REVIEWED - ELLA ENCHANTED: This harmless fantasy comes across as the sort of film that parents would like their children to like. A nice young girl, played by that perky creature from The Princess Diaries, finds herself cursed with the gift of perpetual obedience by a well-meaning fairy. This proves only a minor inconvenience until her father remarries a malign Joanna Lumley and two selfish stepsisters arrive to bark unreasonable orders at her.
Teaming up with an elf who wants to be a lawyer, the heroine, pausing now and then to get rescued by Prince Charming, sallies forth to get the curse lifted.
It hardly needs to be said that the story owes a lot to Cinderella, but Ella Enchanted's main progenitors are two recent movies. As in Shrek, we are introduced to a world in which creatures from fairy stories - giants, ogres, elves - are constantly confronted with anachronistic concerns. Among the many scenes that may cause the makers of A Knight's Tale to simmer is one in which Ella barks out a Queen song, Somebody to Love, to decidedly un-medieval accompaniment.
Older punters can congratulate themselves for recognising the unlikely political subtext concerning the oppression of some of the enchanted kingdom's less popular species. And domestic viewers of all ages will enjoy spotting the many local heroes - Donna Dent, Pat Kinevane, Amelia Crowley - gathered up by the production during its lengthy Irish shoot.
But, though undeniably well-intentioned, Ella Enchanted cannot help but come across as a little second-hand. It doesn't help that the special effects are utterly hopeless and that Anne Hathaway is so naggingly sweet you want to scream. Still, it would make us all feel better about the world to learn that modern children were prepared to warm to something so quaint.
