Ella Enchanted: Encyclopedia II - Ella Enchanted - Plot outline movie

Ella Enchanted - Plot outline movie

Shortly after her birth, Ella (Hathaway) is granted the "gift" of obedience by a fairy named Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox). She now is forced to obey anything and everything anybody tells her to do. Several years later, Ella's mother passes away, and she is left with her father who, in need of money, remarries a wealthy socialite. His snobbish new wife and her two spoiled daughters treat Ella poorly. The oldest daughter soon figures out Ella's "gift" and takes advantage of it. (In the book, the younger step-sister takes advantage of Ella's obedience but does not figure out that Ella is incapable of disobedience.) Ella cannot bear to live under the obedience spell any longer and sets out to find Lucinda in hopes of getting her to remove the spell. (In the book, Ella's father sends her to finishing school, which was cut out of the movie entirely and replaced with a scene at an anachronistic community college in the beginning of the story.)

Ella soon runs into trouble with a group of ogres but is rescued by Prince Charmont (Dancy), the heir to the kingdom of Frell. Ella and the Prince go to his palace so Ella may search the Hall of Records for Lucinda and the Prince may attend his coronation. (This middle section is very different from the book, in which Ella finds Lucinda quite unintentionally at a Giant wedding she attends after running away from finishing school, and Prince Char's father is alive and well and has no brother out to steal the throne.) On the trip back, Ella and Prince Charmont fall in love.

At the palace, Ella's "gift" is soon brought to the attention of Sir Edgar (a character who does not exist in the book, played by Cary Elwes in the movie), the Prince's uncle and the regent of Frell until Char's coronation, by Ella's stepsisters. Edgar assumed the throne after the death of the Prince's father, whom Edgar had secretly killed. He does not wish to relinquish the throne to Prince Charmont, so he orders Ella to stab the Prince when they are alone and also orders her not to tell anyone of his plan. With no help from Lucinda (who learns the folly of her ways in the book, but not in the movie), Ella must figure out a way out of her curse and to save the Prince from his uncle's treachery.

At the moment of Ella of Frell's birth, she was unfortunately bestowed a "gift" by a fairy named Lucinda. Despite the objections from her mother and fairy godmother/family's cook (Mandy), Lucinda cursed Ella with the "gift" of obedience. From that day forward, Ella was to obey any direct order given to her by anybody, no matter what it was. From hopping on one foot all day, or cutting off her own head, she would have to obey (requests however were things she could turn down). The story also shows many ways in which Ella tries to make a game out of her curse (for example, Mandy may order her to hold the bowl while she bakes the cake and Ella would have to, however she would also move her feet and run around the kitchen, having Mandy chase after her until she gave her another order or asked her nicely to stop).

At her mother's funeral, Ella meets Prince Char in the graveyard next to a large willow tree. The two have a long conversation full of laughs and wit until Ella's father takes her home. When they return home after the funeral, Ella meets Dame Olga and her daughters, Hattie and Olive, who she discovers are being sent to finishing school. After the three leave, Ella's father forces her to go to finishing school because he doesn't want his daughter to grow up being a clumsy cook's helper. The night before she is sent away, Mandy gives her a fairy book that can show her children's stories, journal entries and letters from friends and family, as well as maps and other things. She also gives her her mother's necklace.

The day she is sent to finishing school, she first goes on a small trip with Prince Char, who shows her all of her favorite places and promises to bring her a centaur. Ella gets in a carriage with Hattie and Olive, who automatically begin to take advantage of her curse. Ella is forced to give up her money and her mother's necklace, and also is forced into abiding by their demands from not eating any meals for the entire day to massaging Hattie's feet. When they arrive at finishing school, Ella befriends an Ayorthian girl named Arieda and the two are very close until Hattie forces Ella to end her friendship. Ella soon learns of the Giant's wedding and that both her father and Lucinda may attend. Eager to break the curse, she flees from finishing school in the night and tries to make her way to the Giant's wedding.

In the process, she meets the elves, and Slanen, who gives her a gift (a cup with a wolf's head engraved on it or something of the sort) and a horse. After she leaves the elves, she's kidnapped by ogres who eat her horse and try to eat her. However (after studying the language Ogrese) she hypnotizes the Ogres and is soon saved by Char and his knights. They bind the ogres and take them in, and Char lets one of his knights take her to the wedding. Ella meets Lucinda and begs her to remove the curse, while at the same time hoping Lucinda isn't offended and won't turn her into a squirrel. Lucinda refuses and orders her to be happy with her obidience, and Ella is forced to be estatic with her obidience.

She meets her father and they return home, while learning that he is now a ruined man for selling an item that did not belong to him. In order to keep his family from being thrown into the streets, he plans to marry Ella off. At first Ella is happy, as she is ordered to be, and even meets one of her suitors at dinner. However, an order from Mandy telling her to feel however she feels about her curse makes her change her mind rather drastically. Her father refuses to marry Ella off, and instead decides to marry Dame Olga. Ella's worst fears unravel as Hattie and Olive are now her sisters.

At the wedding, she meets with Prince Char again, and they share a romantic evening together. They find glass slippers in a garden and Ella wears them as they dance together. It would be the last time they would see each other for some time, for he would have to leave for Ayortha for two years, but they promise to keep in touch through letters. Lucinda arrives at the wedding and bestows a curse on the married couple, granting them eternal love. Any chance of Ella's father leaving Dame Olga has now been ruined. Instantly, Ella is turned into a slave in her own house, working with the servants and abiding by Hattie and Olive's ridiculous orders, while at the same time having fun slipping sleeping herbs into Dame Olga's supper.

Ella recieves a letter from Char, where he pours out his heart to her and in the end, purposes to her. At first she is happy, but soon realizes that marrying Char would make things much worse. Her stepsisters would take advantage of her completely, especially since she is queen, and if she was ever captured by an enemy of Frell, she could be forced to kill Char or reveal any secrets. Ella sends a fraud letter to him saying that she has run away with another man and will be "smiling and her jewels and laughing at the world". A journal entry in her fairy book shows a picture of Char burning her letters as well as a page from his journal stating how he despises her. It breaks Ella's heart, but she is happy that he is safe.

Mandy, fed up with Ella's torment, challenges Lucinda to a small game. She tells her to spend one year as a squirrel and one year cursed to be obidient, just to get a taste of what her "gifted ones" go through for their entire lives. When the two years are up, Lucinda has learned her lesson, and in return decides to help Ella. Char holds a royal ball that lasts for three nights. Lucinda uses her magic to turn mice and pumpkins into horses and a couch, she dresses Ella in finery (a beautiful dress, jewelry and a mask) and Ella, now under the alias Lela, can go to the ball and see Char again.

On the third night of the ball, when she's dancing with Char, Hattie snatches off her mask. Ella runs away from Char, who is in complete and utter shock, and runs to the manor. Her and Mandy plan to run away and make their work as cooks, but Char and his soldiers catch up to them. Char unintentionally orders Ella to tell him honestly if she loves him or not, which she says she does, and happily he "orders" her to marry him. Ella realizes that she has put him in danger, and in the end, her love overpowers the curse and the spell is broken.

Ella and Char are married, and with love and laughter, they live happily ever after.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot outline movie", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki