Warning--if you have read the book, do not see the movie--you WILL become violently ill! O'Haver, the director, looked at the story (a beautiful, classic book by Gail Levine that everyone should read), and decided that he didn't like the current plot--so he made up a new one, and still had the gall to say that it was "based" on Levine's masterpiece of a book (kudos to "I, Robot" for actually being truthful and honest enough to say that the movie was "inspired" by the books--it's something for O'Haver to one day aspire to). He also made up new characters and changed the old characters to fit his new plot--Char's parents are dead, and there's a new evil uncle (Elwes) with a cheesy snake servant who is trying to kill Char and take over the crown--there's also a new elf friend of Ella's who wants to be a lawyer (can you say Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?), but is forced to only sing and dance by this new evil and tyrannical uncle created by O'Haver--ogres are also now not evil, but only "misunderstood"! And Ella's father is nice and caring, Mandy is no longer her caring, sensible fairy godmother, but a ditz and a magical klutz, and the wonderful old-fashioned world created by Levine has been warped and cheapened by the director so that it's a faux modern world (the modern costumes add to the cheap and fake look of the film). Overall, the movie bears little resemblance to the book in anything but the title and character names, and is the worst adaptation I have ever seen, as well as a silly and stupid movie in itself. Hathaway does indeed reprise her role in Princess Diaries (another terrible adaptation with changed character names, setting, roles, etc, though not as bad as this one)--to the extent that there's even a debate scene that mirrors the one in Princess almost exactly (forget finishing school--they have modern school in the movie!).
In short, don't waste your money on this film--use the money instead to read Ella Enchanted--believe me, you'll get much better and higher quality entertainment this way, for a lesser cost!
In short, don't waste your money on this film--use the money instead to read Ella Enchanted--believe me, you'll get much better and higher quality entertainment this way, for a lesser cost!