Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Susan Sarandon
Viewed: On TV
Do you loathe and despise Disney films? Do the airheaded princesses, cutesy animals and chirpy tunes get on your nerves? Well, prepare to be surprised, Enchanted may just be the Disney film for you. Be warned that it does do a fairly convincing job of masquerading as the very thing it sets out to satirise. Enchanted is actually an (almost) daring blend of homage and satire.
The beautifully animated opening scenes reference Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and The Little Mermaid as it introduces us to Giselle (Amy Adams), a beautiful young woman who happens to reside in a cottage with a bunch of forest critters. She sings of her longing to meet the man with whom she can share "True Love's Kiss", whom she does actually find in the form of Prince Edward (James Marsden) shortly after. Once Edward has declared "We shall be married in the morning!", Giselle is whisked away to the castle to be wed. But Edward's evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) wants to protect her throne and dispatches the unsuspecting Giselle to a place where "there are no happily ever afters"- New York City, of course. There the naive Giselle meets love-sceptic and lawyer, Robert (McDreamy), and his daughter, Morgan. Giselle must adapt to this unfamiliar live-action environment and change her ideas about love.
Amy Adams is a sweet Giselle and she plays the role absolutely straight-faced. She also did her own singing and her voice is perfectly suited to Stephen Schwartz' and Alan Menken's Oscar-nominated songs. Dempsey and Timothy Spall are great in their respective roles as the dream man and villain. Unfortunately, Susan Sarandon's character was much better off animated. In live action she looks more drag queen than evil queen and she's about as scary as a moldy toothbrush.
But James Marsden is the real scene stealer, here. He plunges into the role of empty-headed, narcissistic suitor with glee and his hilarious facial expressions really made this movie for me. It must be said that it takes a smart person to play a dumb person well, which the very attractive Marsden most certainly does. Plus he can sing. Swoon.
Now let me sing the praises of the script and songs. I don't think I can even count the number of Disney references, here. Most of them aren't very in your face, either, they are subtle, and so multiple viewings of this can be most rewarding (I, myself, have seen it about 4 or 5 times, now). The songs have a strong resemblance to other Disney tunes, but are infused with the same slightly satirical humour as the rest of the film. The only exception is "So Close", a moving ballad that fits in just right with its scene. The script is witty and the attempts at satire are gentle, and would probably be missed by a lot of kids. At times the humour was almost full-blown attack. But not quite. Disney couldn't possibly be *gasp* self-deprecating!
Although the film starts a little sluggishly, it hits its stride once Giselle starts making her mark on the "real world". I was left smiling throughout the middle section of Enchanted.
Oh, and now we come to the ending. Er. Well. To be honest the climactic ballroom-rooftop scene has to be the weakest in the film. Without giving away too much, the villain fails to even look scary (as all good villains should) and is given far too many sarcastic one-liners, and the ending feels kind of rushed. The resolution forgoes the sharp observations made on "true love" made previously and drowns itself in Disney syrup. If the cast wasn't just so damn charming and if the preceding 80 minutes wasn't so entertaining I could have hated Enchanted.
As it is, Enchanted is one of my guilty pleasures. Yes, it occasionally lapses into Disney-ish sentimentality, yes, its views on love are a bit muddled, and yes the final showdown is kind of crap. But the sentiment is tempered with tongue-in-cheek humour, a near-perfect cast, shamelessly joyous and memorable songs and a multitude of Disney in-jokes for fans to enjoy.
Rating: 7
Verdict: Occasionally loses its edge, but Enchanted is still an insanely enjoyable and fairly clever homage to/satire of Disney classics.
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