Ella Enchanted (2004)

Um. Cute, but my theory is that someone started reading the book, got three chapters in and said, "This would make a great movie!" and went off to make the movie, thereby forgetting to finish the book. It follows the story with only a few deviations (well, and a minor plothole) for a short time. Then suddenly we've got a heroine with an enormous interest in politics of the kingdom, an elf who wants to be a lawyer, Mandy's boyfriend who has been turned into a magical book, an evil advisor-to-the-soon-to-be-king, a really creepy-looking talking snake... not to mention the abundance of song-and-dance scenes (although they DID sing "Let Me Entertain You" which was a plus). And the many, many pop culture references. Hello! Whatever happened to the Gail Carson Levine version? There's very little reference to the original story after the first ten minutes, and while it's mildly entertaining, the fairy tale atmosphere is mostly gone, as is the original plotline, and we're left with a style more along the lines of Shrek than Cinderella. 1 star.