Taglines: Get enchanted.
A comic-fantasy-adventure filled with magic and music, ogres and elves, giants and wicked stepsisters, Ella Enchanted revisits a classic fairy-tale world with a distinctly 21st century twist. The film, directed by Tommy O’ Haver (“Get Over It”) is based on the best-selling, Newbery Honor-winning novel by Gail Carson Levine.
It all begins when Ella of Frell (Anne Hathaway of “The Princess Diaries”) is given a fairy’s “gift” at birth – the gift of perfect obedience. Forced to do anything she is commanded – no matter how silly or dangerous – Ella’s life hardly seems to be in her own control.
Things only get worse when Ella’s father (Patrick Bergin) remarries, bringing into her life a stepmother, the dastardly Dame Olga (Joanna Lumley of “Absolutely Fabulous”), and two sinister stepsisters, Hattie (Lucy Punch) and Olive (Jennifer Higham), who get a kick out of watching Ella obey their every request at the “Frell Galleria.” Now, Ella is newly determined to gain her independence and break free of the spell that binds her once and for all.
She sets off on a quest of discovery that will take her through the Kingdom’s most dangerous and darkest forests – where she finds a fellow traveler in a go-getting Elf (Aidan McArdle) — to the King’s spectacular castle. Along the way she crosses paths with the idolized Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), who so often graces the cover of Medieval Teen, only to turn the tables on fairy tale history and rescue him with true love. But most of all, Ella will discover her own power to fight for what’s in her heart.
Ella Enchanted is a 2004 fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Tommy O’Haver and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith loosely based on Gail Carson Levine’s 1997 novel of the same name. Starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy, the film plays with the usual fairy tale genre. The film is a co-production between companies in the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Miramax Films released the film on April 9, 2004. Its parent company, the Walt Disney Company, eventually sold Miramax to Filmyard Holdings. Disney still owns the rights to the film, and streams it for television on the Disney Channel. On April 30, 2013 another re-issue of the film appeared.
Ella Enchanted opened on April 9, 2004 and earned $6,169,030 in its opening weekend, ranking number nine at the domestic box office. At the end of its run, the film grossed $22,918,387 domestically and $4,470,380 overseas for a worldwide total of $27,388,767.
Ella Enchanted (2004)
Directed by: Tommy O’Haver
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Joanna Lumley, Steve Coogan, Lucy Punch, Jennifer Higham, Minnie Driver, Vivica A. Fox, Parminder Nagra, Patrick Bergin
Screenplay by: Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith, Laurie Craig
Production Design by: Norman Garwood
Cinematography by: John de Borman
Film Editing by: Masahiro Hirakubo
Costume Design by: Ruth Myers
Art Direction by: Matthew Gray, Anna Rackard, Lucy Richardson
Music by: Nick Glennie-Smith
MPAA Rating: PG for some crude humor and language.
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: April 9, 2004
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