A movie review from The Movie Snob:

Ella Enchanted (B-). First, let it be said that I think a good children’s movie can be entertaining for folks of all ages. Some of my favorite movies have been aimed primarily at children – Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast come to mind. Anyhoo, this flick starring Anne Hathaway of The Princess Diaries (which I did not see), is not in that elite company but is a perfectly nice little film. Hathaway plays Ella, a girl whose fairy godmother has blessed, or, more accurately, cursed her with the gift of obedience. The spell compels her to obey any command from anyone around her, which leads to all sorts of problems. Things only get worse when Ella’s unpleasant stepsisters find out about the curse, and finally Ella sets out to find her fairy godmother and try to persuade her to take back the gift. Fairy-tale conventions abound, such as the handsome prince, his evil uncle who schemes to rule the kingdom himself, a magic book with crystal-ball-like powers, ogres, giants, elves, etc. And the evil uncle has a talking snake advisor who seems to have been lifted straight out of Disney’s animated Robin Hood. But the conventions are updated with some modern consciousness, such as Ella’s earnest preaching against the laws of the kingdom that discriminate against the aforementioned ogres, giants, and elves. So it’s a nice little movie that definitely has its heart in the right place. I liked it.