Μύ After two instalments of The Princess Diaries, Anne Hathaway cemented her fairytale image with Ella Enchanted. She "saves and steals the show" with this otherwise patchy post-modern riff on the Cinderella story. Sadly Hathaway's kooky charm wasn't enough to take the film into profit, but most critics agree that it's only a matter of time before she gets her invite to the A-List ball.
One Day My Prints Will Come...
Seven deleted and extended scenes include an alternate ending, but there's nothing too alternative about it. Instead it wraps up the "happily ever after" coda with Ella kissing her Prince Char (Hugh Dancy) and Vivica A Fox as the funky fairy godmother casting a cheeky spell on the wicked stepsisters. Other scenes include a montage of mooching after Ella and Char have a spat, only exceeded in its inanity by an optional commentary with director Tommy O'Harver and Hugh Dancy. "Am I right in thinking that the subtext of this is that we're thinking about each other?" asks Dancy. "Yes," offers O'Harver. Stunning.
Anne Hathaway joins in for a frivolous feature commentary, but the laughter stops when she sees herself in an intimate scene with Dancy. "I'm dying on the inside," she says, "It's so awful to watch yourself act. You can't help but want to writhe around in agony." Of course O'Harver chips in at this point with oodles of gushing compliments at which point you too will be writhing around in a fit of nausea. Don't expect any creative insights at all, except for Hathaway's comment that, "When they were developing the film, something went wrong." Inevitably O'Harver lets that statement dangle in the air, untouched.
Enchanted Sleep
That queasy feeling recurs in The Magical World Of Ella Enchanted as O'Harver describes the film as a testament to "girl power". Other than that it's a fairly comprehensive look at the making of the film, but it only briefly deals with matters like visual effects and design. Too much of the focus is pinned on the singing and song-writing talent who helped stage the film's musical set-pieces.
If you didn't take in all that behind-the-scenes info the first time around you can watch it all over again - albeit in a different order - in the Red Carpet Premiere Special. Between regurgitated soundbites the stars (and we use the term loosely) line up to tell you how "thrilled" and "excited" they are to be a part of this "really cool movie" etc. Are you still awake?
Capping it all off is Kara Kimmel's tweenie ditty It's Not Just Make Believe and a very clumsy interactive game that asks you to help Prince Char navigate his way through a bunch of screaming girls. Overall it's a humdrum package of extras likely to induce a long spell of boredom.
EXTRA FEATURES
