obviously adding or taking away a few things here and there is something that has to happen when a book becomes a movie, but Ella Enchanted might have been better off as a film completely independent from the book. The movie is really fun and enjoyable, but for people who wanted to see a beloved childhood book seamlessly adapted to film, Ella Enchanted is kind of a disappointment.