Enchanted is, indeed, enchanting.
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Simply put, "Enchanted" was the funniest picture of 2007.
After all their animated fantasies, true-life adventures, inspirational sports stories, and shaggy dogs, the Disney studios finally took the time to spoof themselves a bit. With tongues firmly set in cheek, screenwriter Bill Kelly ("Blast from the Past") and director Kevin Lima ("Tarzan," "102 Dalmatians") set out to turn the Disney image inside out with a partly animated, partly live-action fairy tale that upsets all the conventions of traditional Disney fairy tales. In this regard, it's a little like the first "Shrek" movie; if not quite so pointed or caustic, just as amusing. And with the added quality of a really sweet love story thrown in, "Enchanted" is hard to resist.
OK, remember all those famous Disney princesses--Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the rest? Well, what if one of these animated young ladies were to find herself in the real world, an animated fairy-tale princess suddenly turned human and let loose in twenty-first-century Manhattan? That's the premise of "Enchanted," a kind of fish-out-of-water tale.
The princess is Giselle (Amy Adams), who has spent her entire life in the animated kingdom of Andalasia. So, when the movie opens, Disney artists have animated her. And they have animated her in Disney's best, old-fashioned style, with plenty of internal detail and gorgeous backgrounds. But through the machinations of a scheming, evil Queen, Narissa (Susan Sarandon), poor Giselle finds herself banished from the kingdom, popping up through a manhole in downtown New York City. I mean, what's a young lady to do who has never seen an automobile before, let alone modern manners?
Giselle wanders aimlessly for a while, nobody noticing her fairy-tale attire because, you know, it's NYC, after all. A cynical divorce lawyer, Robert Philip (Patrick Demsey), stumbles upon her and helps her out, and anybody can see where that is leading. Meanwhile, the not-quite-so-charming and remarkably smug Prince Edward from Andalasia goes to rescue his fair damsel, with his stepmother, the evil Queen, in hot pursuit. And, let's see, oh, yes, there is also the fact that the lawyer is a single dad raising a cute-as-a-button, six-year-old girl, Morgan (Rachel Covey), and the lawyer has a rather unsympathetic fiancée, Nancy (Idina Menzel), in tow. Now, add in the Queen's henchman, Nathaniel (Timothy Spall), for further comic relief; a chipmunk, Pip (Jeff Bennett/Kevin Lima), who could speak English back in Andalasia but in the real world can only squeak; and a narrator in the person of Julie Andrews herself, and you get cast of characters worthy of bringing this or any story to life.
Most movies live or die on the basis of their lead actor's or actress's screen presence or charisma, and in this case the filmmakers made a terrific selection in Amy Adams. Here's the thing: Her character's got to be totally beautiful, innocent, and naive, and in these respects Ms. Adams fits the bill perfectly. Yet she isn't the delicate teenage flower we may picture as Snow White or Cinderella types, either. Ms. Adams is a bit more mature than that, and she artfully projects an innocent and naive charm. It works to make her Giselle more appealing to young and old viewers alike than any teen fresh off the Disney Channel could probably accomplish. What's more, her Giselle is totally free of irony and doesn't understand the meaning of sarcasm; she is perfectly genuine in her feelings and emotions, making Ms. Adams's creation irresistibly delightful.
The others in the cast are almost equally up to the task. As the entirely deadpan, pragmatic lawyer, Patrick Dempsey is the perfect foil for Adams's Giselle, yet Dempsey's lawyer never treats Giselle with disdain or mockery. At first, he thinks she's merely a "troubled," perhaps mentally confused, young woman. It's one of those typical romantic comedies where the audience is quickly in on everything that the movie characters have to spend the entire story to figure out. As the prince, James Marsden is not only impossibly handsome and dashing, he's got a good heart, too. He's not just an arrogant prig we can boo, but rather a fellow who's grown up firmly believing it's his duty in life to rescue fair damsels from ogres and such. Like the character of Jessica Rabbit in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," who explains "I'm not bad; I'm just drawn that way," so, too, are these animated characters unable to be anything than what their creators drew them to be.
Yet, in the real world the animated characters begin to take on human emotions--things like anger and love. Which, in turn, makes for much of the fun in the picture. Giselle, for instance, knows all about the outer trappings of romance and marriage without ever having experienced the feelings herself. Reality is tough on her, most especially learning what it's like to be human, with all the human sensibilities that go with it.
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