Some Enchanted Movie
by Nathan Cone

Walt Disney’s latest fantasy gently pokes the company in the ribs while also providing another marketing opportunity for the Disney Princess franchise. Enchanted stars Amy Adams as Giselle, who opens the film in animated form as a young maiden in the far away land of Andalasia.  When Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) gets jealous over Giselle and Prince Edward’s impending nuptials, the evil queen tricks Giselle into falling down a well that opens up in the heart of a live action New York Times Square. Giselle doesn’t look too out of place here. She could be another marketing tool in the Disneyfied theater district. But instead she’s looking to find her Prince and get home.

She runs into McDreamy -- oops, I mean Robert (Patrick Dempsey, of Grey’s Anatomy), a single dad whose young daughter is fascinated by princesses.  For her, Giselle is a Disney movie come to life.

Amy Adams throws herself into Giselle’s slippers with such gusto and buoyant energy that it’s easy to overlook what is essentially a conventional story of girl-meets-boy-only-to-find-another-boy-is-really-her-true-love.  Adams cheerfully cleans up an apartment with a chorus of humming, scrubbing roaches and rodents. She twirls through Central Park, beckoning everyone within earshot into a big production number.  Giselle believes love is simple; Robert, a divorce lawyer, has a more realistic approach to romance.

But as the two find out, they compliment one another. Robert learns how to finally open his heart; Giselle learns that you should probably go on a few dates before doing so.

Enchanted follows the character formula of most Disney films, down to the cutesy animal friends and the big baddie’s henchman that turns out to be not as rotten to the core as his master.

The songs are written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.  Menken was the composer behind many of Disney’s 1990s musicals.  The songs here are fun, catchy, and memorable, enough to be stuck in my head for the past few months.  “I’ve been dreaming of my true love’s kiss…”  Please, help me stop the voices!!

The DVD of Enchanted features the requisite making-of featurettes, some bloopers, and deleted scenes. Deleted scenes are often boring, but I like them when they are presented as they are here, where the director explains why they were cut.  Extra additions on the Blu-Ray version of Enchanted include a feature that identifies the many of the Disney inside jokes in the film.  But that could have been easily included on the standard edition.

Enchanted is a pleasing addition to the Disney canon. There’s a lot of gentle satire in the movie. Its most obvious non-Disney cousin is Shrek, though Enchanted is a little less saturated with pop culture references, and it doesn’t have quite as irreverent an attitude. And if it seems to have a fairly typical happy ending, then I ask what you expected from a Disney movie?

06/06/08

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