Review: Ella Enchanted

A couple of years ago, my daughter watched the movie "Ella Enchanted". She liked this spin of the Cinderella tale and I liked the fact that the while the young lady lived happily ever after in the end, she had to work a bit for that happiness. It seemed a bit more real life to me. I didn't know the movie was based on a Newberry Honor book.

A few weeks ago, my son saw the book on DVD at the local library and we checked it out. Right away I knew there was a lot more to the book than had been in the movie. I believe the movie runs about 1 1/2 hours. The book was listed as being 5 hours and 42 minutes long.

It was fantastic! We were enchanted from the beginning when we meet Ella and her mother and learn of the fairy curse which makes Ella be obedient to all who order her. We went through the sadness of Ella's mother dying and then we were taken on a magical journey complete with ogres, fairies, elves, handsome princes, centaurs and more. Ella tried time and time again to break her curse. She tracked down Lucinda who had given her this 'gift' but Lucinda only told her to be happy to be obedient. Ella made a huge sacrifice, but in the end it was her love and sacrifice that overcame the curse.

I was a little disappointed when Ella ended up with glass slippers, was attending three royal balls and had to be home before midnight when the coach would turn back into a pumpkin, but the ending overcame this well worn section and we were immensely satisfied with how things turned out. I recommend this book either to read yourself or to listen to. If you haven't seen the movie already, it is very, very different from the book and of the two stories, I like the book best.