Ella Enchanted Comparison

Once upon a time there was a movie that stole hearts around the country, and that movie was named Cinderella. Whether you were a child of the eighty’s or the two-thousands this movie has been around remade, remastered and often retitled by countless directors and loved by children and adults alike. The movies have been mastered into classics such as Ella Enchanted, the Tommy O’Haver 2004 version stars Anne Hathaway as Ella a young girl given the curse of obedience by a very unwise fairy named Lucinda.

The movie takes a comedic turn with an old classic making Ella an obediently rebellious girl with a moral streak. In the beginning we see Lucinda thinking of a blessing for Ella, but as Ella is crying in her arms Lucinda decides that obedience was the best blessing for her. We see how

this “blessing” affected Ella, where when her mother told her practice she would, someone is school would say “bite me” and she would.
The movie shows Ella as a girl with spunk who tried to live happily despite the gift bestowed upon her.

Another version of this classic would be Ever after a 1998 movie starring Drew Barrymore as Danielle and directed by Andy Tennant. This version of Cinderella set in a French renaissance background shows Danielle as a stubborn very smart girl who uses not only her brains but her kind heart which gets her into sticky situations. Although both of these movies are amazing the movies give you glimpses into the director’s version of a classic.

Though my love for Ever After is strong, I don’t dislike Ella Enchanted. Ella Enchanted was a comedy induced romance that bordered heavily on fantasy. The movie involved both fairies and giants along with talking snakes while Ever After kept to a more realistic story line. Like any good romance movie, the both of these were filled with cute scenes, good story lines and drama to spark your interest something both of these movies had. While Ella Enchanted was good on sites like Rotten Tomatoes, it sadly receives on a fifty-seven percent rating while Ever After received a score of eighty-four

percent.
The rating given by Rotten Tomatoes is a rating I would have to agree with, where Ever After succeeded Ella Enchanted fell short. In the movie Ever After you saw the hatred bestowed upon Danielle by her step family, and how although she knows she doesn’t have to stay in her father’s old home with her step family she does for the sake of taking care of her father’s people, the old staff who are now under the control of her horrible step mother.
Where this dynamic plays out within the family in Ever After, Ella Enchanted shows no family dynamic; other than her family members being catty and rude the movie does not get into anything deeper about the family. Danielle’s step mother in ever after dislikes her because she was the last person her father spoke of as he died which her step mother envied. Ella didn’t have that deep seated hatred but rather just catty bullying.
Ever After shows the classic Cinderella like you don’t normally see her, as strong willed, smart and un-submissive to her family or others around her. Not only does this movie shows Danielle in many lights it sows the prince as more than just a love struck stereotypical savior, it shows his flaws his mistakes and his foolishness while also giving you enough good qualities to make him still enjoyable as a character. Through most of Ella Enchanted, Ella is cursed to follow instructions and almost kills her prince charming because of this, and although she tries to kill him when she is in danger he still comes to her sword wielding rescue. Though this scene may seem funny it also sticks to the age old trope of needing to be saved, while Danielle saves herself in Ever After.