Ella Enchanted is an interesting and fanciful take on the fairytale Cinderella that is adapted to suit modern gender attitudes. The tale unfolds in a fanciful medieval world filled with ogres, elves, fairies, and giants. The primary conflict of the story centers around Ella’s curse of obedience and her journey to break the curse. While there are some similarities between the book and movie versions of Ella Enchanted, the many differences are far more significant and include differences in tone, character, and climax.
The book’s earnest narrator, serious tone, and willingness to delve into emotion is unmatched by the movies whimsical tone and satirical take on Ella Enchanted. Levine crafted an extremely well-developed and complex character, with multiple and conflicting desires and traits. For instance, she wanted both to marry prince and protect him as evidenced by when she says “In the middle of the night, I awoke, my happiness draining away. I wouldn’t escape the curse by marrying Char. I would be more cursed than ever. And he would be cursed too.” (Levine, 1994, p.184). Ella takes her situation and curse very seriously, as evidenced by the way she carefully weighs the consequences of her decisions in this passage “I could ask
…show more content…
The movie combines aspects of romantic comedy and action to produce a musical, then adds a trite movie villain. Instead of depth or emotion, the movie utilizes the opportunity to poke fun at teen culture circa 2004. While this produces a very funny movie, it does not produce an emotionally engaging movie. This is particularly evident when Ella’s mom dies and the movie glosses over the situation, which wastes the opportunity to emotionally impact the audience. In the movie Ella’s curse is both a cause of pain and source of comedy. For instance, when Ella is running from the guards after shoplifting, she becomes obediently frozen