Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Ella Enchanted (by Gail Carson Levine)

I saw this movie a while back and thought it was quite cute, but everyone said "the book is better!" There was room for improvement, so I didn't doubt that verdict. But honestly I thought the book, while also quite cute, wasn't better. I mean granted, it didn't have a lame-ass dance sequence at the end, But other than that, I liked the choices made by the filmmakers.

I thought the movie handled the romance better (more of a sparring between the two main characters which lets you really see why they like each other--I know it's a cliché, but there's a reason the cliché works), handled the curse better (when she has to end a friendship in the book, it's practically sidestepped and has no consequences; in the film, it carries real emotional weight), and handled the ending better (although both endings are slightly silly, the "all of a sudden her love was strong enough" thing is more of a cop out).

I probably spent way too much time thinking about this, but that's because I read it on an airplane. It was either think about the book, or think about the airplane food.

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