Many children have movies that they grew up with. Whether it was a classic from your parents’ childhood, or just the incessant replay of a specific Spongebob Squarepants episode. My family’s main infatuation pre- and during-elementary school age happened to be Ella Enchanted.

Up until now, I had never come to realize what a flawed storyline this movie had.

The movie’s overall plot saw unlucky “Ella of Frell” and her gallant endeavor of breaking a curse of constant obedience she was burdened with after birth. This implication got her into several different dilemmas, mostly found to be at the fault of her “evil stepsisters,” Hattie and Olive. After she decided she’d had enough, she resolved to find the fairy that had granted her curse, encountering many new fairy-tale characters on the way. She eventually met the prince and unexpectedly fell in love with him. The charming and rebellious heroine teaches viewers to always stay true to themselves, no matter their origin or what people may tell them.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie. The dreamlike setting and classic raptured-fairytale qualities made it an enjoyable thing to watch. But, there were a few things it could’ve done to improve on its 50% rotten tomatoes score. One big thing for me was how simple the storyline was, yet how unnecessarily complex it was made. The tidy quips here and there made the film all the more entertaining, but eventually the straight-forward plotline turned into a big jumble of shticks and side-situations, purely for comic relief. The over-done cliches of the prince saving the damsel in distress seemed to have died down as the movie progressed, but the potentially offensive female stereotypes were still clustered throughout. Particular examples of irking discrimination were when the group of girls was fawning over Prince Char and almost all of the girls (stepsisters, Fairy Lucinda, etc) were portrayed in a derogatory and unintelligent way.

After watching it about one thousand times, a couple things still managed to get on my nerves. A couple of parts in particular, such as how Ella’s father sort of drifted off from her daughter’s life, and that Mandy, the household fairy, was ignoring the difficulties Ella was having, were frustrating for me. However, Ella’s undoubtable devotion to Mandy, no matter how one-sided it seemed, was what kicked her journey off. Mandy’s good intentions for Ella’s well-being made up for it all. My favorite part probably had to be the climax of the movie, when Ella was ordered to kill the prince in her arms. She almost did it, but despite the binding curse, she was strong enough to hold off before midnight, after he proposed to her.

But, as it turns out, I am also quite biased in my opinions. It having been my number one movie when I was eight, all of the years of entertaining myself with elves that could dance had overridden my ability to notice the errors that could sing. It’s hard to say why I love Ella Enchanted so much, but it probably has to do with the memories tied to it: pink blankets, pouches of Capri Sun, and PB&Js.

But anyway, I recommend seeing this movie. It is a great movie to grow up with and is something you can easily watch over and over again without getting tired of. Even though I still have to strain to remember the supporting characters’ names, their corny jokes never cease to make me involuntarily burst into laughter.